Pressure group archives at the University of
Hull
Hull University Archives has built up a collection of pressure
group archives of regional, national and international importance
and is recognised as a specialist repository in this area.
Our first major pressure group archive - that of the Union of
Democratic Control - was acquired in 1968, having been salvaged by
John Saville of the University's Department of Economic &
Social History, from the bottom of a lift shaft in the UDC's former
London offices. The number and range of these archives has grown
steadily over the years and now include small, short-lived, single
issue local groups, such as the Beverley Minster open space
campaign, as well as large, successful, continuing organisations
such as Liberty and Justice. We are still developing our
specialist collection in this area, our most recent additions
including the records of Parity and of the Association of British
Counties.
Brochure for Sheffield Peace
Festival, 1952 [DCL/30/5]
Many collections include files on, or specimens from, other
pressure groups, a good example being a file on the Housewives'
League to be found within the archives of Liberty. The survival
(and retention) rates for pressure group records is often very
poor. Historically, and quite naturally, very few of those involved
in such organisations have seen the creation of useful historical
archives as an objective. Consequently, papers kept by individual
members can often be quite significant, and occasionally represent
the sole surviving records for some groups. Equally, the archives
of Members of Parliament (of which Hull University Archives has
many) often contain numerous files relating to those pressure
groups with which they were (or are) connected, or which have been
active in trying to influence them.
The links found on the right will take
you to further information about the extensive pressure group
archives held at the University of Hull. The term 'pressure
group' is used quite loosely, and is taken to include any
organisations which at one stage or another have organised
campaigns either in relation to one or more issues or on behalf of
their membership. This means that the groups represented are
extremely varied, and include not only clearly identifiable
pressure groups such as the British Union for the Abolition of
Vivisection, but also 'ginger' groups associated with (but perhaps
not officially part of) the Labour and Conservative Parties,
co-operative groups such as the Co-operative Women's Guild,
friendship societies such as the China Campaign Committee, and
religious groups, such as the Anglican Evangelical Group Movement.
Major
collections
British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection [DBV]
Co-operative Women's Guild and the International Co-operative
Women's Guild [DCW; DCX]
Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants [DJC]
Justice (British Section of the International Commission of
Jurists) [DJU]
Liberty (formerly the National Council for Civil Liberties)
[DCL]
Miscarriages of justice [DMU]
Parity (formerly the Campaign for Equal State Pension Ages)
Socialist Health (formerly Medical) Association [DSM]
Union of Democratic Control [DDC]
Further
information
Subject
guides are available containing further information about
our holdings of pressure group archives and archives relating to
women's history
Full catalogues for each collection can be searched using our
online catalogue