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National Museum of Labour History:
CPGB Archive News
Since the central CPGB archives were transferred from London to Manchester at the beginning of 1995 we have received several further deposits of papers relating to the party.
The largest deposit was material from the party's organisation department. These papers contain member's autobiographical details (often supplied on applications to party schools), disciplinary investigations into groups and individuals, and some records of the Appeals Committee. Almost all these records have been opened to the public. A small number will remain closed for the time being due to their personal (though not political) sensitivity.
Bill Moore has catalogued and done some re-ordering of the papers of the History Group. There is now an almost complete set of the group's published circulars, articles, pamphlets etc. The gaps in the minutes and correspondence are also being filled, most recently by further papers from former group secretary John Attfield which were obtained by Bill Moore.
With the assistance of Ralph Darlington we have also received a significant collection of papers and photographs relating to Molly and J T Murphy. These include a typed manuscript of Molly's unpublished autobiography, letters etc from Molly during her time as a nurse for the Spanish Medical Aid Committee, copies of J T Murphy's correspondence with the CPGB re his resignation in 1932, and some draft articles and manuscripts.
Additionally former Executive Committee member Vicki Seddon donated some of her personal papers to the museum. These include hand-written notes of EC meetings, Congress materials, some Yorkshire district papers and records relating to the party's work in higher and further education.
Most recently thanks to a grant from the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust we have been able to employ Jo Stanley on a part-time contract to sort and catalogue the previously unlisted records of the London District Communist Party. We hope that this extensive and important collection will be fully available by the end of the year.
Other recent deposits have included the unpublished autobiography of the activist Harold Hoare and an MA Thesis on British Communism and 1956 by Lawrence Black.
Finally with regard to the pre-1943 material held in Moscow, the museum hopes to be able to negotiate a formal microfilming project with the holders of the Comintern archive. As yet this project is only at an early stage.
By the end of the year the archive hopes to produce a new leaflet detailing the general contents of the CP archive and listing the publications available. Two articles describing the archives are also to appear this year, by Francis King in Science and Society and Kevin Morgan in Twentieth Century British History.
If anyone has queries or any papers they wish to deposit please contact the Archive Centre on (0161) 228 7212.
