George Jacob Holyoake Papers on Microfilm
Collection Number: 5426 mf
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library
Title:
George Jacob Holyoake Papers on
Microfilm, 1840-1873
Collection Number:
5426 mf
Creator:
Holyoake, George Jacob
Quantity:
6 microfilm reels
Forms of Material:
Papers (documents), microfilm.
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and
Archives, Cornell University Library
Abstract:
Microfilm copy of the George Holyoake Papers at the
Cooperative Union of Manchester and the Bishopsgate Institute of London.
Language:
Collection material in English
The growth of a liberal society during the Nineteenth Century is epitomized in the
life of George Jacob Holyoake, 1817-1906. The numerous stages in his career, from
that of despised atheist to that of respected Liberal journalist and propagator of
International Co-operation, touch on many of the social and intellectual
developments of the Victorian age.
An Owenite Lecturer and latter-day Chartist, Holyoake took a leading part in the Free
Press struggle, and the abolition of the compulsory oath in courts of law. An active
friend of foreign revolutionaries and a prominent supporter of Italian unification,
above all, he was a founder, and the most important propagator of the Cooperative
and Co-partnership Movements, both at home and abroad. He was, in addition, involved
in scores of lesser agitations, and was a Parliamentary lobbyist par excellence.
The work of his lifetime was liberalism, the practical working out of Mill's famous
"Essay": freedom to express beliefs and shape public opinion; civil rights for all,
irrespective of beliefs and class, and that degree of economic freedom which he
believed true Co-operation could bring. Intellectually, he enjoyed the friendships
of J.S. Mill and F. W. Newman, both of whom influenced his own thought and outlook,
and his correspondents included Joseph Cowen, Joseph Mazzini, Robert Owen, Mr.
Gladstone, Sir John Macdonald, Justin McCarthy and numerous leading Radical and
Co-operative Members of Parliament, such as W. Morrison, C.W. Dilke, J. Chamberlain,
S. A. Beaumont, etc.
As a founder of the "Leader" newspaper in 1850, he provided a link between the
emerging working-classes, never very religious and the middle-class intellectuals,
who were beginning to express their now much publicized doubts. The historian of
working-class organizations and co-operation, of Liberalism and Liberty, of
intellectual history and Victorian moralism, will find a mine of information and
suggestions in this extensive correspondence.
The Bishopsgate Institute collection is complementary to that in Manchester,
highlighting specific episodes and movements. The diaries give a brief chronology of
Holyoake's movements, lectures and friends, but the log books, lecture notes, etc.,
provide a much fuller picture of the artisan culture and ethos of self- education,
which existed in Birmingham in the late 1830's. The documents on Italy, the Taxes on
Knowledge and the Gravelling Tax Abolition Committee, supply details of three of the
movements which are typical of Holyoake's works.
Microfilm copy of the George Holyoake Papers at the Cooperative Union of Manchester
and the Bishopsgate Institute of London.
The Bishopsgate Institute collection is complementary to that in Manchester,
highlighting specific episodes and movements. The diaries give a brief chronology of
Holyoake's movements, lectures and friends, but the log books, lecture notes, etc.,
provide a much fuller picture of the artisan culture and ethos of self-education,
which existed in Birmingham in the late 1830's. The documents on Italy, the Taxes on
Knowledge and the Gravelling Tax Abolition Committee, supply details of three of the
movements which are typical of Holyoake's works.
Names:
Holyoake, George Jacob, 1817-1906.
Form and Genre Terms:
Papers (documents)
Microfilm.
Access Restrictions:
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a
reference archivist for access to these materials.
Restrictions on Use:
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet
and Procedures for Document Use.
Cite As:
George Jacob Holyoake Papers on Microfilm #5426 mf. Kheel Center for
Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.
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Container
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Description
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Date
|
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| Reel 1 | 1840-1849 | ||
|
positive
|
|||
| Reel 2 | 1850-1859 | ||
|
positive
|
|||
| Reel 3 | 1860-1866 | ||
|
positive
|
|||
| Reel 4 | 1867-1878 | ||
|
positive
|
|||
| Reel 5 | 1879 | ||
|
positive
|
|||
| Reel 6 | |||
|
positive
|
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