Fabian Society minute books

This page contains digitised versions of early minute books of Fabian Society meetings. They are available as pdf files - just click on the links in the titles to download them. To view the pdf files you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. This software is already installed on many computers. However, if you do not have it, you may download it for free from the Adobe website|.

Executive Committee

These minute books mainly contain summaries on administrative matters relating to such themes as:

  • Branches
  • Committees
  • Financial matters
  • Lecture programmes and other events
  • Membership
  • Relations with other organisations, such as the Independent Labour Party
  • Rules
  • Tracts and other publications

After 1938, the records of the annual general meetings and the reports made to them by the General Secretary were included in the minutes of the Exexcutive Committee as numbered committee papers.

A list of members of the Executive Committee, 1884-1924, is in "The history of the Fabian Society", by Edward R Pease (second edition, 1925), pp.285-288. They include Annie Besant, G D H Cole, R C K Ensor, Harold Laski, James Ramsay Macdonald, George Bernard Shaw, Charlotte Shaw, R H Tawney, Beatrice Webb, Sidney Webb and H G Wells.

Reference

Title Size (MB)
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/1 Executive Committee, 23 December 1885-21 January 1887|  3.1
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/2 Executive Committee, January-April 1890  |  5.8
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/3 Executive Committee, 29 April 1890-1 September 1891| 18.0
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/4 Executive Committee, 9 September 1891-24 February 1893| 27.0
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/5 Executive Committee, 3 March 1893-4 January 1895| 27.0
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/6 Executive Committee, 11 January 1895-12 February 1897| 28.0
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/7 Executive Committee,  19 February 1897-10 November 1899| 30.4
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/8 Executive Committee, 17 November 1899-26 June 1903| 33.6
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/9 Executive Committee, 11 September 1903-20 July 1906| 29.5
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/10 Executive Committee, 14 September 1906-3 July 1908| 34.0
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/11 Executive Committee, 25 September 1908-24 February 1911| 39.5
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/12 Executive Committee, 10 March 1911-24 January 1913| 42.2 
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/13 Executive Committee, 14 February 1913-11 December 1914| 35.6
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/14 Executive Committee, 15 January 1915-7 December 1917| 35.5
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/15 Executive Committee, 20 February 1917-26 May 1922| 30.2
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/16 Executive Committee, 28 July 1922-22 March 1928| 35.7
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/17 Executive Committee, 28 April 1928-28 June 1933| 33.3
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/18 Executive Committee, 27 September 1933-25 November 1937| 33.7
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/19 Executive Committee, 20 January-15 December 1938| 8.8
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/20 (part 1) Executive Committee, 16 January 1939-28 December 1942| 33.9
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/20 (part 2) Executive Committee, 25 January 1943-29 June 1946| 42.0
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/21 Executive Committee, 22 July 1946-28 February 1949| 25.5 
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/22 Executive Committee, 28 March 1949-9 December 1954| 24.5


Sub-committees

Reference Title Size (MB)
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/24 Sub-committees minute book, 15 February 1899-19 February 1912| 24.4
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/25 Sub-committees minute book, 22 June 1916-17 September 1934| 2.8
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/26 Minute book, 1939-48| (sections on: international food policy, local government, research, women's group) 37.9


 

 

 

 

 


Meetings

Minute books of lecture and business meetings of the Society, 1883-1938.

Reference Title  Size (MB) 
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/36 Meetings minute book, 24 October 1883-6 July 1888| 14.1
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/37 Meetings minute book, 21 September 1888-10 April 1891| 9.5
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/38 Meetings minute book, 24 April 1891-24 January 1896| 17.0
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/39 Meetings minute book, 14 February 1896-14 June 1901| 18.6
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/40 Meetings minute book, 22 November 1901-12 July 1907| 20.8
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/41 Meetings minute book, 11 October 1907-23 April 1920| 24.5
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/42 Meetings minute book, 14 May 1920-16 June 1938| 8.2


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Fabian Common Room

Reference Title Size (MB)
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/43 Fabian Common Room Committee minutes, 1915-19| 16.0
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/44 Fabian Common Room visitors' book, 1915-34| 2.4


 

 

 



Organising and Propaganda Committee

Reference Title Size (MB)
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/45 Minutes, 3 May 1907-30 October 1911| 26.3
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/46 Minutes, 9 November 1911-24 March 1916| 22.9
 

 


 

Committee attendance

Registers of attendance at committee meetings, 1907-15.

Reference Title Size (MB)
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/56 Committee attendance book, December 1907-September 1910| 10.9
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/57 Committee attendance book, September 1910-October 1912| 10.1
FABIAN SOCIETY/C/58 Committee attendance book, October 1912-October 1915| 10.2


 

 

 

 


 

Finance and General Purposes Committee

The Finance and General Purposes Committee was set up by the Executive Committee in April 1907 and first met on the 26th. Until that time its functions had been performed by the Executive Committee and in particular by the Treasurer. Its terms of reference, given at the beginning of the minute book D/1, were wide. Six bound minute books, D/1-6, present a continuous record from 1907 to December 1938. Minutes for the years 1939-46 are included in C/20 (available above) and C/23 (not available online, but can be consulted in the LSE Archives reading room). D/7 contains the minutes for 1946-54.

Reference Title Size (MB) 
FABIAN SOCIETY/D/1 Minute book, 26 April 1907-5 October 1911| 25.6
FABIAN SOCIETY/D/2 Minute book, 16 November 1911-23 March 1916| 23.3
FABIAN SOCIETY/D/3 Minute book, 18 May 1916-19 May 1922| 23.1
FABIAN SOCIETY/D/4 Minute book, 23 June 1922-18 April 1929| 22.9
FABIAN SOCIETY/D/5 Minute book, 6 June 1929-17 September 1936| 23.6
FABIAN SOCIETY/D/6 Minute book, 14 October 1936-15 December 1938| 6.6
FABIAN SOCIETY/D/7 Minute book, 5 July 1946-9 December 1954| 24.7


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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