| Description | The papers of Dorothy Whitney Elmhirst (1887-1968) were accumulated over the course of a long and busy life. Subjects and correspondents represented in the collection reflect the very broad range of social and professional contacts maintained by Dorothy Elmhirst. From artists and academicians, to potters and politicians, the collection provides a rich source for modern art history, British and American social history, as well as the social and cultural experiment founded by Dorothy and Leonard Elmhirst at Dartington Hall, which is the collection's main focus.
Dorothy Elmhirst's correspondence and business papers were first maintained and filed by her private secretaries. In the 1950s, the historian Victor Bonham-Carter was given access to the Dartington Hall Trust archive with the intention that he would write a history of the enterprise. Over a period of several years, Bonham-Carter and Trust Records Officer, Robin Johnson, organised the Trust archive into broad categories and subjects. The principal record groups, DWE, T(Trust), and LKE (among others) were established in order to assist Bonham-Carter in writing his history. The present arrangement of the archive collection does not necessarily reflect the original order of the papers. Partly as a result of this, there is considerable overlapping of subjects throughout the administrative records and personal papers in the archive.
Series in the DWE collection include Arts; Cornell University; Dartington Hall School; Donations; Family; Gardens; General Correspondence; Household Accounts; Lectures; Law and Finance; Staff; and US Office.
For further information see:
Victor Bonham-Carter: Dartington Hall (unpublished reports 1925-1965)
WA Swanberg: Whitney Father, Whitney Heiress (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1980)
Michael Young: The Elmhirsts of Dartington (Routledge & Kegan Paul 1982, The Dartington Hall Trust 1996). |