LSE Library has completed the first stage of a long-term project to digitise the ILP archive material held in its collection and make it freely available for all to view online.
The library considers the ILP archives one of its “key heritage collections” among a range of material it holds on the early left and Labour movement, including organisations such as such the Fabian Society and the Social Democratic Federation.
For years, the ILP collection has been among those most frequently viewed by researchers, students and historians in its Women’s Library Reading Room. For the first time, this historic material – including everything from Keir Hardie’s handwritten speech notes to 1930s index cards detailing far right groups and sympathisers – will now be accessible online via a simple link.
The first stage of the project involved digitising the minute books of the ILP’s National Administrative Council, from its first ever meeting in 1893 to 1921, as well as some local branch minutes from 1895 to 1931.
Scanned versions of all of these documents can now be viewed here while other sections of the archive will be digitised and added to this portal over the coming months and years.
The ILP collection at LSE covers more than 80, years from the founding of the organisation in 1893 up until 1978. In the words of Daniel Brambilla-Payne, the library’s curator for politics and international relations, “It contains a huge variety of fascinating ephemera from its rich history as a significant force in shaping the outlook and development of the Labour movement.
“This ranges across different aspects of ILP’s work. There are election posters from the 1890s and the earliest ILP pamphlets, plus a wide range of photographs, letters, papers, and much more.”
Further ILP material held at the library includes:
- minutes of the National Adminstrative Council, plus minutes of various other ILP branches
- correspondence collected by Francis Johnson, the first secretary of the ILP, including letters to and from Hardie, and covering subjects such as election campaigns, labour-related political issues, ILP branch affairs, and personal matters
- conference reports, election ephemera, and a very large collection of ILP pamphlets.
The full collection is open to everyone in person; you don’t need to be a member of a university to access it. If a visit is not possible, the library can scan small amounts of material (up to 50 pages) on request at no cost. To arrange appointments or scanned copies of documents, get in touch via email: library.enquiries@lse.ac.uk
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Newly digitised ILP archives at LSE can be viewed here.
The ILP’s first minute book from 1893 can be accessed directly here.
You can read an overview of all the ILP material available at LSE and how to access it here.
More about the LSE Library is here.
More about ILP history is here.
ILP Past & Present – a brief history of the organisation – can be purchased here.
