Archives of the Action for Blind People / London Association for the Blind (LAB), comprising:

minutes of LAB Directors' and Annual General Meetings, 1944-1972;

minutes of LAB Homes and Hostels / Buildings Sub-committee, 1928-1932; Buildings and Estates / General Purposes and Buildings Committee, 1932-1942; General Purposes and Trading subcommittee 1942-1946 and Building and Estates Sub committee, 1946-1948;

minutes of LAB Finance sub-committee, 1928-1930; 1930-1938; Finance and general purposes subcommittee, 1938-1952;

minutes of the LAB Ladies Committee of the Association, 1911-1917; and Sales sub-committee of the Ladies Committee, 1920;

LAB Memoranda and Articles of Association, 1910, 1962, 1978, 1985; List of officers and patrons of the Association, 1857-1965;

LAB Analysis of Balance sheets, 1857-1956; Audit notebook, 1924-1926; Annual statements of accounts 1931, 1934-1939; Account book (of donations?) 1961-1981; Bought ledger and Blind average books, 1928-1945; Managers (weekly) reports, 1886-1887;

scrap book containing press cuttings relating to the Association, 1937-1965; Scrap book containing Association publicity material including flyers for events and fundraising circulars, 1928-1954;

LAB Visitors Book, 1954-1978;

printed matter including Annual Reports 1876-77; 1879-1987; The Blind Record, 1914-1924, 1937-1938; News for LAB, Numbers 5, 7, 8 [1960s-1970s]; Re:Action 2001-2003;

printed catalogues [1920s-1930s]; 'Plastic mouldings by the Blind'; Brochures and leaflets relating to LAB Hostels, Cooper Lodge postcards; opening of Swail House, Epsom, 1952;

files relating to moulding shop development Reports and notes, 1954-1955; Welding lesson notes, 1988; correspondence relating to bequests, 1972-1983; papers and letters relating to the opening of the Russell Hotel, Bognor Regis, by Princes Alexandra, Jul 1968;

photographs 1920s-2003;

Hearth and Home, 1936, (renamed Alphega (Sportswear) Ltd, then Lafega) Hearth and Home share certificates, 1910-1926; Lafega Register of members, directors, managers, transfers and mortgages and charges, 1910-1971; Minutes of H& Board of directors of the Company, including register of shareholders, 1910-1926; minutes of H&H/ Lafega annual meetings and directors' meetings, 1925-1944; Lafega Annual statements of accounts, 1936-1972 (incomplete);

Wheyo Tool Company Ltd
minutes of Directors, 1964-1970; Register of shares, and company directors etc, 1949-1971; minutes of AGM 1971; Annual statement of accounts, 1964-1971;

Archives of the Barclay institutions comprising minutes of the Committee of the Barclay Institutions for the Blind, 1919-1931; Barclay Workshop reference book, [1905-1943]; minutes of Barclay Workshops (for Blind Women), 1905-1912; 1912-1926; 1926-1942; Barclay Home Reports, 1893-1942; Barclay Workshop Reports, 1906-1943.

Minutes and presented papers of meetings of the London County Council, 1889-1965. Also minutes and presented papers of London County Council Committees and Sub-Committees, as follows:

Air Raid Precautions Committee

Appeals Committee

Asylums Committee

Bridges Committee

Building Acts Committee

Central Public Health and Medical Services Committee

Children's Committee

Civil Defence Committee

Contagious Diseases Committee

Corporate Property and Endowments Committee

Education Committee

Emergency Committee

Entertainments Committee

Establishments Committee

Evacuation Committee

Finance Committee

Fire Brigade Committee

General Purposes Committee

Health Committee

Highways Committee

Historical Buildings and Records Committee

Housing Committee

Improvements Committee

Industrial Schools Committee

Inebriates Committee

Local Government Committee

Main Drainage Committee

Midwives Committee

New and Expanding Towns Committee

Parks and Open Spaces Committee

Parks (special entertainments) Committee

Parliamentary Committee

Public Assistance Committee

Public Control Committee

Public Health Committee

Restaurants and Catering Committee

Rivers Committee

Roads Committee

Smallholdings Committee

Stores Committee

Theatres Committee

Town Planning Committee

Water Supply Committee

Welfare Committee

Welfare of the Blind Committee

Works Committee

Please note that copies of these minutes and papers are on open access in the Information Area.

