Catalogue description Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool

1 Minute Books.

2 Minutes of Council Meetings.

3 Roll of the Society.

4 Laws of the Society.

5 Visitors' Book.

6 Letter Books.

7 Natural History Society Records.

8 Indexes and lists of papers read at the Society's meetings.

9 Papers read at meetings of the Society. (MSS, etc.)

10 MS notes and papers of J. Hampden Jackson, Keeper of the Records of the Society.

11 Miscellaneous.

Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool

• Liverpool

The society was founded in 1812 for the encouragement of individual study and the discussion of literary, artistic and scientific subjects. It was the first learned society in Liverpool and the second of its kind in England. Among the founders and early members were many prominent citizens of the time, including Dr. T. S. Traill, William Wallace Currie, William Rathbone, Joseph Brooks, J.A. Yates and Thomas Binns. William Roscoe was president of the society from 1817 until his death in 1831; since 1817 the society's meetings have been held at the Royal Institution.

It was through this society that Dr. W.H. Duncan first made known his views on public health; his paper on The Physical causes of the high rate of mortality in Liverpool Was read in 1843. The annual Roscoe Lectures first held in 1872 have given members the opportunity to hear papers from many men distinguished in science and letters. The Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society were printed from 1844 to 1933 and are in the stock of the library (H 060.1 LIT.)

The literary and Philosophical Society helped in the founding of Liverpool University College, and the major part of the society's library has been incorporated in the University Library.

The following records were deposited on indefinite loan by the Society in 1965. Acc.1464

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