sentences:  Its more immediate forerunner, however, was the National Buildings Record (NBR), an independent body set up in 1940 under the inspiration of Walter Godfrey, its first Director, "to meet the dangers of war then threatening many buildings of national importance".Between the declaration of war in 1939 and the first London air-raids in 1940 many moveable works of art, archives and antiquities were evacuated to the relative safety of the countryside.For example, the contents of the National Gallery were taken to country houses, slate mines and quarries in Wales  However, buildings could not be protected in this way, so steps were taken to collect architectural plans, drawings, photographs and other records.