LKE General Correspondence and Ephemera

DATE: 1899-1984

LEVEL: Series

Consists of an extensive general correspondence and subject file created by Leonard Elmhirst. Subseries include: general correspondence; local and national politics, with a Labour Party emphasis; correspondence with reporters and editors of newspapers and journals writing about the Dartington Hall experiment; correspondence and records of membership in many British societies and associations; notes and articles compiled by Leonard Elmhirst on a variety of subjects; World War I army notebooks and field manuals belonging to Leonard Elmhirst and two of his brothers, Christopher and William, who were killed in 1915 and 1916; records of peace and pacifism in the 1930s; broadcasting records documenting BBC radio and television appearances featuring Leonard Elmhirst dating between 1932 and 1973; and a nearly complete series of transcripts of oral history interviews with Leonard Elmhirst, recorded by historian Victor Bonham-Carter between 1957 and 1962.

There are also records of honorary degrees conferred. Additional subjects cover art; books and book collecting; Ireland in 1919; Leonard's childhood and education at S Anselms, Repton and Trinity College, Cambridge; progressive and alternative education; and the Federal Union.

Alphabetic correspondence covers many subjects, the most common being requests for a job, a loan, or for a tour of the Dartington Hall estate. But there is material of substance revealing Leonard Elmhirst's extensive contacts, socially, in government and in academia. Significant correspondence exists with actors, authors, poets, economists and historians, archbishops and electricians, philosophers and politicians. There are also two files of chronological correspondence mainly between Peter Sutcliffe and Leonard covering Trustee policy and management issues.

The role of Dartington Hall as a progressive retreat is confirmed through records of events held at Dartington, such as the Cripps Conference, a weekend meeting held in 1944 and attended by Sir Stafford Cripps, Sir David Owen and others to consider means for the promotion of progressive politics in postwar Britain.

Correspondence with Kay Starr, private secretary to Leonard Elmhirst, contains unique observations on the Dartington Hall experiment, World War II and American neutrality, and family news.

The list of correspondents includes Claude Colleer Abbott; Clifford Allen; Susan Bosence; Marcel Breuer; H N Brailsford; Serge Chermayeff; Herbert Corner; Frances and John Cornford; Stafford Cripps; Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson; Prof J J Findlay; Rolf Gardiner; Victor Gollancz; Gerald Heard; Aldous and Julian Huxley; Andree Karpeles; John Maynard Keynes; Stephen King-Hall; Alister Hardy; George Lansbury; Basil H Liddell Hart; Lewis Lorwin; J J Mallon of Toynbee Hall; Herbert Morrison; A S Neil; Henry W Nevinson; Harold Nicolson; Max Nicholson; Sean and Eileen O'Casey; Charles K Ogden; S K Ratcliffe; Seebohm Rowntree; Bertrand Russell; Dora Russell; George W Russell; Vita Sackville-West; George Bernard Shaw; T E Lawrence (Shaw); Stephen Spender; Siegfried Sassoon; C P Scott; Tomaso Gallarati Scotti; Richard Tawney; William Temple; Rifat Tirana; Arthur Waley; H G Wells; Ellen Wilkinson; Michael Young; and Beryl de Zoete.

Materials include letters and reports, diaries, notebooks, transcripts, poetry, and speeches.

The material includes correspondence with Herbert Morrison. Morrison was a British Labour Party politician who held various Cabinet posts, including Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and that of Deputy Prime Minister. After the end of the war Morrison was instrumental in drafting the Labour Party's 1945 manifesto 'Let us Face the Future'. He was the organiser of the general election campaign and Labour won a massive and unexpected victory and he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the House of Commons. Morrison visited Dartington Hall for a weekend (possibly with Patrick Gordon Walker) to work on 'Let us Face the Future'. This was reputed to have been in the Dukes Room in the West Wing. Dartington Hall Trustee Michael Young was the author of the manifesto, responsible for drafting it.

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
Archives & Records
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Dartington Hall
Totnes TQ9 6EL
01803 847200
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