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Records of the headquarters of the Mothers' Union, Mary Sumner House, Westminster. The majority of the archive dates from when the Mothers' Union established a centralised structure in the 1890s, and contains a small number of papers from members who, although not always based at Mary Sumner House, played important roles within the MU (see MU/MSS/2). Although some files run into the 1990s, many of the series stop in the early 1980s, which coincides with a survey undertaken of the archive in Mary Sumner House (see MU/CO/1/127).

The foundation of the Mothers' Union is dated to the publication of the first membership card in 1876. The society was established by Mary Sumner, wife of the Rector of Old Alresford in the Diocese of Winchester, to defend the institution of marriage and promote Christian family life. This concern broadened over time to consider all factors affecting the morality of society, within the home and without.

Initially a network of meetings in parishes in the Diocese of Winchester, by the mid 1890s, the MU had established a centralised governing body in London, and had a number of branches overseas; from the early twentieth century, departments were established to deal with specialised tasks in the society's work. Although the society was primarily concerned with the role of the mother and the upbringing of children, married women without children and unmarried women were allowed to join as Associate Members from the outset. Throughout the twentieth century the MU addressed a variety of contemporary social issues (such as runaway children, drug dependence, venereal disease, housing conditions and birth control), but reserved particular efforts for campaigning against divorce and marriage breakdown.

Faced with a need to address a liberalisation in both society and the Church in the decades following the Second World War, the Mothers' Union revised its constitution in 1974 giving greater autonomy to the MU overseas and no longer excluding divorcées. Further reassessment took place in the early 1990s when the need to comply with charity regulations prompted a restructuring of the organisation.

Papers of activist and historian Noreen Branson (1910-2003), including: wartime correspondence between Noreen and husband Clive Branson regarding miscellaneous and personal topics, 1941-1943; photographs of artwork and paintings by Clive Branson, n.d.; miscellaneous papers, press cuttings and correspondence regarding Clive Branson's death in 1944 and papers concerning Branson's art career, 1941-1944; typescript Communist Party of Great Britain papers of various classes and publications, possibly compiled by Noreen Branson, c1945; handwritten notes on books, pamphlets and conferences, possibly by Branson or Emile Burns, c1945 -1950; press cuttings regarding the stock exchange and the economy, 1967.

Notes, correspondence, press-cuttings and ephemera found in the Burns library. Correspondents include Charles Booth (1903). Press-cuttings cover subjects such as unemployment, local government, religion, and trades unions. Also includes a scrapbook of William Cobbett letters (1831-1832) and minutes of Liverpool branch of Association of All Classes of All Nations (1837-1839).

The Camerawork Archive contains material relating to the touring exhibitions programme, as well as administrative files relating to the running of the organisation. Records include prints, invoices, cuttings and hire charges.

Also included are a set of papers relating to the 1975 ‘Camera Obscured?’ lecture series, funding proposals, annual reports and proposal letters. There is also documentation of events, including transparencies and negatives of installation and buildings. Typically files include papers relating to fundraising and correspondence, and some photographic material such as prints, negatives and transparencies.

Projects include; ‘Factory Photographs’ by Nick Hedges, ‘Brick Lane’ by Paul Trevor, Martin Parr ‘The Non-Conformists’, ‘Work Stations’ by Anna Fox, commissioned by Camerawork and The Museum of London (1987) and Representing Disability: A day of talks and events (1987).

Letter from Thomas Clarkson of Woodbridge, [Suffolk] to Peter Clare of Manchester, 21 Apr 1826. Thanking him for details of a successful petition: 'Yours indeed is a great triumph, when you consider the opposition, if I may so call it, of the Boroughreeve ... It was much the case at Glasgow, where the hireling [James] Macqueen, the Editor of a Glasgow paper [?Glasgow Herald], and pensioned by two of the West Indian legislatures, and a host of W. India planters owners of West Indiamen and coopers, mechanics working for that employ resided ... There is ... something so good in our cause [the abolition of slavery], that it must always make its way among a moral people.

Autograph, with signature.

The archive has a particular focus on Cockpit Gallery Holborn exhibition programme, with some material also relating to touring shows. This material includes posters, prints, invoices and cuttings. There is also some documentation of events, including transparencies and negatives of installation and buildings.

