PHOTOGRAPH AND FILM COLLECTIONS

The Archive is currently embarked upon an 18 month project to conserve and digitise its key photographic collection. The resulting catalogue will be accessible on line. Its moving images are maintained by by the South West Film and Television Archive.

Online Photographic Exhibition
Photographic Image Use Fees
Photographic Image Reproduction Fees

Early prints and photographs of Dartington Hall and the courtyard date from about 1800. Earlier drawings and engravings of Dartington Hall are housed at the Exeter City Library, and the Devon Record Office. Modern print and photographic collections include thousands of high quality images. There are also many Elmhirst and Straight family images taken in England, America, the Middle East, and India, dating between 1850 and the 1970s. Many other images show rural life in Devon, and the employees of The Dartington Hall Trust.

From 1925, the Trust employed a staff photographer, George Bennett, and asked the Gardens Department to produce a film and photographic record of Dartington Hall activities. Other photographers were hired for portraiture, and to record progress at Dartington Hall. Prominent Devon photographers (including Stuart Black, James Ravilious, and Nicholas Horne) were contracted to photograph Dartington events. The Trust also used nationally known photographers including Cecil Beaton, who photographed Elmhirst family members and various Dartington Hall enterprises.

There are extensive series of photographs of the construction of school buildings, the various Lescaze houses, Staverton works, hydroelectric projects, forestry, and farms. Many photographs document the arts, including theatre, modern dance, and painting. Photographs also include images of many countries where Dartington people and arts organizations toured. One extraordinary album records the Ballets Jooss rehearsing in Los Angeles, California in 1938, with images taken by Fritz Henle. The international photograph collection includes images of America, twentieth century China, and India.

For additional information about archival motion film picture footage please see the Dartington Hall Film Unit. Film and photograph collections are available for artistic, educational, and commercial use. The nature of such use is determined by The Dartington Hall Trust Archive and Collection. For more information please contact high.cross.house@dartington.org.uk