PUBLIC MORALITY COUNCIL

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 A/PMC
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: PUBLIC MORALITY COUNCIL
Date(s)	: 1899-1967
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 5.88 linear metres
Name of creator(s)	: London Council for the Promotion of Public Morality x Public Morality Council

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The London Council for the Promotion of Public Morality, later the Public Morality Council, was formed in 1899 to combat vice and indecency in London and to assist in their repression by legal means, already existing but neglected. Its members included representatives of the Church of England, Roman Catholic and Non-Conformist churches and of the Jewish faith, leaders in education and medicine and charitable associations and others supporting reform. It continued until 1969, concentrating latterly on opposition to sexual immorality and pornography in general and in the theatre, cinema, radio and television. Its functions were taken over by the Social Morality Council, constituted in 1969.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the London Council for the Promotion of Public Morality, later known as the Public Morality Council. Scarcely any of the early records survive, the earliest useful series being the annual reports, 1901-1913 and 1932-1954. Minutes of the council and its sub-committees cover 1940-1965.

Records include constitution of the Council; Council and committees minutes and papers; membership lists for the council and committees; annual reports; papers relating to annual public meetings and Hyde Park meetings; paper relating to conferences and talks; general correspondence; financial accounts; records relating to links with other societies, both national and international; PMC publications and related magazines, films and other publications.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

The files have been placed in categories according to administrative use and subject but the majority of them contain a certain amount of miscellaneous material.

Conditions governing access:

These records are open to public inspection, although records containing personal information may be subject to closure periods.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright to these records rests with the depositor.

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Records deposited in 1970.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist'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:
June to August 2010.