Papers of Richard Taylor

The collection includes Dr Taylor’s research notes, correspondence, transcripts of interviews with leading individuals in the peace movement, and originals and photocopies of archives and publicity material from the organisations studied.

This collection comprises the research notes and material used by Dr Taylor in writing his PhD thesis, ‘The British nuclear disarmament movement of 1958 to 1965 and its legacy to the left’ (University of Leeds, 1983). The thesis was based on study of the archives of key organisations (the National Council for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons Tests, the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War, the Committee of 100 and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) and on interviews conducted with leading individuals in the nuclear disarmament movement.

The original file structure was lost and files have therefore been grouped according to the different sources used by Dr Taylor.

The transcripts of interviews with leading figures in the nuclear disarmament movement and politics generally are open to researchers. The content of these interviews is either already in the public domain, or the interviewees are no longer alive. Available to researchers, by appointment. Access to archive material is subject to preservation requirements and must also conform to the restrictions of the Data Protection Act and any other appropriate legislation.

Donated to the Commonweal Collection by Richard Taylor in 1984.

Described by Alison Cullingford and revised by Helen Roberts, March 2010.

Copies may be supplied or produced at the discretion of Special Collections staff, subject to copyright law and the condition of the originals. Applications for permission to make published use of any material should be directed to the Special Collections Librarian in the first instance. The Library will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

There is a large degree of overlap between this collection and the archives of the Direct Action Committee (Cwl DAC) and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Copies of CND archives held at the London School of Economics Archives Division and of Committee of 100 archives held at the University of Warwick Modern Records Centre have been weeded. Photocopies of journal articles have also been weeded and some material transferred to the pamphlet and peace ephemera collections (Eph PAC).

None expected.

Dr Taylor collected photocopies from the following archives, which are now held by the University of Bradford:

Archives of the Direct Action Committee(GB 0532 Cwl DAC)

Papers of the European Organiser of the American-European Peace March, San Francisco to Moscow (GB 0532 Cwl NVA)

Papers of Hugh Brock (GB 0532 Cwl HBP)

Richard Taylor, ‘The British nuclear disarmament movement of 1958 to 1965 and its legacy to the left’ (PhD, University of Leeds, 1983)

Richard Taylor, Against the bomb: the British peace movement 1958-1965 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1988