Lakeman Library

The Lakeman Library for Electoral Studies

The Trust maintains the Lakeman Library for Electoral Studies. The Lakeman Library is one of the world’s most extensive collections of material on electoral issues. It holds some 2,500 books, 2,500 pamphlets, 50 journals, extensive press cuttings and other printed material dating from the mid nineteenth century onwards on voting systems and elections, electoral reform and proportional representation, suffrage and other related constitutional issues.

It also houses the archives of the Electoral Reform Society (previously the Proportional Representation Society), which was founded in 1884. Its name commemorates Enid Lakeman OBE, the distinguished former director of the ERS and a noted pioneer in the study of voting systems and their effects.

Among the more unusual items, there are early pamphlets on PR in Britain, America and Australia; a collection of 97 pamphlets from 1884-1907, including C.L Dodgson’s [Lewis Carroll’s] 1884 Principles of Parliamentary Representation; a collection of 176 pamphlets from 1864-1918 on PR in Belgium, Denmark, France and Switzerland donated by H.R. Droop; the correspondence of Lord Courtney of Penwith, a prominent turn-of the-twentieth century advocate of PR, and the papers of the academic and broadcaster Dr J.F.S. Ross.

Recent acquisitions include a set of Reform Acts from 1832 to 1884. The Library also holds a number of reports on elections held during the 1990s in the emerging democracies, Commonwealth countries being well represented.

The Library was catalogued manually in the late 1970s. The records were transferred onto a computer database in the mid 1990s using the Tinlib system. The original manual catalogue was cross-referenced by author and subject; the automated catalogue extends these search fields. The Dewey classification system is in use. It is intended that the Library catalogue will be available for browsing on the Internet.

The Library, located on the first floor of 6 Chancel Street, is open to bona fide researchers between 10am to 5pm on weekdays by prior appointment with the McDougall Trust’s Executive Secretary.

The Library is always delighted to receive any books, journals, pamphlets or paper on any relevant subjects and actively seeks charitable donations and legacies in support of its upkeep and development.

For information, please contact the Trust Secretary at:

The Lakeman Library
McDougall Trust
6 Chancel Street
LONDON
SE1 0UX

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7620 1080
Facsimile: +44 (0)20 7928 1528
Email: admin@mcdougall.org.uk