Archived News

A book launch and celebration event at the London School of Economics (LSE) marked the official deposit of the Volunteering England Collection. This new archive documents the modern history of volunteering in England.

The Collection, some of which will be on display during the event, is made up of nine individual sections which cover different periods, through from the formation of the Commission on the Role of the Voluntary Worker in the Social Services (Aves Commission) in 1966 to the Voluntary Action History Society, founded in 1991.

Materials from the collection are drawn from all of Volunteering England’s predecessor organisations: the Consortium on Opportunities for Volunteering, the National Centre for Volunteering, Volunteer Development England and Student Volunteering England.

Justin Davis Smith, Chief Executive of Volunteering England, said: “We are delighted to be able to make our archives available to the public for the first time. This is a key resource for anyone who is interested in exploring the recent history of volunteering in England.”

At the same time as the archival deposit, Volunteering England donated a number of pamphlets and reports that had formed part of the library of the National Centre for Volunteering to the LSE Library.

Volunteering England will make additional deposits to the archives in the future, including materials relating to the Consortium on Opportunities for Volunteering and the Commission on the Future of Volunteering (2008).

The Volunteering England Collection can be viewed at the LSE Archives located in the Library of the London School of Economics and Political Science, 10 Portugal Street, London WC2A 2HD.

Source: Volunteering England