The Papers of Baroness Thatcher LG., OM., FRS.

Margaret Thatcher was born on 13 October 1925, the daughter of Alfred Roberts of Grantham, Lincolnshire. She was educated at Kesteven and Grantham Girls' High School and Somerville College, Oxford, where she studied Chemistry. She married Denis Thatcher in 1951, having two children Mark and Carol (twins) in 1953. Before entering politics she worked as a research chemist, 1947-51, and was called to the Bar, Lincoln's Inn, in 1954, becoming an Honorary Bencher in 1975.

She served as the Conservative MP for Finchley, 1959-92 and was Joint Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance, October 1961-64 and Secretary of State for Education and Science, 1970-74. Mrs Thatcher was elected Leader of the Opposition in 1975 and served as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury, 1979-90

In December 1990 she was awarded the Order of Merit. In June 1992 she was elevated to the House of Lords, under the style Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven, and in April 1995 she became a member of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.

Her two volumes of memoirs, "The Downing Street Years" and "The Path to Power" were published in 1993 and 1995 respectively. A further volume of her thoughts on contemporary world affairs, "Statecraft", was published in 2002.

Lady Thatcher was Chancellor of the University of Buckingham from 1992-98 and Chancellor of the College of William & Mary, Virginia, USA, from 1993-2000. She has also established her own charitable foundation, The Margaret Thatcher Foundation.

Lady Thatcher died in April 2013.

The extensive Thatcher archive consists of political and personal papers, correspondence, awards and other artefacts, video and audio-tapes, and a large collection of photographs. There is very limited material available before 1975 (when Margaret Thatcher became Leader of the Opposition) and the most significant part of the collection relates to the period when she was Prime Minister 1979-90. The extensive papers in the archive generated after her resignation as Prime Minister mark her activity and influence in the later years of her public life.

The Papers have been deposited with Churchill Archives Centre at various dates since 1997

The Papers are mostly owned by the Margaret Thatcher Archive Trust, an independent charity. A number of papers dating from 1990 continue to be owned by Lady Thatcher personally.

In November 2003 and April 2008 the Archives Centre opened important selections of files in the period up to 4 May 1979. Between February 2010 and March 2013 the majority of the papers for May-December 1979 and 1980-82 have also opened. See class lists and online catalogue for further information. The remainder of the collection is currently closed. The Cataloguing Archivist welcomes enquiries about the Papers.

Please cite as Churchill Archives Centre, The Papers of Baroness Thatcher LG., OM., FRS., THCR

Many of the key documents from the collection are available online on the website of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation, www.margaretthatcher.org

Margaret Thatcher's official papers as a Minister of State and as Prime Minister form part of the public record and arel being transferred to the National Archives at Kew, London (class PREM 19)

A copy of this finding aid and catalogue is available for consultation at Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge, the National Register of Archives, London, and on the Janus website, http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk.

A further historical note on Margaret Thatcher and a brief description of the Thatcher Papers is available on the Centre's web site. These were compiled by Christopher Collins, General Editor of a CD-ROM of Lady Thatcher's public statements 1945-90 and Editor of the official website of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation (www.margaretthatcher.org)