Published by Primary Source Microfilm

"The Manchester Statistical Society was the first statistical society in Britain and the pioneer of what we should call the social survey. Its proceedings are an invaluable source for social historians." -- Professor Harold J. Perkin, Northwestern University

The Manchester Statistical Society was the first statistical society in Britain and the pioneer of what is considered to be the start of the social survey. The Society was one of the first organizations in the world to carry out economic and social investigations on a large scale and it has maintained a reputation for consistent, thorough and detailed research into a variety of topics.

The main subjects of their reports are industry, labor, the economy, transport, health, education and law. The Society was founded in 1833 and its early records and transactions reflect a paramount concern with the effects of industrialization and, in particular, social deprivation. At this time, Manchester was in the middle of a transformation from an important northern cotton town into a vast industrialized city and the problems of housing and welfare were immense. Attempts of the Society to quantify the factors involved had a great influence on corporate and national policies and provide historians with one of the most extensively detailed pictures of any modern industrial town.

Part One makes available the manuscript papers, printed materials and reports of the Society in its earlier days as well as the beginning of the transactions.

Part Two covers the years 1876 to 1901, when socialism was gaining prominence and foreign competition posed a threat to British overseas trade. Papers on a wide variety of topics--including the cotton industry, the land laws, the national debt, statistics of population, inquiries into poverty in the slums of Manchester, the theory behind the cooperative societies and the British Empire and overseas trade--are featured in this second part of the collection.

Complete Collection: 186 fiche

Part One: The Papers 1833-1843 and the Transactions 1853-1876
99 fiche

Part Two: Transactions 1876-1901
87 fiche