Branford, Victor

Following the dissolution of the Institute of Sociology in 1955, the University College of North Staffordshire (now Keele University) was gifted the Institute's Journal (the Sociological Review ), library and archive collection. Whilst most of the Institute's library (c.15,000 volumes) was incorporated into the College's library, most of the archive material was placed in store. In the summer of 2000, a researcher from Heriot-Watt University began working on the Institute material, a process that involved concentrating all the material in one store-room, and opening for the first time hundreds of parcels containing archive material. The resource has now been named the LePlay Collection.

Victor Branford was the first Honorary Secretary of the Sociological Society(later the Institute of Sociology ). A banker and chartered accountant he had attended Patrick Geddes' Summer Schools in Edinburgh in the 1890s. He devoted his life to publicising Geddes and the LePlay School of Sociology (Geddes was a pioneer of the town planning movement of the 1900s and was a founder member of the Sociological Society). In 1920 the Branfords bought the remainder of a lease of a house in Westminster, London, which became the headquarters of the Sociological Society (later the Institute of Sociology). The Branfords died between 1927 and 1932 leaving a bequest to the Institute in the form of a Trust.

Reference: Dorothea Farquharson, 'Dissolution of the Institute of Sociology', Sociological Review (New Series, Vol 3, 1955 ).

From the guide to the Foundations of Sociology Archive (LePlay): Branford papers, 1864-1953, (Special Collections and Archives, Keele University)