Page contents > Access to the collection | Preservation microfilming | Thematic guides | Digitisation | Victorian Times Project | Research Libraries UK 19th century pamphlets project | Donation from the Institute of Bankers
The Library holds 90,000 old pamphlets, many published in the 19th century or the early part of the 20th century. This is primary source material, published and written by pressure groups, political parties and individual campaigners. Much of the original collection was donated to the Library in its early years. It is therefore a unique resource for historical research. Subjects covered include:
The collection has an international flavour, material is published in most European languages, with a particularly large proportion in German. There are publications from France published in 1848, Russia and Germany in the 1930s. The material on labour and the trade unions covers a vast range of countries including South Africa and Latin America. International history is also well-covered, including material on the League of Nations, disarmament, pacifism and the two World Wars. Disputes such as the Middle East are also well documented.
There is a comprehensive collection of material from political parties, including election manifestos and political cartoons. Issues in British political history include the Corn laws, land question, Church and state and home rule for Ireland. There is a wealth of material on the co-operative movement, including the Cooperative Women's Guild.
Pamphlets can be found from long-standing pressure groups such as the Fabian Society and organisations which have long disappeared such as the Industrial Welfare Society, the Minority Movements in the trades unions, the League of Nations Union and the Common Wealth Party.
The Library has maintained its policy of acquiring this type of material, by subscription to political parties, research bodies and current day pressure groups of all persuasions including the Child Poverty Action Group, Adam Smith Institute, the Institute for Economic Affairs and Transport 2000.
Access to the collection
Since August 1997 all the pamphlets acquired by the Library before 1980 have records on the Library's on-line catalogue| which is available via the Internet. They can be searched by subject keyword, author, author, title or issuing body. Pamphlets need to be fetched by Library staff and cannot be taken out of the Library. Users should check the Library Catalogue to identify the location. The majority of the Library's historic pamphlets are now kept in Archives and can only be read when the Archives Reading Room is open.
Preservation microfilming
Funding from the Higher Education Funding Council has meant that the Library has been able to selectively microfilm parts of the collection for preservation purposes. Over 25,000 pamphlets are on microfilm. There are approximately 50 pamphlets on each film and they follow the classification order for their section of the collection. If a pamphlet is on microfilm its microfilm number, for example, M (PAMPHLETS 1), is noted on the Library's catalogue. The use of these microfilms is encouraged, as it reduces the wear and tear on the original copy and gives the reader browsing access to selected parts of the collection. They are available on request as a fetch from the Service Counter.
The following sections of the pamphlet collection are on microfilm. They are from the older part of the collection which have classmarks comprising letters and a running number (eg. HD/1). If a pamphlet is on microfilm the reel number is in the full catalogue record.
D/ (history)
E(I) (international history)
HD/, HD1/, HD2/, HD3/, HD4/, HD5/, HD6/, HD7/, HD9/ (Industry, labour, housing and agriculture)
HE/, HE1(4)/, HE1(42)/ HE1(73)/, HE3/, HE4/, HE5/ (Transport)
HF/ (Trade, commerce and business)
HG/ (Finance)
HV/ (Social policy and criminology)
JA/, JC/, JF/, (Political science)
BP pamphlets have also been microfilmed - collection of 19th century British political pamphlets
Thematic guides
The Library has also published a series of thematic guides to the Pamphlet Collection, available both in printed format and on the Web. They are on
Digitisation
The majority of pamphlets listed in the Social policy and Transport Pamphlets guides have been digitised and are available via the Internet. If the classmark for a pamphlet is highlighted, click on it to obtain access to the pamphlet itself. Internet addresses are also available on the catalogue records. You will need to have an Acrobat reader on your PC in order to do this. Digitisation has been carried out as part of a project by the Higher Education Digitisation Service based at the University of Hertfordshire, and funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC).
Some of the pamphlets on microfilm have also been digitised. The pamphlets can be accessed from the catalogue records. Pamphlets from the following microfilms are now available-
Reel 6 (BP160336-BP160376)
Reel 7 (BP160377-BP160412)
These contain pamphlets on 19th century British political history including some political cartoons.
Reel 16 (BP161320-BP161372)
Includes pamphlets on transport, Society of Friends, Anti-Corn Law League, Robert Owen and the early trades union movement.
Reel 21 (BP165776-BP165835, some gaps)
Pamphlets by 19th century English socialists.
Reel 62 (BP203110-BP204645)
Includes pamphlets on womens' suffrage, India and public health.
Victorian Times Project
175 pamphlets were digitised by the Victorian Times Project. These cover the subjects of transport, social policy, housing, public health and education. A full list with links to the full text can be accessed from the Victorian Times| project web site.
Research Libraries UK 19th century pamphlets project
Over 20,000 pamphlets from seven RLUK Libraries have been digitised. Funding was made available by JISC. Pamphlets cover all aspects of 19th Century UK politics and government including social policy, public health, transport and foreign policy. The LSE Library contributed over 6,000 pamphlets to this project and the full text can be accessed from the Library catalogue record. All the pamphlets can be accessed from JSTOR |
For further information on this project see the 19th century British pamphlets online |web site
Donation from the Institute of Bankers
In 2010 the Library was given a donation from the former Institute of Bankers Library.
This included 98 volumes of bound 19th century pamphlets on banking. 500 of these were not already held by the Library and have therefore significantly increased our holdings in that subject area. The pamphlets have all been catalogued and can be found on the Library catalogue. They are kept in the Archives reading room.
The pamphlets cover many aspects of banking and monetary policy, but are particularly strong on bimetallism, with publications from organizations such as the Anti-Gold Law League and the Gold Standard Defence Association. Other subjects covered include financial crises or "panics", public finance, and local banking histories. Some of the pamphlets are published speeches, or letters by 19th century politicians on the monetary question.
These pamphlets can be found on the Library catalogue searching by keyword, or subject, title or author browsing. Their class-marks are BP293132-BP294434.