Papers of Frederick A. Wells, Professor of Industrial Economics, University of Nottingham, 1916-1971

Most of the collection consists of material relating to Wells' work as an academic and economic advisor. This includes minutes of various wage councils from 1938 to 1971, together with reports, press cuttings and notes concerning other professional bodies. A number of items present relate to Professor Wells' work on the history of the hosiery industry.

An additional accession of academic papers, transferred from the Department of Industrial Economics at the University of Nottingham, is not yet available to the public, pending cataloguing.

Frederick Arthur Wells (d 1971) started his working life as an apprentice in the hosiery trade but became a mature student at University College, Nottingham. After a period of postgraduate work at the London School of Economics, he returned to Nottingham in 1928 as a Staff Tutor in the Adult Education Department. In 1932 he was appointed Lecturer in Economics, and promoted to Reader in 1945. Between 1944 and 1945 Wells was seconded to the Board of Trade and later served as chairman for several Wage Councils. In recognition of these services he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1954.

Wells became head of the University's Economics Department in 1953 and was made Professor of Industrial Economics in 1958. His main area of interest was the history and development of the local textile and hosiery industries. Professor Wells died in October 1971.

The collection has been divided into fourteen sections reflecting the form of material, and professional body involved.

ACCESS: Catalogued material is accessible to all registered readers

REPROGRAPHIC: Photocopies and photographic copies of material more than 30 years old can be supplied for educational use and private study purposes only, depending on the access status and the condition of the documents.

NOTE: Copyright on all Finding Aids belongs to the University of Nottingham.

• In the Reading Room, University of Nottingham Library: Typescript Catalogue, 3 pp
• At the National Register of Archives, London: Typescript Catalogue, 3 pp

COPYRIGHT: Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Keeper of the Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections (email mss-library@nottingham.ac.uk ). The Department will try to assist in identifying copyright owners but the responsibility for copyright clearance before publication ultimately rests with the reader.

LANGUAGE: English.

A further accrual of academic papers was received in 1992 directly from Professor Wells' former Department.