A Visit to the “Asbestos Archives” at the University of Strathclyde
In December 2025 I had the opportunity to spend some hours diving into some of the asbestos papers stored in the Archives and Special Collections department in the Andersonian Library, University of Strathclyde [1]. I was there to deliver a collection of 32 superb A2 photographs that professional photographer Hein du Plessis had taken in North Cape, South Africa in 1999 [2]. The photographs recorded the impact of asbestos mining: pictures of desperately emaciated and obviously seriously ill miners illustrated the human tragedy of asbestos related diseases and bleak pictures of landscape around the mines showed devastation of the environment due to mining for asbestos.
 South African community protest action against delays in the legal system in Britain. Picture reproduced by kind permission of the photographer Hein du Plessis. |
Laurie Kazan-Allen referred to these photographs in her blog entry on November 27, 2025 as “well-traveled.”1 I don’t recall how I acquired the photographs but I probably carried them in a large black portfolio for a colleague at an asbestos conference over 9 years ago. In 2016 they inadvertently traveled with me when I moved to New Zealand, then languished in the back of a cupboard until I discovered them in 2025 when I was packing up to return to England! Laurie advised that they should be held in the asbestos archive and I opted to deliver them to the University of Strathclyde in person so that I could visit the archive.
The visit and access to archive papers in the Archives and Special Collections’ quiet and airy Reading Room was arranged in advance by telephone calls with assistant archivist Rachael Jones who, having catalogued many of the asbestos archive resources, was able to suggest items that might be of particular interest.
 From left: Rachael Jones, Assistant Archivist and Dr. Helen Clayson. Photo courtesy of University of Strathclyde Archives and Special Collections. |
Explaining the genesis of the asbestos archives, Rachael told me that:
“The first asbestos-related collection entered the University of Strathclyde Archives and Special Collections in 2008, when Nancy Tait gifted all the papers from OEDA/SPAID [in 1996, the campaigning organization that she founded in 1978– the Society for the Prevention of Asbestosis and Industrial Diseases (SPAID) – had been renamed the Occupational and Environmental Diseases Association (OEDA)]. This donation was facilitated by ban asbestos campaigner Laurie Kazan-Allen, founder of both the British Asbestos Newsletter and the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS), and Arthur McIvor, Professor of Social History and Director of the Scottish Oral History Centre, University of Strathclyde, who was co-author of Lethal Work (2000). Arthur has published on the importance the archive holding papers relating to the oral history project on the voices of victims of asbestos [4,5]. Alongside the OEDA papers came other asbestos-related collections: Chase Manhattan T&N papers, the M.J. Sanders papers and the Cancer Prevention Society records, all of which had been given to Nancy Tait. Nancy can be said to have begun the great resource of asbestos-related collections that now reside at the University of Strathclyde.”
Since then, many other significant contributions related to the ban asbestos campaign, the fight to establish the deadly health hazards, the battle to establish compensation for asbestos diseases etc have been acquired, including the 74 boxes of papers from Laurie Kazan-Allen, and the (recently added) Hein du Plessis photographs [6]. A list of all the collections relating to asbestos can be found online [1].
 SPAID leaflet introducing the functions of the organization (archive ref: OEDA/A/1/5, Archives and Special Collections, University of Strathclyde Library). |
My first choice for reading was the collection of SPAID/OEDA papers provided by Nancy Tait MBE (1920-2009) – indomitable activist, occupational and environmental health researcher who focussed on asbestos health hazards and was a staunch advocate for asbestos victims [3]. Her activism was driven by the death of her husband, Bill, a Post Office telecommunications engineer, exposed to asbestos at work, who died due to mesothelioma at the age of 47 and was denied industrial diseases compensation – the SPAID/OEDA collection is named after him. It was fascinating and also emotional to hold papers that she had worked on such as a draft information leaflet annotated in pencil – knowing that her work was foundational in achieving accurate diagnoses of asbestos-related diseases, justice for asbestos victims and establishing asbestos victim support groups. Reading about her many significant achievements I felt huge appreciation and gratitude for her energy and passion to improve the situation for victims of asbestos. It was amazing to actually handle the papers that she had produced and read correspondence she had with influential people, inspiring to learn of her collaboration with the London Chest Clinic and the Electron Microscopy Unit at Queen Mary’s Hospital, London that led to OEDA eventually acquiring its own electron microscope (when the Department of Social Security Special Medical Boards, responsible for accepting or rejecting asbestos disease claims, did not have access to this state of the art diagnostic tool) and it was obvious that, throughout her career, her concern was primarily for the plight of asbestos victims. A Churchill Scholarship in 1976 took her to Europe to meet asbestos hazards experts and led to the publication of a pamphlet “Asbestos Kills” that rapidly raised asbestos awareness amongst the public, asbestos workers, health, legal and other professionals and had a huge impact on the asbestos industry in the UK and further afield. This led to the formation of OEDA. She was a giant and her legacy leaves us all grateful.
