30 June 2008
3rd Study DayLSE/BL/Oxford Collaboration
Graham Camfield, Barbara Humphries, Sue Donnelly
LSE LIBRARY
Hidden gems of the collection
Report by the Director W.A.S. Hewins to the Governors in 1902
1. Ordinary text-books and works of reference2. Government publications (“the backbone of the
Library”)3. Official documents from local authorities4. Documents issued by Trade Unions, Banks,
Railway Companies etc.5. Periodical literature6. Special collections
• Trade Unions• Banks• Railway companies• History of socialism
Bank reports
• Reports of bank activity and economic conditions
• Bank of Estonia, Economic Bulletin 1926-32• Latvian Bank, Economic Review 1927-1930• Koloniale Bank (Netherlands) 1909 - 1939
Railway reports and journals
• Annual Report / Minneapolis, S Paul and Sault Ste Marie Railroad Company), 1938-1960
• Missouri Pacific Railroad Company, 1917-1977• Report / Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad
Company, 1887 – with gaps• Mexican Central Railway Company, 1885-1907
History of socialism
• Hutchinson Collection• Russian collection• Schapiro collection• Russian revolutionary pamphlets
Hutchinson
The collection includes works on left wing, radical and revolutionary movements, such as socialism, anarchism, syndicalism, communism and Marxism, and their opponents. Rich in original theoretical works, memoirs, Utopian novels, poetry and songbooks, and serials.
Over 1,900 volumes, 1830-1935
Russian Collection
•Webbs’ commitment to socialism
•Interest and support for revolutionary movement in Russia
•1898 Copy of “Industrial democracy” sent to Lenin in Siberia for translation into Russian
•After 1917 interest and support for new Soviet regime
•1935 Webbs publish “Soviet Communism: a new civilisation?”
Library holds significant material for the early Soviet period, including:
•Early publications of economic councils and organisations set up after Revolution
•Documents and reports of State Planning Commission
•Results of censuses of population and industry
Russian Collection
• Around 34,000 volumes
• Mainly Russian but some material in Ukrainian and Belarussian
• Strongest on Soviet and Post-Soviet period
RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONARY PAMPHLETS
Over 800 pamphlets and periodicals (in 78 vols.) relating to the revolutionary movement, and dating from the mid-nineteenth to early twentieth century.
Pamphlet Collection at the LSE Library
• There are over 90,000 pamphlets in this collection. They are an excellent resource of primary source material for historical research
• Much of the material dates from the late 19th and early 20th centuries
• Pamphlets are published by political parties, pressure groups and private individuals
Subjects covered
• Social policy• Transport policy• Issues in British political history• War and peace• Women’s history• History of the trades union movement
Social policy
• Material on the Poor Laws and origins of the welfare state collected by the Webbs
• Origins of the National Health Service• Housing policy – slum clearance and the
garden cities• Old age pensions
Transport
• Thousands of pamphlets on the history of the railways in Britain and the US were acquired as part of the Acworth Collection
• Includes company reports, maps and timetables• Debates about nationalisation• The case for a Channel Tunnel• Origins of London transport
Issues in British political history• The Library collects publications from all
political parties• Party political manifestos from the 19th and 20th
centuries• Collection contains historical cartoons• Other subjects covered include home rule for
Ireland, Corn Laws, free trade and protection and the land question
Access to the collection
• The pamphlet collection is kept in closed access and material is fetched on request
• All pamphlets have a catalogue record on the Library’s OPAC
• This was achieved as part of a RETROCON project which lasted two years and was completed in 1997
• Use of the collection increased by 60% as pamphlet catalogue records were loaded on to the OPAC
Preservation and digitisation
• 25,000 pamphlets are on microfilm• 600 have been digitised and can be accessed through
links on the Library web page and catalogue• There is a pamphlets web page which is linked to the
Library’s home page. It receives thousands of hits every year
http://www.lse.ac.uk/library/pamphlets/Default.htm• 6,000 19th century pamphlets are being digitised as part
of the RLUK (CURL) 19th Century Pamphlets Project