Donate political leaflets to Bristol’s unique election archive

Library assistant in the University of Bristol's Special Collections team Ian Coates looking through the election archiveUniversity of Bristol

The election archive dates back as far as 1892

Don't throw away your election literature - donate it to the University of Bristol's election archive

Press release issued: 27 June 2024

With the July 4 General Election less than a week away, political parties are ramping up their campaigns and delivering plenty of promotional literature through letterboxes across the country in a bid to secure precious votes.

Instead of throwing away this election publicity, people are being urged to donate it to the UK’s largest archive of political material and help capture Britain’s political history for future generations.

The University of Bristol’s Special Collections holds an extensive archive of more than 30,000 pieces of political promotional material from every British general election dating back to 1892.

The collection was originally established by the National Liberal Club and has been maintained by the University of Bristol since the 1970s.

It holds election material relating to a number of prominent 20^th Century politicians, including election addresses from the 1945 election – held just two months after VE Day – from Conservative Harold MacMillan and Labour’s Denis Healey.

Also among the leaflets are Tony Blair’s 1983 Sedgefield election address when he first became a Labour MP, David Cameron’s 2010 Conservative Witney election leaflet, and Keir Starmer’s leaflets from the 2017 and 2019 elections.

Nicky Sugar, the University of Bristol’s Head of Special Collections, said: “The election archive features a fascinating collection of campaign materials. This collection is of great national and international importance, offering insight into Britain’s political history.

“It covers all constituencies and parties, really capturing the issues of the time.

“With the public’s assistance, we hope to once again collect a broad range of election leaflets, manifestos, and other publicity for the upcoming General Election.

“We cover all 650 seats in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, so we need help from far and wide. If you feel able to help, please do donate any election material you come across rather than throwing it away.”

Anyone who would like to contribute is asked to gather up any election-related leaflets they receive and post them after the election, with a note of the postcode where the items were delivered, to Special Collections, Arts & Social Sciences Library, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TJ.

Any personal information such as names and addresses printed on the materials is redacted before it is added to the archive.

The material in the election archive is available for consultation by students, researchers, journalists and members of the public. For more information visit: Politics | Library | University of Bristol.