I then looked at the Tweedale collection; in particular, at those papers relating to the film “Alice – A Fight for Life” [7,8]. This film broadcast on prime-time TV in 1982 by Yorkshire Television covered the final days of Alice Jefferson who died from mesothelioma aged 47. She had worked in an asbestos factory for a few months as a teenager. The film covered the human toll of asbestos cancer and also examined the known health hazards to those who work with and/or are exposed to asbestos. The High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division in Leeds eventually awarded Alice £36,136 and cited the “harrowing and distressing” fight she’d had to obtain compensation. The media were full of reports concerning the film and the court case.
The impact of the film on the public was enormous and it had a devastating effect on the industry as share prices fell from 80 pence to 8 pence. The papers in this collection show how the industry tried in every possible way to minimise the negative effect on its business, rebutting criticism and questioning the evidence and attempting to discredit the film’s producers. The industry took Yorkshire Television to court but lost the case – there are scores of papers revealing the twists and turns of the industry in attempting to rescue the situation. However, the film marked a turning point for anti-asbestos campaigners; the public were outraged that asbestos hazards were putting so many at risk. The film can still be watched on YouTube [9].
I then chose to examine papers from Michael Brazier who had been a significant player in the UK asbestos industry [10]. In 1920 his grandfather had founded a UK asbestos distribution company that imported Canadian asbestos produced by the Johnson Asbestos Company, Thetford Mines, Quebec. After working his way up through the company Michael Brazier eventually succeeded his father as Managing Director. He kept a comprehensive record of committee minutes, correspondence across the asbestos industry, and a full account of the campaign that the UK asbestos industry mounted in response to the increasing awareness of asbestos hazards and in particular to the Asbestos Kills pamphlet. He was a member of the industry delegation to the Advisory Committee on Asbestos in 1976-77. Apparently, he was keenly interested in the relative toxicities of different types of asbestos. After his death his son acquired the papers and donated them to the “asbestos archives” where they provide a unique resource for understanding the power and determination of the asbestos industry to preserve its business.
 Cover of New Scientist Journal, Vol 33, No 535, 9 March 1967 (archive ref: BRA, Archives and Special Collections, University of Strathclyde Library). Permission to reproduce the cover granted by the New Scientist on January 30, 2026. |
An extremely informative document is the paper that Michael Brazier presented in 1977 to the Asbestos Corporation Conference in Milan: “The British way of fighting the Asbestos and Health Problem.”2 In this paper, writing partly in his capacity as Secretary of the Asbestos Fibre Importers Committee (AFIC), he detailed the increasing adverse publicity regarding asbestos and health hazards – citing the OEDA pamphlet “Asbestos Kills” and several high profile newspaper articles – that were creating a fall in demand for asbestos. Two other factors increased asbestos hazards awareness: firstly, in 1965, dockers at the Port of London refused to unload a “very dusty” cargo of Russian asbestos and in order to resolve this matter (and hoping to prevent a nationwide strike) there was subsequently a ban on asbestos handling in the Port of London; secondly, also in 1965, Newhouse and Thompson published their study involving 82 patients who had been diagnosed with mesothelioma (fatal asbestos cancer) that revealed evidence for the first time that domestic and environmental exposure to asbestos could cause the disease, that it was not always due to exposure at work [7]. Brazier stated in his presentation that these events led to “a spate of articles in various medical journals” and reported “usually out of context” in the national press. He described the subsequent attacks on the asbestos industry as “a witch hunt of an intensity seldom seen before or since directed at one commodity – asbestos.”
The papers show that, in 1965-67, AFIC played a vital part in preventing the London dockers’ ban on handling asbestos from spreading to all other ports; that the asbestos industry was thoroughly energised to rebuff the attacks on its commercial gains and was involved in many meetings with government departments, Trades Unions, shipowners, port employers’ organisations etc. The industry set up the innocuous-sounding Asbestos Information Committee which had the following aims: to communicate and spread the industry’s then primary mantra:
- That asbestos saves lives.
- That asbestos diseases are comparatively rare.
- That it can be used safely given proper methods of control.
- That the public is not at risk.
