MANCHESTER AND DISTRICT REGIONAL SURVEY SOCIETY

Correspondence, minutes and pamphlets.

• <corpname>Manchester and District Regional Survey Society, 1922-, Lancashire</corpname>
• <persname>Jast, L Stanley, fl 1921-1930, librarian, of Manchester</persname>

On the 25th of February 1921, John Swarbrick, architect, wroted to Alderman T. C. Abbott, Chairman of the Manchester Libraries Committee, suggesting that steps be taken to form a local Record Committee of antiquaries, architects and amateur photographers to systematically collect and preserve drawings, photographs and other records of buildings in the district, which material would be handed over to the Libraries Committee to catalogue and preserve. L. Stanley Jast, the Chief Librarian, had already had experience in organizing Surrey photographic survey and welcomed the scheme, but widened its scope to include the collection of data relating to the historical, scientific, geographical and social conditions of the area in addition to pictorial records.

A lecture by C. C. Fagg, F.C.S. in April, 1922 was arranged to arouse public interest in the idea of a regional survey. This was followed by a conference in May, which passed resolutions forming the Manchester and District Regional Survey Society and appointing a Preliminary Committee with Mr. Jast as convener. In June, the following year, a second conference approved the constitution prepared by this committee.

The records in this collection extend to 1930 and comprise for the most part, papers and correspondence relating to the formation of the Society preserved in the correspondence files in the Library and those retained by Mrs. Jast, when she was Secretary of the Society. Pamphlets published by the Society in the normal book stock of the Library are also listed.