Baines Collection

Topics

Children’s Books, fiction and non-fiction including textbooks.

Extent

Ca. 200 items (5 m).

Scope and content

The Baines Collection is a rich resource for researchers studying the history of literacy and moral education in England from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. The collection consists mostly of children's books dating from 1700 to the 1920s and includes some instruction manuals on pedagogy. While predominantly in English, there are a few foreign language items. The collection includes both story books and general knowledge texts prepared for children’s recreation and instruction. These range from readers to geography and history textbooks and grammar guides. Many of the books have hand-written dedications or the names of the original owners.

History

This collection belonged to the family of Reverend Edward Baines, who served as vicar of Bluntisham in Huntingdon and later of Yalding in Kent. His daughter, Lucy Dorothea Baines (1849-1938), passed the books down to her daughter, Margaret Eyre (1874-1963). In 1955, Margaret Eyre and her niece Alicia Constance Percival donated the collection to the Ministry of Education. The collection was subsequently donated to the Institute of Education (IOE) Library in 1992 by the Department for Education. 

Alicia Constance Percival (1907-1987) had a distinguished career in education. She trained as a teacher and served as Vice Principal of Forest Teacher Training College from 1945 to 1950 and Principal Lecturer at Trent Park Teacher Training College from 1950 to 1966, where she later became Vice Principal. The institution is now part of Middlesex University.

Further information about Miss Eyre can be found in Alicia Percival's book, Aunt Margaret: Reminiscences of Margaret Eyre 1874-1963 (1974).  Copies are available at the Women’s Library at the LSE, where Alicia Percival’s papers are also held. Other collections linked to the IOE's Baines collection include the Baines/Percival papers in the Bodleian Library and the Eyre Papers in the Pitt-Rivers Museum. The Victoria & Albert Museum also holds a Burmese wall hanging donated by Miss Eyre.

Access

The collection is fully catalogued. To browse the records, conduct a shelfmark search for BAINES on Explore.