| Description | The bald statement that the Porth yr Aur collection consists of the entire contents almost of a solicitor's office would indicate the general nature of it and such a statement would accounts to some extent for its diversity.
But, it is not in any way an adequate indication of the wealth of material that this particular office has to odder to students of history. This can only be explained when the extent of the practice and its locale, both in time and place, is appreciated.
It must have been one of the most extensive of its day in north Wales, and John Evans, the chief practtioner, one of the most active among his fellows, with interests extending considerably beyond the limits of ordinary legal activities. It had its durationduring that eventful generation from 1795 to 1830, so rich in social and industrial developments, an it embraced the counties of Anglesey and Caernarvon, a sufficiently wide stage for these developments to be measured upon. It is this combination of time, place and multifarious activities that lends unusual value to this accumulation of documents, and it must be considered singular good fortune that they have come down to us comparatively intact. This can be presumed not from the mere bulk of the collection alone, but also from the fact thhat the papers representing some of the activities are so exhaustive. Indeed they had suffered so little disturbance since the days of John Evans and his successor that the memoranda and draft copies of major documents have been preserved along with the documents themselves so that in perusing them a very vivid impression of the workaday activities of that solicitor's office of a century ago was received. Sometime after the days of John and Evan Evans the practice, or at least the office, was occupied by R.D. Williams, who was succeeded by his son of the same name and who was known as of Porth yr Aur, Caernarvon. This has served to give the collection its title. On Williams' death his office was cleared and the contents, after some vicissitudes, found their way into the College Library.
The classification of such an extensive and heterogeneous collection presented acute problems. Any system of grouping inevitably resulted in cumbersome reference numbers ad to avoid this the only alternative was the method of consecutive numbering.
The broad divisions of the collection are based on the main lines of John Evans's activities. The contents of each division have been treated as a series of individual units, some of them being practially self contained and others having close association with neighbouring units. Within each unit the documents have been arranged in chronological order, the undated documents coming at the end. In some cases however, where the character of the papers demands it,a subdivision of the unit has been intruduced. |