Libraries and Archives

If you wish to find out more about labouring-class writers, consult the following libraries and archives:

The Brian Maidment Collection at Nottingham Trent University

A recently acquired collection of mainly nineteenth-century volumes of writings by labourers donated to NTU by Brian Maidment, Emeritus Professor at the University of Salford. The collection forms part of the Raymond Williams Archives at NTU.

For access, please contact NTU Clifton Campus Library

The Raymond Williams Archives at Nottingham Trent University

The archives have particular strengths in late 18th, early 19th and late 20th century writing, including an important collection of modern poetry manuscripts.

The Burnett Archive of Working-Class Autobiographies at Brunel University, London

A significant collection of eighteenth and nineteenth-century working-class autobiopgraphies is held at Brunel University Library in Uxbridge, West London.

The Working Class Movement Library, Salford

The WCML has a collection of English language books, periodicals, pamphlets, archives and artefacts, concerned with the activities, expression and enquiries of the labour movement, its allies and its enemies, since the late 1700s.

Labour History Archive, Manchester

The Labour History Archive and Study Centre is based within the People’s History Museum in Manchester. It holds records for working class political organisations from the Chartists to New Labour