Records of Keighley Friends Adult School

Scope and Content

Minutes, 1882-1913 (1 vol.) [SE 53]; Minutes of Mutual Improvement Society, 1882-1897, including mintues of Adult School proper, 1927-1934, (1 vol.) [SE 33]; Account book, 1895-1906, with minutes, 1913-1917 (1 vol.) [SE 54]; Savings Bank accounts, 1884-1888 [SE 32]; Attendance register, c.189?-1911(1 vol.) [SE 52]

Administrative / Biographical History

The Adult School was founded in Keighley in 1882 and met at the Mechanics Institute. A Mutual Improvement Society, a Temperance Society and a savings bank were founded by members in the same year. The school seems to have reached its peak in the mid-1890s, with a membership of 89. Its traditional annual tea became a festival of entertainment and discussion, with speakers from other Yorkshire Adult Schools. However the school was always relatively small in size, and had declined to 52 members by 1902. At some point after 1917, the school closed, but a new school was established in the town in 1927, encouraged by Alice Robson, Arthur Raistrick and members of adult schools in Skipton and Saltaire. It had 29 members at the end of its first year, and there are no surviving records after 1934.

Arrangement

The records are numbered and arranged according to the system used when they were in Carlton Hill Meeting House

Access Information

The conditions of deposit include a clause requiring written prior permission from a Friend Custodian for access to consult current legal documents and any material less than fifty years old

Acquisition Information

The collection of archives of the Society of Friends formerly held at the Friends Meeting House at Carlton Hill, Leeds

Note

In English

Other Finding Aids

Contents listed in Handlist 99, Inventory of the records of Brighouse, Knaresborough, Leeds, and Settle Monthly Meetings of the Society of Friends formerly preserved at the Friends Meeting House, Carlton Hill, Leeds, 2nd edition, 1997

Conditions Governing Use

As with access, the photocopying of current legal documents and any material less than fifty years old requires the permission of a Friend Custodian

Related Material

Related material in Leeds University Library: Records of Keighley Preparative Meeting

Bibliography

See "Adult Sunday schools in Yorkshire", in Yorkshire Weekly Post, 2 August 1902

Additional Information

The records are deposited and remain the property of the Society of Friends