Papers of Samuel Crompton, 1841-1845, comprising a volume containing detailed lists of the blind people in the Manchester, Salford, and Chorlton Union Workhouses, 1841. Including a copy of a report by Crompton, sent to Dr Lyon Mayfair, 10 Dec 1843; and correspondence relating to blindness.

The initial deposit, sections A-K, consists mainly of correspondence and associated papers (leaflets, memoranda, extracts from minutes, etc.). There are two main series of correspondence: 'People' and 'General' and some other distinct smaller series such as 'Branches and other Societies'. The internal arrangement of these files is normally chronological, with a few exceptions (usually an alphabetical arrangement). There are also lecturers' report sheets, publications, slides, posters, charts, and photographs, mainly but not exclusively in Section G: Propaganda and Publicity. There is a set of Annual Reports and related material 1908-1979 (Section A). Under the will of Dr. Marie Stopes the Eugenics Society was left her birth control clinic, books from her library and certain emoluments. Three boxes of her correspondence and some miscellanea, were assigned to section K. In 1988 minute books and the Society's extensive collection of press cuttings plus some financial records were added as GB0120 SA/EUG/L-N.

Minutes, 1875-1958; Chairman's papers, 1928-1929; Committee papers, 1926-1938; rule book, 1936; annual reports, 1878-1957; correspondence with the Ministry of Health, 1920-1957; correspondence with the Board of Education, 1921-1947; correspondence with Kent County Education Committee, 1920-1937; case papers, 1929-1946; orders for goods placed by the Army Ordnance Department, the Blind Employment Factory, the Port of London Authority and the Office of Works, 1915-1928; correspondence with Banstead, Holborn and Hackney Poor Law Unions, 1926-1928; advertising handout, 1930; legal papers, 1890-1892; sales particulars, including catalogues, inventories and agreements, 1891-1935; papers regarding the centralization of collections for the blind in London, 1923; correspondence with the Charity Commissioners, 1900s; financial accounts, 1925-1960.

Records of the Middlesex County Council Health Department relating to school health, 1944-1965, including general files relating to: juvenile delinquency, physically disabled pupils, special schools, blind and partially sighted pupils, education of the deaf, residential schools, epilepsy, mentally deficient pupils, medical inspections, ear, nose and throat clinics, dermatological survey of schoolchildren, provision of medicines and vitamins, child guidance centres, holiday camps for diabetic and epileptic children, speech therapy, first aid equipment, accidents, employment of children, 'latch-key' children, school canteens, head lice, ophthalmic treatment, colour vision testing, orthopaedic treatment, physiotherapy, surveys of the health and development of children, precautions against tuberculosis, vaccination, maladjusted children, dyslexia, control of infectious diseases and school meals.

Two volumes of a manuscript diary, 1858-1859, recording the daily activities of James Patterson, a master at the Deaf and Dumb Institution, Manchester, run by his uncle. As well as the daily routine of teaching, Patterson describes his own studies at the School of Art, his interest in athletics and sports, communication with his family in Cornwall and a visit to London over Christmas 1858 (in which he walks about the city, visits the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Crystal Palace at Sydenham and another establishment of that name at Great Portland Street, and witnesses some mesmeric experiments).

Records of the Middlesex County Council Public Assistance and Welfare Department relating to blind and partially sighted people, 1930-1965, including papers relating to home teaching; papers relating to use of the wireless (radio); case files and index cards. Please note that access to the case files may be restricted under the Data Protection Act.

Records of the London County Council Public Control Department relating to the registration of charities, 1897-1965, including general files on the War Charities Act, 1916; charities for the blind; the Blind Persons Act, 1920; the Departmental Committee on Collecting Charities, 1925 and Collecting Charities (Regulation) Bill, 1929; charities previously administered by Boards of Guardians and Metropolitan Asylums Board; War Charities Act, 1940 and the National Assistance Act, 1948.

Schemes for the administration of charities approved by the Charity Commissioners, including reports made to the Charity Commissioners; 'A Digest of Endowed Charities in the Administrative County of London made by the Charity Commission', printed by order of the House of Commons, and copies of Sealed Schemes made by the Charity Commissioners.

Registers of charities under the War Charities Act, 1916; Blind Persons Act, 1920 and War Charities Act, 1940. Also files of correspondence between the LCC and the Charity Commissioners relating to non-educational endowed charities.

