Working papers of the Survey of 'Labour and Life of the People' and 'Life and Labour of the People in London' by Charles Booth 1886 - 1903 comprising the original survey notebooks and papers: interviews, questionnaires, statistics, reports and colour coded maps describing poverty.
The papers and the original survey notebooks reflect the three areas of investigation undertaken in the survey: poverty, industry and religious influences.
The poverty series interviewed School Board visitors about levels of poverty in households and streets. The survey also investigated trades of East London connected with poverty: tailoring; furniture and women's work.
The industry series comprises interviews of employers, trade union leaders and workers for each trade and industry and questionnaires concerning rates of wages, numbers employed, details of trade unions and domestic details (food, dress and circumstances etc) which were completed by employees and trade union officials. The following trades and industries are covered by the survey: building trade; wood workers; metal workers; precious metals, watches and instruments; sundry manufacturers printing and paper trades; textile trades; clothing trades; food and drink trades; dealers and clerks; transport and gardeners; labourers; public service and professional classes; domestic service. Case histories of the inmates of Bromley and Stepney workhouses during 1889 and people who received outdoor relief from the union were also transcribed.
The religious survey includes reports of visits to churches and over 1450 interviews with ministers of all denominations including Church of England, Methodist, Presbyterian, Jewish, Roman Catholic. Salvation Army officers and missionaries were also interviewed. The reports of the interviews contain printed material relating to the churches. Questionnaires were also completed as part of the survey. The investigation went beyond documenting religious influences and incorporates a description of the social and moral influences on Londoners' lives.
The Maps Descriptive of London Poverty 1898-1899 are probably the most well known documents which survive from the survey. The Maps Descriptive of London Poverty 1898-1899 are twelve sheets colour coded by social class and poverty from black [semi-vicious] to yellow [middle and upper class, well-to-do]. The maps cover an area of London from Hammersmith in the west, to Greenwich in the east, and from Hampstead in the north to Clapham in the south. The working and printed copies of the maps are contained within the archive.
The social investigators accompanied police around their beats in London in order to update the existing street-level information for the Maps Descriptive of London Poverty 1898-1899. The reports of the walks are known as the 'police notebooks' and contain descriptions of London streets. All the notebooks have been digitised.
Other papers include an inventory undertaken in 1925 by Thomas Macaulay Booth, son of Charles Booth; additional manuscripts concerning the survey: circulars, statistics etc and booklets collected during the survey.

Papers of Duncan Lyell Burn, [1926-1981], relating to his economic, business and journalistic interests, including material relating to his post as industrial correspondent of The Times, [1940-1962], such as notes and interviews by Burn and others on subjects including post-war reconstruction, the German economy and rearmament, the Marshall Plan, and steel nationalisation; material collated by Burn on the UK iron and steel industries, [1926-1974], including documents, pamphlets, press cuttings, notes, correspondence and memoranda relating to steel and iron production, distribution and pricing, notably papers relating to steel supplies during World War Two; papers relating to foreign visits by Burn, 1946-1971, to the Federal Republic of Germany, Holland, Austria, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Sweden, Italy and India; detailed notes on interviews by Burn with prominent industrial and political figures, [1963-1969], mainly relating to the heavy electrical industry, nuclear power, the steel industry, and industrial organisation; correspondence and papers relating to the writing and publication of The economic history of steelmaking, 1867-1939 (University Press, Cambridge, 1940), [1930-1939]; material concerning the work of the Economic Development Office, 1962-1965, notably comprising correspondence relating to the setting up of the EDO and its sponsors, notes on discussions and visits with electrical manufacturers, correspondence with the Gas Council, the International Electrical Association, the Board of Trade, the Electrical Council and the UK Atomic Energy Authority, and minutes and reports of the EDO; papers of the Select Committee on Energy, [1978-1981], including investigations into the generation of electricity by nuclear power; material relating to nuclear power, especially in the USA, [1965-1981], namely correspondence, papers and notes; general correspondence of Burn, [1940-1974].

Pay books of Bell Brothers South Brancepeth Colliery (South Durham, Brockwell seam and Busty seam) and Clarence Iron Works.

Business papers, articles of agreement, correspondence, tax assessments etc.

