4 collections related to Laboratory animals -- Law and legislation

Educational publications, advertisements, informational pamphlets, correspondence, subscription forms and ephemera related to animal rights and animal welfare, especially anti-vivisection. This collection appears to originate from the West of England, with a particular focus on the Manchester area. However, the collection also contains material from throughout the United Kingdom and a few materials from the United States. Most of the material was produced and distributed by organizations such as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, the Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society, the League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sports, National Society for the Abolition of Cruel Sports, the Victoria Street Society for the Abolition of Vivisection, and others. Also included are Catholic, Quaker, and other religious pamphlets. The collection contains items written by Frances Power Cobbe, Henry Stephens Salt, H. E. Bates, George Bernard Shaw, and H. G. Wells. Members of the Bloomsbury Group, including Virginia Woolf and Clive Bell who are listed as subscribers to some groups, are represented here. There is also material related to and designed by cartoonist and animal rights activist Cyril Kenneth Bird, who went by the pen name 'Fougasse.' The material ranges in date from the 1870s to the 1950s and includes a quantity of material from the interwar period and the era surrounding and following World War II. Although anti-vivisection and animal rights were a concern in the United Kingdom as early as the eighteenth century, the first anti-cruelty law, "The Animal Protection Act" was passed in 1822, outlawing cruelty to cattle, horses, and sheep. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Anmials was formed two years later and had the distinction of being the first animal welfare society in the world, as well as the first law enforcement agency in the United Kingdom. In 1840, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals received the support of Queen Victoria and adopted the name the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Anti-vivisection movements increased in response to an increase in scientific and medical experimentation with mammals in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Despite the commonly held belief that animal rights reemerged as a primary concern in the 1970s, groups advocating for the rights and well-being of animals continued from the nineteeth century into the era following World War II with little stagnation. Less

The records of the Animal Welfare Institute include administrative files of both the AWI and the Society for Animal Protective Legislation (SAPL), subject files on animals the organization works to protect, files on legislation that SAPL has been involved with, files on the work of other animal rights groups, subject files on regional activities, photographs, publications, books, audiovisual materials, and archived web content. Materials of the organization range in date from its founding in the early 1950s to the early 2020's; other materials in the collection date back to the 1930s. The Animal Welfare Institute was created in 1951 as a non-profit, charitable organization focused on reducing the amount of suffering inflicted on animals by humans. The AWI continues to be active in these endeavors today, working to reduce animal cruelty in captive and domestic situations--including farming and laboratories--and also working to protect the rights of animals living in the wild, both on land and in the water. Less

The Dietrich von Haugwitz Papers, 1971-2007, contains various materials related to animal rights issues. Included are publications and other papers relating to animal rights organizations. Organizations include People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, The Humane Society of the United States, Animal Protection Society, and North Carolina Network for Animals. The organizations are both local to North Carolina and national. Topical Files contain general information about animal rights, animals used in biomedical research, hunting, vegetarianism, and individual species of animals. Several of the newsletters and news clippings contain materials written by Dietrich and Eva von Haugwitz. A few of the news articles relate to research studies at North Carolina State University which used animals. North Carolina State University philosphy professer Tom Regan, an opponent of animal studies, also appears in several articles. Dietrich von Haugwitz (1927-2007) was a German-born animal rights activist, who lived in Durham, North Carolina. Haugwitz became involved in animal rights in the 1980s, and founded a local chapter of the North Carolina Network for Animals. His wife Eva was also involved in animal rights activism, and served as president of the local Animal Protection Society. Haugwitz worked as a computer programmer/systems analyst at Duke University Medical Center before retiring in 1992. Less