Records of the London County Council Public Health Department relating to personal health services, 1902-1963, including papers on Maternity and Child Welfare Clinics and Health Centres, including papers of individual clinics and brochure "Health Services and How to Obtain Them" (1958); papers relating to Domiciliary Midwifery Services including notices, rules, lists of certified Midwives, training, historical sketch of the service and the Midwives Bill, 1902; papers relating to day nurseries and home helps, including sample of applications for home helps and report on LCC Home Help Service by the National Institute of Houseworkers; papers regarding chest clinics for the treatment of tuberculosis, including sample of case papers for the boarding out of child tuberculosis patients, papers and case notes of tuberculosis patients, reports relating to tuberculosis and papers of individual chest clinics; papers relating to blind persons, including papers of the Departmental Committee on Welfare of the Blind, reports and schemes undertaken under the Blind Persons Act, 1920, papers on the prevention of blindness and investigation into myopia, the number and general classification of blind persons in London and ophthalmological research.

Records of the Royal Association for Deaf People. The collection contains a wealth of information relating to the development of work with Deaf people over the 19th and 20th centuries in London and south-east England, including relief of the necessitous poor in the 19th century, the establishment of Deaf church communities from the 1880s and the early promotion of Sign Language as a recognised form of communication in the 1850s by Reverend Samuel Smith.

The records include:

Corporate records (LMA/4172/A) in relation to the Association's Trustee Committee, Standing Subcommittee, Executive Committee, Building Committee, Spiritual Subcommittee, Personnel Committee, Property and Personnel Sub-Committee, Finance and Fund Raising Committee, Public Relations Subcommittee, secretary's correspondence, annual reports, agreements, permanent year end papers, annual general meetings, Board of Trustees papers, and Essex Deaf Council.

Financial and Staff records (LMA/4172/B) consisting of accounts, legacies, salaries and expenses, and Staff meetings Minutes, and administration.

Records of Saint Faith's Home (LMA/4172/C) consisting of minutes of the Management Committee, accounts, and registration.

Branch and Mission Church records (LMA/4172/D) in relation to Croydon Branch, Saint Barnabus Church in Lerwisham, Saint Matthews Mission and Saint Paul's Hall in Walworth, Woolwich Deaf and Dumb Mission in Beresford Square, Saint Bedes in Lambeth, All Saints in Croydon, Saint Saviours Chapel on Oxford Street, Saint John of Beverely on Green Lane, All Saints in West Ham, and Saint Cedd in Romford.

Printed Material and photographs (LMA/4172/E) consisting of press cuttings, magazines and newsletters, events material and talks, photographs, posters/leaflets and advertising material, staff resources, and historical notes.

Audio-visual records (LMA/4172/F) consisting of videos and audio cassettes.

Electronic records (LMA/4172/G) consisting of documents saved on a CD.

Property records (LMA/4172/H) in relation to 120 Selhurst Road in Croydon, 26 Harold Road in Essex, and 4 The Drive in Middlesex.

The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence: the Singers were clearly vigorous letter writers and both Charles and Dorothea had an enormous number of family, friends and acquaintances. Unfortunately many of their letters were hand written and very few carbon copies survive. Very occasionally an attempt at methodical selection and arrangement is evident: on the whole correspondence had been kept in alphabetical order, and this has been retained in the arrangement of the collection. Dorothea and Charles' correspondence was fairly mixed (reflecting their working life together) with the exception of two distinct groups: correspondence about Dorothea's research on alchemical manuscripts, and later correspondence about her hearing aids.

The main part of the collection centres on the correspondence; this has been grouped together in a self-evident sequence: writings and biographical personal papers follow. Certain of Dorothea's papers remained clearly distinct and these have been kept together. Section E contains a variety of material relating to Jewish refugees, which had been placed on one side by Dorothea after the war for permanent preservation. It has not been listed in detail but sorted into three broad categories. The last section, comprising additional correspondence of the Singers with Sir Zachary Cope, Sir Arthur Salusbury MacNalty and Dr F N L Poynter, is not strictly part of the collection, but these groups of correspondence were given to the Institute to be placed alongside the Singer papers.

Case papers of the London County Council Welfare Department relating to blind and partially sighted persons, 1930-1956. Please note that files may be closed for Data Protection purposes.