LKE and DWE: Personal Letters of Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst

DATE: 1920-1968

LEVEL: Series

Personal correspondence between Dorothy Straight and Leonard Elmhirst, together with a collection of biographical and memorial sources. The collection includes a set of typed letter transcripts. The early letters, to 1925, provide a journal account of Leonard's travels and work at Cornell University, in England and Ireland, in India at Santiniketan, and later visits in the company of Rabindranath Tagore to China, Japan, Italy, and Argentina. Dorothy's letters mention her friends and the progressive causes in which she is active. Letters also refer to the personal friendship of Leonard and Dorothy, culminating in their marriage in Apr 1925. Later letters discuss family, friends, and the social experiment at Dartington Hall.

After Dorothy's death in 1968, Leonard Elmhirst oversaw the completion of a transcription of the letters. He also assembled an annotated chronology which is included with the transcriptions. For the purpose of this database, the original letters only are described. The typed transcriptions may be consulted for reference or copying.

Leonard Elmhirst met Dorothy Straight in 1920, in the course of fund-raising for the Cornell University Cosmopolitan Club. Dorothy agreed to underwrite the Club, and also sought Leonard's advice in carrying out the wishes of her late husband, Willard Straight, who had asked that something be done to benefit Cornell University. Together, Leonard and Dorothy decided that a student union building would best fulfill Willard's request. Leonard wrote regularly to Dorothy Straight from Cornell describing student life and campus politics, his activities as an English lecturer and his studies in agricultural economics. They met in New York City and Ithaca, and from June 1921, their friendship grew stronger, although any romantic interests were postponed by Leonard's mission to establish a department of agriculture and rural reconstruction at Santiniketan, Rabindranath Tagore's university in Bengal.

With Dorothy Straight's support, Leonard travelled to India and Santiniketan, arriving in Nov 1921. Over the next two years he completed the founding work for the Institute of Rural Reconstruction at Surul, a village several miles from Santiniketan. During these years, Leonard was a peripheral observer of Gandhi and the Non-Cooperation movement, though with a unique perspective. In America, Dorothy continued to support the women's labour union movement and artists such as Martha Graham, as well as Cornell University and the New Republic magazine among other causes. She was central and yet as a widow apart, in a social world that included Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis and H G Wells, with whom she attended the Washington Naval Conference in 1921 and 1922.

Between 1923 and 1925, Leonard travelled twice around the globe, lecturing and supporting Rabindranath Tagore's missions to Europe, Asia and South America. After their marriage, in September 1925 Dorothy and Leonard purchased Dartington Hall to be the location for Leonard's concept of an English experiment in progressive education and rural reconstruction.

The Elmhirsts' had an internationalist perspective. Dorothy had lived in Peking with her first husband, Willard Straight, until the revolution of 1913. After her move to England in 1925, she made annual visits to America attending business meetings, and visiting friends and family. Leonard Elmhirst, meanwhile, worked for much of his life on the economic and agricultural problems of rural England and India, and these concerns led him away from Dartington sometimes for up to a year. Their letters are a record of their absence from each other.

Information for Researchers

All papers belonging to The Dartington Hall Trust Archive (with the exclusion of Dartington Hall School pupils individual records) are held at the Devon Record Office. All enquiries relating to research should be made to Devon Records Office, Great Moor House, Bittern Road, Sowton, Exeter, Devon EX2 7NL
+44 (0)1392 384253
+44 (0)1392 384256
devrec@devon.gov.uk
www.devon.gov.uk/record_office

The following requests should be made direct to the Archives & Records at The Dartington Hall Trust as shown below:
Copies of images as seen on The Dartington Hall Trust online catalogue with appropriate reference number (Ref No.)
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Former pupils of Dartington Hall School wishing to view their records
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