The gallery's shows covered a wide range of social and political issues from educational, activist and artistic perspectives, with a broad educational and community mindset.

It was part of a broader development of photographic practices in the 1970s and 1980s, concerning issues of social emancipation and representation. Some of the exhibitions were co-curated with participants or with other community groups or with school students who were encouraged to take portraits of each other, or self-portraits.

In other exhibitions, the gallery invited established photographers to show their work who were also dealing with issues of representation, such as Armet Francis, Anita Corbin, and Jo Spence.

Notable projects include:
'100 Months of Women’s Liberation with Spare Rib', 1980
'Julie Mimmack: The Cage is Fixed', 1981
'Promises, Promises': An exhibition based on Henry Grant's Photographs, 1984
'Our Way of Rockin',' 1984
'Armet Francis: The Black Triangle', 1985
'Staying on: A photographic exhibition about staying on at school', 1985
'Homeworking: Time for Change', 1985
'On Yer Bikes Boys', 1986
'The Picture of Health?' A touring exhibition by Jessica Evans, Rosy Martin, Maggie Murray, Jo Spence, Yana [?Jana] Stajno, 1986
'Aurat Shakti: Asian Women Living in the Country,' Cockpit Gallery Holborn, 3 - 26 Mar 1986
Jo Spence, Photography Workshop, 'Beyond the Family Album... Public and Private Images', 1987
Rosy Martin and the Women’s Design Service, 'It’s Not All Swings and Roundabouts', 1989.

Letter from Harriet Grote of East Burnham, [Buckinghamshire] to Mrs [Elizabeth] Gaskell, 4 May 1846. 'I cannot withold my mite from you in behalf of poor [Samuel] Wilderspin, one of the most deserving of honest zealous improvers of social tendencies ...".

Autograph, with signature.

The collection contains the following: letters from Beatrice Webb to Miss M Lees (1908) on the treatment of infants in Oldham; Sidney Webb to Lady Strachey (1911) on model standing orders form; Beatrice Webb to Cavendish Bentinck (undated), Sidney Webb to CB (1912) on his role as suffragist, his wife's changing attitudes to the question and the Fabian Society; Sidney Webb to Cavendish Bentinck (1913); Ray Strachey to Sidney Webb (1919) asking permission to include name on advisory council with reply written on setting out position via women as 'blackleg' workers; Beatrice Webb to Miss Moore (undated.) on forms for committee membership sent out; card from Sidney Webb to Ray Strachey (1929) to say the copy of the requested publication is on its way and requesting payment); BW to 'Ruth' [Cavendish Bentinck] can't come to stay as too busy with BBC talk.

Papers of the Mondcivitan Republic, (1904-2005), including: governance Papers, 1951-1985; financial Papers, 1954-1978; correspondence, 1946-1986; conferences, events and visits, 1954-1983; membership and citizenship's, 1951-1975; newsletters, 1941-1980; international relations, 1957-1985; papers of Hugh Schonfield, 1940-1983; photographs, 1950-1976; propaganda, 1936-1989; International Arbitration League, 1906-1989; Cremer Trust, 1904-1969; World Service Trust, 1956-1980; Civil World Army, 1952-1963; London Service Section, 1944-1945; Mondcivitan Community School, 1973-1975;Mondcivitan Boutique, 1973-1975; articles and publications, 1932-1989; newspaper cuttings, c.1940-1990; audio-visual material of the Republic, 1956-2005; and objects of the Republic, 1956-2005..

Letter from Henry John Pye of Cacombe Priory, near Banbury, [Oxfordshire] to John Crisp, Esq, of the Anti-Slavery Society, 18 Aldermanbury, London, 16 Aug 1832. Concerning the conditions under which the slaves work and stating that, if elected to the next parliament, he would vote for the abolition of slavery.

Autograph, with signature.

Letter from Samuel Roberts of Park Grange, [Sheffield, Yorkshire] to George Thompson, c/o Alexander Cruickshanks, Meadowside, Edinburgh, 26 Oct 1833. Covering note to a copy of Roberts's An address to the members of the two Wilberforce-Committees, London and York, concerning a suitable memorial to the late William Wilberforce, slavery abolitionist.

Autograph, with signature.

This note is written on a blank portion at the end of the third page of the printed pamphlet. The date stamp, frank, seal and address are on the fourth (back) page.