Foundations of British Sociology: The Sociological Review Archive
Search the Foundations of British Sociology (FoBS) Archive
Foundations of British Sociology: The Sociological Review Archive dates from the 1880s to the 1950s and consists of papers from:
- Sociological Society
- Regional Association
- Civic Education League
- LePlay House
- Institute of Sociology
- The Sociological Trust
- LePlay House Press
- The Sociological Review
- LePlay Society
- Victor Branford
- Sybella Branford
- Alexander and Dorothea Farquharson
Members of the societies founded The Sociological Review, contributed to early University teaching of Sociology, published many books and papers and collected survey material from the UK and Europe. The archive comprises personal papers, business records, newspaper cuttings, lectures, reports, plans, surveys, lantern slides and an extensive collection of books from the LePlay House Library. It includes material relating to key activists and opinion-shapers such as Victor Branford, Francis Galton, Patrick Geddes, H. G. Wells, Lewis Mumford and Alexander Farquharson on themes such as the responsibilities of the state and the citizen, planning urban development, the position of women, the role of technical education, local government reform, regionalism, the co-operative movement, rural society and the family. Researchers will find valuable materials on the origins of modern British sociology, and related social sciences such as social psychology, cultural geography, town planning and demography.
The archive was gifted to the University by the Institute of Sociology following its dissolution in 1955. There are no restrictions on access.
The Le Play House and Institute of Sociology library stock also transferred to Keele and is catalogued separately from the archive. There are currently over 3500 titles, dating from the 1820s to the 1950s, and stock continues to be added. Notable items include nineteenth century pamphlets on positivism and early Sociological Papers.