Collection

The BASW archive comprises constitutional records, minutes and papers of many committees, panels, working parties and other groups, officers' papers, financial records, subject and correspondence files on a wide variety of subjects relating to social work, social conditions and social policy, case files, publications and related correspondence, including 'Social Work Today' and the 'British Journal of Social Work' (1971-1999), and regional and branch correspondence and papers. Most papers date from 1970 to 1990.

346 boxes (333 [MSS.378], 6 [916], 6 [1271], 1 [970])

The British Association of Social Workers grew out of the Standing Conference of Organisations of Social Workers and was formed in 1970 by the merger of seven predecessor organisations which represented specialist groups within the broader profession of social work. These were the Association of Child Care Officers, the Association of Family Case Workers, the Association of Psychiatric Social Workers, the Association of Social Workers, the Institute of Medical Social Workers, the Moral Welfare Workers' Association and the Society of Mental Welfare Officers. It caters for all social workers and is the principal professional association for social workers in the United Kingdom.

Most files are open, but some series are closed under Data Protection legislation.

Open

The Social Workers' Benevolent Trust (MSS.432/SWBT) and the Social Workers' Educational Trust. (MSS.378/SWET). Records of the National Association of Probation Officers (MSS.378/PROB) and of the Association of Tuberculosis Care Workers (MSS.378/TUB). Records of the National Institute for Social Work (NISW) (MSS.463). Publications collected by Ken Hawker, a founder member of BASW.