NEWS RELEASE

Records of McDougall Trust, including Proportional Representation Society and the Electoral Reform Society, deposited at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick

The McDougall Trust and the Modern Records Centre are pleased to announce that the future of the archives held by the McDougall Trust, including the earliest records of the Proportional Representation Society and the Electoral Reform Society, has been secured following their transfer to the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick.

The McDougall Trust is an independent charitable trust that promotes public understanding of electoral democracy. The collection of material includes extensive records of the work of successive chief officers of the PRS and ERS and also the personal papers of Enid Lakeman OBE, the distinguished former director of the ERS and a noted pioneer in the study of voting systems and their effects. She was also a lifelong activist in the Liberal Party, and then Liberal Democrats, being an early woman parliamentary candidate. It also includes correspondence of Lord Courtney of Penwith, a prominent advocate of proportional representation in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, who served in Gladstone’s cabinet.

The Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick is a specialist collecting institution which focuses on primary sources for modern British social, political and economic history, with a particular emphasis (among others) on collecting archives relating to campaign groups. The archive of the McDougall Trust therefore represents a significant addition to the collections already available to researchers at the Modern Records Centre.

Derek McAuley, chair of the McDougall Trust, said “The collection of historic archives and related records held by the McDougall Trust is of international as well as national significance. It provides extensive and unique material on electoral issues but has not been readily available to researchers for some years. This new partnership with the Modern Records Centre will offer opportunities for our rich collections to be explored, particularly as electoral reform and proportional representation remain of public interest.”

Rachel MacGregor, Acting Archives Manager says “We are very excited to be able to work with the McDougall Trust on making this collection available for research as it is of the highest significance for anyone interested in the study of democracy both in the UK and internationally. In addition, the papers of Enid Lakeman, Research Secretary and then Director of the Electoral Reform Society will be of particular interest to those studying women’s history in the twentieth century!”

This large and varied collection will need a significant amount of resource to make it fully available for research as much of it is unlisted. The McDougall Trust and the Modern Records Centre are exploring avenues for additional funding and support to assist with sorting, arranging, cataloguing and promoting this significant collection. This is likely to take some time so any queries relating to the collection should be addressed to the Modern Records Centre who can advise on progress with making the collection available.”

For more information relating to the McDougall Trust Archive please get in contact with the Modern Records Centre: archives@warwick.ac.uk https://warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/