Papers of Baroness Beatrice Nancy Seear

This archive consists of the working material of Lady Baroness Nancy Seear. It contains material concerning the Equal Pay Bill of 1971 and the Sex Discrimination Bill of 1975, including: parliamentary working papers; parliamentary debates; minutes and agendas; press cuttings; reports and submissions for consultative papers from interested parties (including a number of women's organisations). The archive also includes questionnaires, reports and correspondence relating to women in industrial employment as part of the study 'A Career for Women in Industry' which was published in 1964.

Rather than personal papers, the majority of material is actual output as a result of Lady Seear's activities.

The majority of the material in the collection dates from 1963-1975.

See the biography for Seear; Lady; Beatrice Nancy (1913-1997); Baroness Seear of Paddington; social scientist and politician

The original order has been maintained, and arranged into three series which reflect the major activities of the creator over the years of the deposit. Some misfiled material has been moved to the relevant series. Duplicate material has been removed, including blank questionnaires from the 'Women in Industry' report, a questionnaire from Wellcome Pharmaceuticals regarding the demographic of the company, questions for the Select Committee on Anti Discrimination, a special report from the Select Committee, two copies of the Anti Discrimination Bill 1 Feb 1972 (not annotated), a draft report from the Select Committee and a submission from the Race Relations Board on the government consultation 'Equal Opportunities for Men and Women'.

This collection is available for research. Readers are advised to contact The Women's Library in advance of their first visit.

Donated by Margery Povall in 1997.

The Women's Library Catalogue

This material was given to Margery Povall, friend and ex-colleague, by Lady Beatrice Nancy Seear.

The Women's Library holds further material related to Lady Seear, including an interview with her as part of The National Life stories collection (8NLS/04) and an interview transcript as part of the 'Out of the dolls house' project (8ODH/02/08/085). The Women's Library also holds a number of her publications in their printed collections.

The Women's Library also holds material from other groups relating to the campaign for equal opportunities and pay for women. These include the Women in Media collection (6WIM) and the Women's Rights Campaign (5WRC).

The London School of Economics also holds some of Lady Seear's papers, which relate to her work with the Runnymeade Industrial Unit, the London Business School Minority Groups, and the Community Relations Commission, as well as material concerning women's employment and equal opportunities (c. 1930-1937). Cambridge University Library holds letters to her family (1932-1935).