| Description | 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.
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