• Held At: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies
• Title: The Sir Frederic Osborn Archive
• Description: A. PERSONAL LIFE AND FAMILY PAPERS
  
  B. CORRESPONDENCE
  
  C. WRITINGS
  Lecture Notes: politics and planning
  Articles on Planning
  Books on Planning
  Osborn and the BBC
  Non-Planning Articles
  Verses
  Plays
  
  D. PLANNING MEMORANDA FILES
  
  E. POST-WAR RECONSTRUCTION
  Scott Committee
  Uthwatt Committee
  Barlow Commission
  New Towns Committee
  Dudley Committee
  Plans for London
  
  F. GARDEN CITIES AND TOWN PLANNING ASSOCIATION
  
  G. TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ASSOCIATION
  
  H. INTERNATIONAL PLANNING
  International Federation for Housing and Planning
  Tours abroad
  World Town Planning Day
  
  I. EBENEZER HOWARD
  Personal Papers and Correspondence
  Osborn on Howard
  Interviews concerning Howard
  Garden Cities of Tomorrow
  Howard Memorial Plaques
  Articles on Howard [not by Osborn]
  
  J. LETCHWORTH
  Labour Movement
  Howard Cottage Society
  History
  Statistics and Reports
  Letchworth Corporation Bill
  Printed Material
  
  K. WELWYN GARDEN CITY
  Foundation
  History to 1929
  Restructuring of Welwyn Garden City Ltd, 1928
  Welwyn Garden City Ltd
  History, 1930-1949
  History, 1950-1978
  Golden Jubilee, 1970
  Drama and Theatre
  Diaries and Notebooks
  Printed and Publicity Material
  
  L. MURPHY RADIO COMPANY
  
  M. NOTEBOOKS
  
  N. SCRAPBOOKS
  
  O. NEWSPAPER CUTTINGS [These remain unsorted and uncatalogued, so this section does not form part of the online catalogue]
  
  P. PHOTOGRAPHS & SLIDES
  
  Q. SUPERSEDED INDEXES
  
  R. GENERAL MISCELLANEOUS [This section contains only one very general item which will be catalogued elsewhere in the collection, so this section does not form part of the online catalogue]
  
