The
TUC Library Collections, which transferred to the London Metropolitan
University in September 1996, were first established in 1922 as a Joint
Library for the use of both the Trades Union Congress and the Labour
Party. They contain books, pamphlets, documents and other material
collected from unions, pressure groups and campaign movements both in the
UK and internationally since the second half of the 19th century. The TUC
continues to add material acquired after 1996 on a regular basis.
The
Collections constitute a major research library in the social sciences,
with reference and historical works on the trade union movement, union
publications, documents relating to working conditions and industrial
relations in various industries, Labour and Communist Party publications,
and material collected from the various campaigns and policy areas in
which the TUC has been involved since its foundation in 1868. A major
strength of the Library is the large collection of pamphlets and other
ephemera, which have survived here as in few other comparable libraries. A
selection of holdings has been digitised and is now available on The Union
Makes Us Strong : TUC History Online website at www.unionhistory.info.
Details
of holdings up to 1995 are entered on a card catalogue, only accessible in
the TUC Library Collections. However, since January 1999, new acquisitions
and older union publications covered by a National Heritage Lottery Fund
re-cataloguing project have been added to the online library
catalogue. Descriptions of major archival resources held in the
Collections may be found here. Access
for users is by appointment only. For details of admission arrangements,
opening times see the Collections webpages.
TUC
Library Collections
London Metropolitan University-North Campus
Learning Centre
236-250 Holloway Road
London
N7 6PP
Telephone: 020 7133 2260
Fax: 020 7133 2529
Email:
tuclib@londonmet.ac.uk
Whit Monday open-air meeting organised by the Yorkshire ILP at Hardcastle Crags near Hebden Bridge on 25 May, 1896.
The meeting was addressed by James Keir Hardie (seen at centre of this photo) and other speakers and entertained by Clarion Vocal Unions and Choirs from across Yorkshire.
This photo is inscribed "England Arise", a socialist song from the period.