Catherine McIntyre introduces the LSE/Unregistered collection, an archive of LSE’s own history that is available to researchers using the archives at LSE.
As well as holding the archives of external collections from organisations and individuals, LSE Library also holds the historical records of LSE itself. LSE/UNREGISTERED contains a wide variety of documents that are outside of the School’s administrative system and therefore not part of the main body of departmental files in the Central Filing Registry.
The Unregistered collection includes School publications – from yearbooks and calendars to LSE Magazine and circulars; Directors’ files; Library records such as accessions registers, visitor books, guides and rules; examination papers; photographs and Students’ Union print. It provides a fascinating glimpse into the development and growth of LSE.
There is information to discover about students at the School. The calendars include lists of students awarded degrees, as well as scholarships and prizes. The finance division ledgers include fee books, photographs of students’ union officers and documents covering their activities. The Beaver provides an insight into the weekly goings on at the School from the students’ perspective, with the Clare Market Review journal a more literary publication. We can also see the examination papers that students on courses such as economics, anthropology, law and commerce would have undertaken.
Lists of academic staff appear in the calendars, including their publications and the courses on which they lectured. LSE Magazine features news and updates and the staff circular has more informal news items. Both academic and administrative staff members feature in the photographs section. There are offprints and pamphlets of articles, lectures and speeches by staff.
The Library features prominently in the collection, from records supporting its establishment in 1896 to photographs of the new Lionel Robbins building in 2001. Annual reports detail the growth of the Library while the PLEBS staff newsletter provides an insight into the lighter side of the librarians, library assistants and other staff that keep one of the world’s largest social science libraries running.
Some of the collection has already been digitised – copies of The Beaver up to 2008 are available on the Digital Library and many of the photographs are available on the Library’s Flickr site.
Contributed by Catherine McIntyre (LSE Library). This post originally appeared on the LSE Library blog.
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