Papers of the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers, including the Amalgamated Society of Tailoresses and the United Clothing Workers' Union, comprising 1. Amalgamated Society of Tailors; 2. London Society of Tailors and Tailoresses (formerly West End Branch of the Amalgamated Society of Tailors and Tailoresses); 3.United Clothing Workers' Union; 4. National Unions of Tailors and Garment Workers.

British Steel Corporation Ltd (now known as British Steel) internal documents relating to the future of the industry, 1960s-1970s, and papers produced for the Trades Union Congress by David Delay on the British steel industry.

This collection consists predominantly of notes, correspondence, press cuttings and printed matter on subjects such as British industries (including aviation, tin, steel, cotton and coal), prices and wages, restrictive practices, and economic development overseas. The collection also contains some personal papers including bank books and university notebooks.

Records of Welsh steelworks, 1928-1957, including statistical data relating to output, costs, profit and loss, and mainly comprising weekly reports from individual companies and works.

Records, 1926-1951, of the Chinese Government Purchasing Commission (CGPC), including information on the state of Chinese communications; the workings of the Chinese Ministries of Communications, Railways and Industries; Chinese banking; construction and engineering technology and the work of British manufacturers; and some information on Chinese educational and cultural institutions in receipt of subsidies from the Board of Trustees for the Administration of the Indemnity Funds Remitted by the British Government.

Records, 1926-1951, relating to the foundation and constitution of the CGPC comprise printed report of the Anglo-Chinese Advisory Committee (China Indemnity Advisory Committee), 1926; correspondence, largely letters from the Board of Trustees to the CPGC, 1931-1950, concerning the constitution of the Commission, procedural issues, personnel and financial matters; file on procedure on appointment of a new member of the Commission, 1947-1948; correspondence concerning events preceding the winding-up of the Commission, 1951.

Financial records, 1931-1951, comprise papers on the Board Account, 1937-1950; papers on the Chin Fund (apparently a grant paid to Constance Chin, a patient of the Bethlem Royal Hospital), 1945-1951; summaries of expenses relating to purchase orders made by Chinese ministries, 1931-1951; Indemnity Fund cash books, 1937-1950; invoices and receipts relating to CGPC business, 1937-1951; financial statements and correspondence relating to banking matters with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, 1931-1951, the subjects including investments and tax.

Operational records, c1928-1951, relating to the administration of purchase orders, comprise register of tenders/purchase orders, 1942-1946; contract registers (not comprehensive), 1931-1949, recording the management of contracts for the supply and delivery in China of plant, machinery and other materials manufactured in the UK for the Chinese government, and over 1,000 related contract files for engineering companies and manufacturers for industrial, construction, railway and other projects; tender forms, 1934, issued to contractors by the CGPC; specifications and standards, c1928-1937 and undated, largely for the construction of railways and carriages; correspondence concerning administration of purchase orders, 1932-1951, relating especially to delivery of locomotive spare parts and related materials; registers of export licences issue to British manufacturers under wartime regulations, 1941-1946; applications for export licences, 1939-1945; registers of shipments, insurance, freight and inspection fees, 1931-1951; shipping letters, 1937-1950, issued for CGPC shipments; general correspondence concerning the administration of the CGPC, 1931-1951, including correspondence with solicitors and correspondence concerning the CGPC premises in Tothill Street, London.

Annual reports and accounts, 1931-1950, comprise typescript accounts and reports, 1931-1950, of the CGPC and published annual reports, 1931-1950, including summaries of receipts and payments; and annual reports of the Board of Trustees, 1931-1938.

Miscellaneous records, c1932-1950, comprise one file including papers on subjects including railways, training Chinese students, Japanese imperialism, and CGPC records, a photograph of ships in harbour, and maps of China and the Far East.

Records, 1939-1943, of the China Purchasing Agency Ltd comprise standing regulations of the Board of Directors, undated; correspondence, 1939-1943, concerning various purchase orders; miscellaneous items, c1939-1940, including list of tenders passed for acceptance, 1939, and an undated schedule of materials shipped.

Philippine Republic Government Presidential Economic Staff Industrial Programmes Office Reports and Projects Department Position Papers and related papers and press cuttings, 1965-1969, collected by Ernest A Findorff, including information on industrial production and manufacturing, agricultural production and processing, and mining; correspondence, comprising 138 letters, 1969-1970, between Findorff and importers and exporters in south east Asia, largely those in the Philippines seeking markets in Europe.