Records of the Workers Educational Association, East Midlands district, 1919-1957

The collection comprises the following series. All records relate to the East Midlands district of the association unless otherwise stated:

• Financial papers, 1941-1959 (We A).
• Meeting minute book, correspondence, administrative records and financial papers for Derbyshire, Moira and District, and Oakham branches, 1942-1958 (We B).
• Postage books, 1957-1958 (We C).
• Index cards recording lectures given, 1955-1958 (We L).
• Annual reports of the Workers Educational Association districts but not including East Midlands district, 1936-1955 (We R).
• Copy letter book for Selston branch, 1919-1920 (We S).
• Records of approved and organiser tutors, 1948-1958 (We T).
• Records of the Workers Educational Trades Union Committee, mainly financial, 1944-1951 (We U).
• Miscellaneous items, 1946-1960 (We X).

The records of the East Midlands district comprise routine administrative and financial records. Sadly, core series such as meeting minutes, annual reports and accounts for the district as a whole are absent.

The Workers Educational Association was founded in 1903 to provide learning opportunities for adults from all walks of life, but especially those who may have missed out on learning in early life, or who were socially and economically disadvantaged.

Details of the setting up and composition of the East Midlands district have not been ascertained. The records in this collection indicate that the district consisted of many branches. Derbyshire, for example, operated independently with ambitious teaching programmes of its own. Areas such as Hucknall, Leicester and Oakham had their own branches. The district and the branches ran lecture programmes and courses and had separate policy committees.

The association and its East Midlands district was still in existence in 2002.

The collection has been divided by document type into nine series. Within these series, items have been arranged chronologically.

ACCESS: Access to series We T which contains personal information is restricted but the rest of the collection is accessible to all registered readers.

REPROGRAPHIC: Reprographic copies can be supplied for educational use and private study purposes only, depending on access status and the condition of the documents.

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

• In the reading room of The University of Nottingham's Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections: Typescript Catalogue 5pp
• At the National Register of Archives, London: Typescript Catalogue 5pp

Other collections, particularly those of association branches and districts, are recorded on the National Register of Archives.

COPYRIGHT: Permission to make published use of any material from this 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 this can be difficult and the responsibility for copyright clearance before publication ultimately rests with the person wishing to publish.

LANGUAGE: English

The bulk of the collection was acquired by The University of Nottingham's Department of Manuscripts in 1962. The copy letter book of the Selston branch (We S) was acquired from a different source in October 1977.

The Trade Union Congress Library, University of North London: records of the Workers Educational Association nationally, 1903-1998. WEA