Co-operative Productive Federation

This collection consists of minutes from Co-operative Productive Federation board meetings, correspondence between its secretary and member societies, promotional materials, documents related to the role of the society within the co-operative movement, financial reports on member societies, press clippings relating to the society and other related documents

The Co-operative Productive Federation was formed in 1882 with the aim of promoting unity of action amongst the small number of productive societies that were in existence, securing capital for their use and finding markets for their products. Within ten years of its formation, the number of co-operative productive societies trebled and by 1940 it boasted 40 member societies and sales of over £3.5 million.

According to the CPF's rules, "Societies or companies only shall be admitted whose rules admit the workers employed by them to membership and to the participation in the division of profits in respect of their wages".

Its headquarters are in Leicester and the majority of its member societies are based in the East Midlands region.

The collection is open to any accredited reader, subject to the requirements of the Data Protection Act 2018.

Some files in this collection are subject to Data Protection legislation as they contain sensitive information and material under 30 years old is closed to access. It is advised that you contact the Archivist before visiting.

Box list

Additional material may be added at a later date