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British Library of Political and Economic Science

Central Filing Registry

IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0097 LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS ARCHIVES/Central Filing Registry

Held at: British Library of Political and Economic Science

Title: Central Filing Registry

Date(s): 1895-1993

Level of description: sub-fonds

Extent: c 697 boxes

Name of creator(s): London School of Economics and Political Science

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Central Filing Registry consists of the subjects files of the central administration of the London School of Economics, and incorporates files dating back to the foundation of the School. The Registry did not have a comprehensive classification system, with sections being set up as required with brief titles and numbers allocated in numerical order. Each file has an individual identification code in the following format: section/sub-section/sub-sub-section/sub-sub-sub-section. The number of sub-sections varies according to the importance and complication of the topic and the number of files produced. The original file codes have been preserved. The Registry was reorganised in the 1960s.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the London School of Economics Central Filing Registry, 1895-1972, comprising:
Material concerning academic teaching and research, notably material relating to degree courses, 1950-1969, both undergraduate and postgraduate; papers relating to staff and student exchanges, 1949-1974; material concerning research grants, 1935-1968, mainly comprising minutes and papers of the Research Committee and the Division of Research Techniques, documents concerning the Ford Foundation, and papers of the Higher Education Research Unit; papers relating to funding bodies, such as the Gulbenkian Foundation, 1958-1971, the Sir Ernest Cassel Fund, 1912-1945, the Hugh Lewis Fund, 1917-1937, the Ratan Tata Foundation, 1919-1967, the Nuffield Foundation, 1949-1955, and the Rockefeller Foundation, 1923-1965; material concerning scholarships, prizes, and fellowships, 1912-1970, including minutes of the Scholarships and Prizes Committee; papers relating to Railway courses taught at LSE, 1902-1964, including those of the Railway Advisory Committee; correspondence and papers concerning the Army Class, 1906-1947; papers of various LSE academic departments, notably Business Administration, 1928-1957, Social Research, 1940-1963, Social Biology, 1930-1939, Social Science, 1916-1966, Psychology, 1949-1966, International Studies, 1925-1939, Language Studies, 1919-1949, Geography, 1908-1963, and Economics, 1965; material regarding teaching techniques, 1927-1968, including minutes of the Committee on Teaching Techniques; material relating to the education of overseas students, 1928-1968, including papers concerning the Colonial Studies course and the Committee on the Welfare of Overseas Students; material regarding the creation and appointment of various Chairs, Readerships and Lectureships, 1924-1967; minutes and papers of the Board of Studies in Economics, 1951-1967; material relating to the Mental Health Course, 1926-1957, including papers of the Child Guidance Council, the Commonwealth Fund and the Mental Health Training Committee; material on the teaching of Statistics and Computing Methods, Insurance, Social Studies, Latin American Studies, Management and Management Studies, 1920-1968; material concerning The New Survey of London Life & Labour (London, 1930-1935) undertaken by LSE, 1926-1953; material concerning public and memorial lectures organised by LSE, 1940-1968; details of the teaching of evening classes, 1939-1965; papers relating to the British Library of Political and Economic Science, 1920-1968, notably correspondence, and minutes of Library committee meetings; material concerning LSE publications, 1900-1968, including Politica, the Quarterly Journal on Reconstruction, Economica, the British Journal of Sociology, departmental pamphlets and various individual publications; papers relating to the Economists' Bookshop, London, 1946-1966.
