Labour Party Archive

IDENTITY STATEMENT AREA

Reference code(s): LP

Title: Labour Party Archive

Date(s): 1900 -

Level of description: Fond

Extent and medium of the unit of description:

CONTEXT AREA

Name of creator(s):

Administrative/Biographical history: In spite of five moves of office since the foundation of the Labour Representation Committee in 28 February 1900, the majority of the Labour Party's primary material has been preserved. There was, however, no archival policy until 1970. In 1990, the archives were transferred to the National Museum of Labour history.

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer:

CONTENT AND STRUCTURE AREA

Scope and content: The Labour Archive covers the activities of the National Executive Committee (NEC) and the four main subcommittees:

The organisation Committee which deals with matters pertaining to elections, local party matters and membership The Finance and General Purposes committee which deals with finance and staff matters

The Home Policy Committee which deals with the drafting of domestic policy

The International Committee which deals with foreign policy and relations with sister democratic parties. From 1950 - 62 there was a separate committee for matters dealing with the Commonwealth

The collection includes minutes, correspondence, and reports from these main committees, as well as from the various subcommittees, advisory committees, and working groups. There are also Personal Collections (including the papers of Henry Vincent, Frederick Pickles and H.N. Brailsford); special Collections related to organisations in which the Labour Party played a prominent role; and lastly, journals that the Labour Party collected (including Christian Socialists, British Citizen and the Commonwealth.

Record series of note include the following:

The Commonwealth Committee (minutes and correspondence)

Imperial Questions (West Indies)

The Immigration and Race Relations Policy and Study group committees.

Correspondence of note include those indexed under the following subject headings: racial discrimination, commonwealth fund, emigration (1923 - 49), race Relations and Immigration (1929 - 68), and commonwealth papers (Bermuda, Barbados, British Guyana, Dominica, Jamaica, the Leeward Islands, St Kitts, Trinidad, and the West Indian Federal Labour Party.

In the records of the Research Department (1920 - 1980s) there are records of the Racial Discrimination debate (1958), records of the Race Relations Working Party (1967),and the activities of the Study group on Immigration (1968). There are also notes and press news on the Board of Racial Studies, covering issues such as employment, housing, welfare, and cases of racial prejudice and discrimination. Also found are a series of records of the Labour and the Black Electorate that comprise of correspondence of the Labour Party Race Relations Action Group (1980 - 81), and the results of a nation-wide questionnaire sent out to all Labour MPs regarding Black and Asian people in their constituencies. These two record series have not yet been catalogues, but can possibly be made available for study.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

System of arrangement:

CONDITIONS OF ACCESS AND USE AREA

Conditions governing access: Access by appointment. Opening hours for the Labour History Archive: Monday - Friday, 10.00am-5.00pm. Address: 103 Princess Street, Manchester M1 6DD. Telephone: 0161 228 7212. E-mail: LHASC@fs1.li.man.ac.uk.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Language/scripts of material: English

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

ALLIED MATERIALS AREA

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related units of description:

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION CONTROL AREA

Recorder's note:

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:

Interest: Caribbean, Black, Asian

Specific group:

Subjects

Political parties

Politics

Racial discrimination

Immigration

Interethnic relations

Ethnic groups

Personal/Corporate names

West Indian Federal Labour Party

Places

Trinidad and Tobago

Saint Christopher and Nevis

Leeward Islands

Jamaica

Dominica

Guyana

Barbados

Bermuda