LKE MESC: Middle East Supply Centre

DATE: 1938-1956

LEVEL: Series

The MESC series consists of three boxes of records documenting Leonard Elmhirst's wartime work (1942-1943) as Agricultural Adviser to the Middle East Supply Centre. Surviving records include: minutes; correspondence with organisations; reports on aspects of agriculture (including machinery, crops, cultivation, irrigation, supplies, rations of oils and fats, and education); diary notes and ephemera. The material, which includes Leonard Elmhirst's reports and notes, offer a broad survey of the industrial and agricultural resources of Egypt; Iraq; Palestine; Turkey; Persia; Cyprus, Syria and Lebanon; Hadramaut, Yemen and Transjordan; East Africa and Sudan. This resulted in an official report, 'Agricultural Report No 5, Middle East Supply Centre' by L K Elmhirst, Anglo-American Agricultural Mission, Jul-Nov 1942. This report includes references to postwar reconstruction. Publications also include Jewish and Zionist printed matter.

Leonard Elmhirst was appointed as an Agricultural Adviser to the Middle East Supply Centre in August 1942 whilst employed by the Ministry of War Transport. His mission was to serve as one of two British representatives of an Anglo-American agricultural survey of the Middle East region undertaken in the latter half of 1942. The survey examined basic agricultural resources, methods, and infrastructure. It also reported on agricultural education needs in the region. The MESC headquarters were in Cairo. A principal goal was to encourage agricultural and industrial self-sufficiency in the region, decreasing the burden of shipping food and other basic products to the region during wartime.

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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This information is copyright The Dartington Hall Trust