Trust: The Dartington Hall Trust Records

DATE: 1953-2008

LEVEL: Fonds

The archives of Dartington Hall reflect the great diversity of the concerns and interests of The Dartington Hall Trust through the years, from its beginnings in 1925 under the personal control of its founders, Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst, and subsequently as a charitable activity.

The papers were created and maintained by administrative departments, officials, and by the lifelong efforts of successive trustees active in Dartington enterprises. They record all facets of the social experiment begun at Dartington Hall in 1925.

The Dartington Hall Trust was also a major landowner in Devon, controlling many farms and thousands of acres of woodlands in the county. Trustees, especially Leonard Elmhirst, were active in county politics. As a consequence, the archive is important for the history of the county in the twentieth century. The archives may also be of use for local history, in Totnes, Dartington and surrounding parishes, and in the South Hams district as a whole.

Dartington's many researchers and scientists have also studied aspects of sociology, and agriculture which are not limited solely to Devon. The interests of Dartington trustees, staff, artists, and students have extended beyond Devon's hedges to London and Yorkshire, to Bengal, the United States, and Tanzania. The Trusts archives reflect all of this.

Similarly, artists and performers, and academics and administrators associated with Dartington have been drawn from India, Ireland, America, and continental Europe, as well as Britain, broadening the international scope of the experiment, far beyond the simple parish.

Series in the Trust collection include: Adult Education; Agricultural Economics; Arts Administration; Arts Applied; Arts Dance; Arts Devon Centre for Further Education; Arts Drama;Arts Enquiry; Arts Film; Arts Music; Arts Press; Arts Projects; Arts Visual; Dartington Arts Society; Dartington College of Arts; Dartington Hall School; Dartington Hall Trust; Dartington Press; Publicity; Education; Estate; Hall Gardens; Hiley; History; Laboratory; Records; Sociology; The Dartington Society; Trust Administration; Welfare and Woodlands; Photographic Collection.

Prior to the creation of the charitable enterprise known as the Dartington Hall Trust, the activities on the Dartington Hall estate were the financial responsibIity of Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst. The creation of a commercial company, Dartington Hall Ltd, in 1929 began the process of devolving responsibility from the founders. The enterprise was divided between productive activities, which were the responsibility of Dartington Hall Ltd, and the non-productive which eventually came under the auspices of a Charitable Trust. Initially, in 1931, three separate trusts, a Land Trust, a School Trust and Dartington Trust were established. By July 1932 these three were merged to create the Dartington Hall Trust, the purpose of which was to provide unified control of the Dartington Hall enterprise and its holdings and companies, under one board of trustees. Founding trustees were Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst, A O (Pom) Elmhirst, and Fred Gwatkin. In March 1980 the Trust was formally incorporated into a charitable company, The Dartington Hall Trust Limited and In 1982 the word 'Limited' was deleted from its name.

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.)
Permission to publish or quote from any document held in the Dartington Hall Trust Archive
Former pupils of Dartington Hall School wishing to view their records
Archives & Records
The Dartington Hall Trust
Dartington Hall
Totnes TQ9 6EL
01803 847201
yvonne.widger@dartington.org