The Asbestosis Research Council (ARC) in conjunction with the Factory Inspectorate produced Control and Safety Guides as well as leaflets for the public and media. ARC also produced cartoon strips for factory workers – with good effect as some workers invited the press to see their working conditions! The industry campaign to overturn the negative publicity regarding asbestos was comprehensive, generously funded, and included the training of pro-asbestos speakers. But then three events, in particular, caused further alarm in the industry: the Ombudsman produced a report criticising the work of the Factory Inspectorate at the Cape Asbestos Factory in Hebden Bridge; then vandal-damaged blue asbestos was found in some London Council flats; and, as a severe blow to the industry, Nancy Tait published a pamphlet “Asbestos Kills.” From the industry perspective these events caused “a widespread exaggeration in the public mind of the risk from asbestos products.” Their response was to blame the messengers, described as “groups with powerful motivations,” suggesting that the professional reputations of physicians and solicitors now depended on “acceptance of an extreme view of risk” and criticising some journalists for “various left-wing publications who constantly followed the Tait line, appearing to believe it.”
The Asbestos Information Committee (AIC) then mounted an emergency campaign with the following objectives: to refute falsehood and dispel ignorance; to give confidence to employees and customers regarding the future of asbestos products; to ensure asbestos is used safely by customers at every level; to put hazards in perspective and to promote positive attributes of asbestos to show it can be socially beneficial.
An intense campaign ensued, with vast funds being spent on whole page adverts in major newspapers, a TV campaign showing the insulation benefits of asbestos, widespread presentations, a public service film, and 40,000 doctors received a booklet on asbestos and health. This cost a staggering £600,000.
The Brazier papers show how much the industry was prepared to put into restoring its fortunes after shares had nosedived following the increasing scientific evidence of asbestos lethal hazards. There are lessons in these papers for all students of industrial health hazards and the strategies that industry will use to minimise damage to profits, denying the human toll.
Summary
I could have spent many more hours going through the “asbestos archives” but time was limited. The asbestos collections are a truly astounding resource for anyone wanting to understand the difficulty of gaining acceptance of asbestos hazards when facing enormous challenges from an industry that has the ability to use substantial funds to further its aims. These papers also help us to understand how a major public health issue took so long to come to attention and for victims to be recognised, supported and financially compensated. Researchers, activists and campaigners, historians, social scientists, health and legal professionals could find the archives extremely valuable – we can learn from history.
Submitted January 27, 2026. Uploaded February 11, 2026
References
- Link to the asbestos archives: Asbestos - Archives and Special Collections - LibGuides at University of Strathclyde.
https://guides.lib.strath.ac.uk/archives/asbestos - Hein du Plessis photographic exhibition of asbestos disease sufferers in South Africa - University of Strathclyde Archives and Special Collections.
https://atom.lib.strath.ac.uk/hein-du-plessis-photographic-exhibition-of-asbestos-disease-sufferers-in-south-africa - Occupational and Environmental Diseases Association (William Ashton Tait) Archives - University of Strathclyde Archives and Special Collections.
https://atom.lib.strath.ac.uk/oeda-william-ashton-tait-archives - Lethal Work: A History of the Asbestos Tragedy in Scotland. Johnston, R., & McIvor, A. J. (2000).
- McIvor, A. (2024). Hearing Victims’ Voices: The Asbestos Story in the Archive Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals, 21(1), 41-63 (Original work published 2025).
https://doi.org/10.1177/15501906241270378 - Laurie Kazan-Allen papers on asbestos - University of Strathclyde Archives and Special Collections.
https://atom.lib.strath.ac.uk/laurie-kazan-allen-papers-on-asbestos - Geoffrey Tweedale papers - University of Strathclyde Archives and Special Collections.
https://atom.lib.strath.ac.uk/geoffrey-tweedale-papers - Alice - a Fight for Life. Film Yorkshire TV 1982.
- Watch on YouTube: Alice A Fight for Life (1982).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEHJYZGU4JU - Michael Brazier papers on asbestos and the asbestos industry - University of Strathclyde Archives and Special Collections.
https://atom.lib.strath.ac.uk/michael-brazier-papers-on-asbestos-and-the-asbestos-industry - Newhouse, M. L, Thompson, H. (1993) Mesothelioma of pleura and peritoneum following exposure to asbestos in the London area. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 50 (9) 769 …
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1 Kazan-Allen, L. A Well-Traveled Exhibition Comes Home! November 27, 2025.
http://ibasecretariat.org/lka-blogzxa240.php
2 Permission to reproduce this paper was granted by the University of Strathclyde Archives and Special Collections and the donor of the collection. See: Brazier, M. The British way of fighting the Asbestos and Health Problem.
https://ibasecretariat.org/bra-the-british-way-of-fighting-the-asbestos-and-health-problem-milan-paper-1977.pdf