  S. BOOKS, PAMPHLETS AND JOURNALS [These do not form part of the archive collection and are unlisted, so this section does not form part of the online catalogue]
• Date: 1894 - 1978
• Document Reference: DE/FJO
• Ref No: CDEFJO
• Access Conditions: THIS COLLECTION IS HELD OFF-SITE. PLEASE CONSIDER ORDERING IN ADVANCE.
• Creator Name: Osborn, Frederic, 1885-1978, of Hertfordshire
• Administrative or Biographical History: FREDERIC JAMES OSBORN, 1885-1978, began his working life at the age of 15 as a clerk in the City of London, the first of several such posts which culminated in that of clerk/book-keeper/rent collector with the National Dwellings Society, a philanthropic housing association.
  In 1912, knowing nothing of Ebenezer Howard and his proposals for Garden Cities, Osborn obtained the post of Secretary to the Howard Cottage Society in Letchworth, the first Garden City, then 9 years old and with a population of some 8,000 inhabitants. It was a momentous appointment, for the move out of London proved to be the turning point of Osborn's life. At Letchworth he found himself in a gracious, planned town which combined healthy living conditions with town and countryside, which offered a rich do-it-yourself culture and which had been founded as a model for the reconstruction of urban society. He also discovered the ideas of Ebenezer Howard, became a convert to Garden City principles and embraced the cause which, as Howard's most dedicated disciple and propagandist, was to dominate the rest of his life: "... improving the conditions under which most people live, work and play... through the building of Garden Cities and New Towns".
  At Letchworth, at Welwyn Garden City from 1919, and through his roles in the Town and Country Planning Association from 1936 until almost his death 42 years later, Osborn worked at the heart of the campaign which turned Garden Cities into the British New Towns movement. From his base within the Town and Country Planning Association - as Secretary, Chairman of the Executive, Editor of Town and Country Planning for 16 years, later as Chairman and President of the Association - he organised, lobbied, agitated, addressed meetings, broadcast, sat on committees, arranged conferences and meetings and wrote millions of words for the Town and Country Planning Association cause. His position gave him special access to government officials and other people and organisations of influence. The great task of rebuilding Britain after the Second World War offered him unprecedented opportunity to affect events, whilst his passionate dedication, exceptional abilities and astonishing energy and workrate ensured that his case was put to maximum advantage. When Stevenage was designated the first government-sponsored New Town under the 1946 New Towns Act, the first of nearly 30 others, it was Osborn, more than any other single person, who had prepared the way for that historic legislation.
  Osborn was a self-educated, widely cultured man. He read voraciously, wrote prolifically, corresponded world-wide, was a lover of literature, music and drama while not neglecting the sciences, and was committed to socialist politics for most of his life. He had a strong sense of history and of the historical importance of the Garden City-New towns movement and his place within it. He was an inveterate summariser, annotator and note-maker of things read, experienced and witnessed, and he preserved almost every written and most printed documents which passed through his hands, amassing tens of thousands of papers reflecting the events and interests of his long life.
  Osborn was a methodical person, systematically maintaining his records in a coherent order, although often overwhelmed by their sheer quantity. Following standard archival practice, the arrangement of the Archive retains Osborn's main and subsidiary groupings and subject headings, with only a limited amount of re-arrangement to unite obviously dispersed subjects. The Catalogue of the Archive first completed by staff at Welwyn Garden City Library repeats this arrangement. The sections on Osborn himself, on Ebenezer Howard, Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City have been listed in detail. Within the Catalogue, comments or notes in ( ) brackets are Osborn's own; those in [ ] brackets are those of the compilers.
• Custodial History: FREDERIC JAMES OSBORN, 1885-1978, began his working life at the age of 15 as a clerk in the City of London, the first of several such posts which culminated in that of clerk/book-keeper/rent collector with the National Dwellings Society, a philanthropic housing association.
  In 1912, knowing nothing of Ebenezer Howard and his proposals for Garden Cities, Osborn obtained the post of Secretary to the Howard Cottage Society in Letchworth, the first Garden City, then 9 years old and with a population of some 8,000 inhabitants. It was a momentous appointment, for the move out of London proved to be the turning point of Osborn's life. At Letchworth he found himself in a gracious, planned town which combined healthy living conditions with town and countryside, which offered a rich do-it-yourself culture and which had been founded as a model for the reconstruction of urban society. He also discovered the ideas of Ebenezer Howard, became a convert to Garden City principles and embraced the cause which, as Howard's most dedicated disciple and propagandist, was to dominate the rest of his life: "... improving the conditions under which most people live, work and play... through the building of Garden Cities and New Towns".
  At Letchworth, at Welwyn Garden City from 1919, and through his roles in the Town and Country Planning Association from 1936 until almost his death 42 years later, Osborn worked at the heart of the campaign which turned Garden Cities into the British New Towns movement. From his base within the Town and Country Planning Association - as Secretary, Chairman of the Executive, Editor of Town and Country Planning for 16 years, later as Chairman and President of the Association - he organised, lobbied, agitated, addressed meetings, broadcast, sat on committees, arranged conferences and meetings and wrote millions of words for the Town and Country Planning Association cause. His position gave him special access to government officials and other people and organisations of influence. The great task of rebuilding Britain after the Second World War offered him unprecedented opportunity to affect events, whilst his passionate dedication, exceptional abilities and astonishing energy and workrate ensured that his case was put to maximum advantage. When Stevenage was designated the first government-sponsored New Town under the 1946 New Towns Act, the first of nearly 30 others, it was Osborn, more than any other single person, who had prepared the way for that historic legislation.
  Osborn was a self-educated, widely cultured man. He read voraciously, wrote prolifically, corresponded world-wide, was a lover of literature, music and drama while not neglecting the sciences, and was committed to socialist politics for most of his life. He had a strong sense of history and of the historical importance of the Garden City-New towns movement and his place within it. He was an inveterate summariser, annotator and note-maker of things read, experienced and witnessed, and he preserved almost every written and most printed documents which passed through his hands, amassing tens of thousands of papers reflecting the events and interests of his long life.
  Osborn was a methodical person, systematically maintaining his records in a coherent order, although often overwhelmed by their sheer quantity. Following standard archival practice, the arrangement of the Archive retains Osborn's main and subsidiary groupings and subject headings, with only a limited amount of re-arrangement to unite obviously dispersed subjects. The Catalogue of the Archive first completed by staff at Welwyn Garden City Library repeats this arrangement. The sections on Osborn himself, on Ebenezer Howard, Letchworth and Welwyn Garden City have been listed in detail. Within the Catalogue, comments or notes in ( ) brackets are Osborn's own; those in [ ] brackets are those of the compilers.
• Terms:New towns
• Legal Status: public
• Level: Fonds
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