The primary purpose of this register is to provide the researcher with a convenient guide to collections of manuscripts in the Sterling Memorial Library which, owing to their content or provenance, fall into the social science category, but which are too small to warrant separate descriptions.
For the present purpose "Social Science" has been broadly defined to include all those disciplines which were historically derived from Moral Philosophy in the mid-nineteenth century, together with certain related subject areas. Thus, the Philosophy and Social Science Manuscripts Group includes manuscripts relating to psychology, philosophy, education, law, economics, and political science. This group does not include manuscripts related to the humanities and the fine arts nor to those disciplines which derived from Natural Philosophy; those have been described separately in the guides to the Humanities and Fine Arts Manuscripts Group and the Natural Science Manuscripts Group respectively.
It should be re-emphasized that there are a number of separate large collections relating to philosophy and the social sciences that have been separately described and are not included in this register.
Consult the Chief Research Archivist, Manuscripts and Archives, for further information about all of these collections.