Material relating to the administration of LSE, notably papers concerning the administrative procedures of LSE, 1928-1969, including constitution and membership of School government and committees, staff terms of employment (notably salaries), School regulations, as well as registers of graduates; papers regarding revisions of the LSE constitution, 1927-1959; material concerning fundraising and appeals, 1946-1967, notably the LSE Benevolent Fund; material concerning LSE buildings, including maintenance and expansion, 1896-1973, notably minutes of the Building Committee and the Accommodation Committee, and papers concerning 10 Adelphi Terrace, Passfield Hall, Clements Inn Passage, the Three Tuns Pub, Skepper House, the Lionel Robbins Building, and Carr-Saunders Hall; committee papers, 1904-1968, including those of the Standing Committee, 1937-1964, the Finance Sub-Committee, 1939-1967, the Appointments Committee, 1945-1968, the Academic Board, 1925-1968, the Court of Governors, 1904-1968, the House Committee, 1905-1923, and Office Committee, 1923-1929; financial material, 1897-1968, including papers relating to rates, taxation, audits, stock transfers and holdings, as well as minutes of the Investments Committee, 1927-1968, and papers concerning staff pensions, 1912-1968; papers of the Administrative Staff Common Room, 1925-1965, and the Senior Common Room, 1921-1967; material regarding LSE dinners and receptions, 1931-1966; material concerning the Graduate School, 1929-1968, mainly comprising minutes and papers of the Graduate School Committee; press cuttings concerning the Board of Discipline, 1967; papers regarding the Student Health Service, 1945-1967; material regarding admission of students to LSE, 1928-1968, notably minutes of the Admissions Committee, details of entry requirements, aptitude tests and the selection procedure; administrative material concerning the evacuation of LSE to Cambridge during World War Two, 1938-1949, and war damage to School buildings, 1940-1954; material concerning School fees, 1927-1968; material relating to the LSE catering services, 1920-1967, including minutes of the Refectory Committee; material concerning the Friends of the LSE and the LSE Society (formerly Old Student's Association), 1921-1963; papers relating to the Robbins Committee (Committee on Higher Education), 1961-1964, and papers of the Research Group on the Future of the School, 1963-1965; general correspondence, financial material, constitutional papers and other papers of the Student's Union and its societies, 1914-1968.
Material concerning relations with outside bodies, including correspondence with other colleges, institutes and universities, 1918-1968, including the International African Institute, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Dundee School of Economics and the Central School of Arts and Crafts; correspondence with Government bodies, such as the Ministry of Education, 1901-1956, the Treasury, and the Board of Education, 1895-1911; papers of the Greater London Group, 1958-1965; correspondence and papers regarding contracts with the London County Council, 1904-1963; material relating to the University of London, 1911-1968, including annual returns of the University Grants Committee, papers of the University Court concerning capital grants, examinations, quinquennium, building programmes, visitations and relations with the School; papers of the London and Cambridge Economic Service, 1922-1959; papers of the External and School branches of the Association of University Teachers, 1921-1966; minutes of the Intercollegiate Committee in Laws, 1920-1960.
Other material, including general papers relating to Sidney and Beatrice Webb, 1925-1967, such as personal correspondence, and later papers concerning the Passfield Bequest; and correspondence relating to Lord Josiah Charles Stamp, Chairman of the Governors, 1921-1964.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

Arranged in sections based on subject, and chronologically within those.

Conditions governing access:

Open, though some confidential files and files less than 20 years old are closed. Apply to Archivist for details.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright is held by LSE.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

Printed handlist and online catalogue available. The list sorts the files by both reference number and date.

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Given by the LSE in 1987/88. Further deposits were made in 1993, 1996 and 1999.

Immediate source of acquisition:

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

Further material concerning the LSE may be found in the other sections of the London School of Economics Archives and the papers of Beatrice and Sidney Webb (Ref: Passfield), Sir Walter Adams (Ref: Adams), Lord William Henry Beveridge (Ref: Beveridge), Sir Sydney Caine (Ref: Caine), and Sir Alexander Carr-Saunders (Ref: Carr-Saunders).

Publication note:

Ralf Gustav Dahrendorf LSE: a history of the London School of Economics and Political Science, 1895-1995 (Oxford University Press, 1995).

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Archivist's note: Sources: British Library of Political and Economic Science Archives catalogue. Compiled by Sarah Aitchison as part of the RSLP AIM25 project.