This guide is not currently maintained. For more information on the Library’s political archive collections, including more recent acquisitions, ask a question online.
The acquisition of modern political papers has been a continuing function of the National Library of Scotland since its foundation in 1925.
We hold the principal national archive of:
- The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- The Scottish Green Party
- The Scottish Liberal Democrat Party
- The Scottish National Party.
The papers of local branches are also held of these and other parties.
We also have extensive holdings of the papers of a number of politicians, among them some of the surviving papers of James Keir Hardie and Jo Grimond. In addition, we have actively collected trade union and labour records. More about political manuscripts at the Library
- The Conservative and Unionist Party
- National Party papers
- Local Party papers
- Papers of politicians
- The Green Party
- National Party papers
- The Labour Party
- Local Party papers
- Papers of politicians
- The Liberal / Liberal Democrat Party
- National Party papers
- Local Party papers
- Papers of politicians
- The Scottish Labour Party [established 1976]
- Local Party papers
- The Scottish National Party
- National Party papers
- Papers of politicians
Some reference numbers are links to online copies of the inventories as PDF files.