READER, Dr William Joseph, 1920-1990, historian

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0097 READER
Held at	: British Library of Political and Economic Science   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.lse.ac.uk/library ›
Full title	: READER, Dr William Joseph, 1920-1990, historian
Date(s)	: [1970-1990]
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 44 boxes
Name of creator(s)	: Reader | William Joseph | 1920-1990 | Dr | historian

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born in 1920; educated at Taunton School and Jesus College, Cambridge University; served World War Two, 1939-1945, in India and Burma with the Royal Signal Corps; research assistant to Charles Wilson during the writing of Wilson's history of Unilever, 1947-1954; worked for Unilever, 1950-1964, in advertising, market research and public relations; began career as a historical writer; left Unilever in 1964 to write a history of ICI, which was published in 1970 and 1795; wrote a series of business histories; Texaco Visiting Fellow, Business History Unit, London School of Economics and Political Science, 1979-1985; died 1990. Publications: Birds Eye: the early years (Walton on Thames, 1963); Imperial Chemical Industries: a history (Oxford University Press, London, 1970, 1975); Architect of air power: the life of the first Viscount Weir of Eastwood (Collins, London, 1968); Life in Victorian England (Batsford, London, 1964); Professional men: the rise of the professional classes in nineteenth-century Europe (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1966); Hard roads and highways: S.P.D. Ltd, 1918-1968 (Batsford, London, 1969); Unilever plantations (Unilever Ltd, London, 1961); The Weir Group: a centenary history (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1971).

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of William Joseph Reader, [1970-1990], including research material for business histories written by Reader, notably notebooks containing references, files of notes relating to the company and the themes of the history, and printed company material for businesses including Grand Metropolitan, Philips and Drew, Macadam, Napier and Son, Huntingate, Bowater, the Institute of Electrical Engineers, Metal Box, Unilever, the Weir Group, Foster Braithwaite and ICI; notes for history books on the First World War and the Victorian era; audio cassettes of interviews for business histories; lecture notes, seminar papers and correspondence regarding Reader's work for the Business History Unit, LSE.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Unsorted.

Conditions governing access:

Closed until listed.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright is held by the donor and their heirs.

Finding aids:

Unlisted.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Given by the family in 1998.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Allied Materials

Related material:

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Sources: Who's Who 1897-1996 (A & C Black, 1996); British Library On-Line Public Access Catalogue 97. Compiled by Sarah Aitchison as part of the RSLP AIM25 project.

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:
Apr 2001