MI5 were “really open” to showing their records in a groundbreaking exhibition at The National Archives, the archives’ head of exhibitions has said.
MI5: Official Secrets ran at The National Archives (TNA) last year.
It was a huge success, attracting almost 55,000 visitors and winning the Museums + Heritage Award for best temporary or touring exhibition of the year (budget more than £80,000).
“I didn’t have to persuade them, they were really open. They were kind, very friendly, chatty people,” Burgess said. “I was absolutely delighted when they said yes. It was a big ask – I was surprised, absolutely thrilled.”
The exhibition featured previously confidential material relating to the history of undercover operations in the UK, including the interrogation in which Anthony Blunt – one of the Cambridge Five spies - finally confessed to spying for Russia, the briefcase Guy Burgess – another member of the Cambridge Five – left behind at the Reform Club when he fled in 1951, and a secret radio transmitter used by the Portland spy ring, another group of undercover Soviet spies in Britain.
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MI5’s working relationship with TNA began in 2003 when the organisation, which was founded in 1909, began to transfer its older working documents to the archives, just as other government departments do.
The working relationship was close enough that Sir Ken McCallum, MI5’s director-general, made a rare public appearance to open the exhibition.
“We were interested in exploring some of the myths and maybe demolishing some,” said the exhibition’s curator, Mark Dunton. “It was made clear to us when we talked that former head of MI5 Roger Hollis was not a Soviet spy – that was debunked by double agent Gordievsky, a wholly trustworthy source – and that Stephen Ward was not working for them during the Profumo affair as some commentators have claimed. He was warned to keep his distance from the Soviet naval attaché Ivanov, but he wasn’t working for MI5.”
TNA staff were given a rare chance to visit MI5 headquarters while preparing the exhibition. They saw the now decommissioned Document Delivery System, a floor-to-ceiling cage which served as an automated mechanism for sending and receiving files from their registry, which inspired the design of MI5: Official Secrets.
