TPH/02/B/0556a: Teda de Moor , School of Dance Mime, 1932 Historical resources for the Arts at Dartington include archival material for all branches of the fine and performing arts. Arts archives were created uniquely by Dorothy Elmhirst, Leonard Elmhirst, and the Trust Arts Department administrators. The records reflect the different involvement of their creators in the Arts. Major subjects and correspondents include artists and art galleries (Mark Tobey, Cecil Collins, Henry Moore, and others); handicrafts (including correspondence with Bernard Leach); Dartington Arts Department records including minutes and papers; music (including correspondence with Hans Oppenheim, Benjamin Britten, and Imogen Holst); dance (including correspondence with and about Uday Shankar; Rudolf Laban; Martha Graham; the Ballet Rambert; the Ballets Jooss, and Margaret Barr’s School of Dance-Mime). Christopher Martin, first administrator of the Arts Department at Dartington, established the Arts Enquiry, a national survey of the state of the arts in Britain during and immediately after World War II. Its results were published by the independent Political and Economic Planning group.

Theatre was a particular interest of Dorothy Elmhirst. Both she, and her daughter, the Oscar-winning actress Beatrice Straight, studied drama under Michael Chekhov. Theatre records found in Dorothy's papers, and in the Trust Arts Drama subseries, include collections of letters from and about Vera Bowen; Rupert Doone; Ashley Dukes; Reginald Pole; Mair Staniland; Mary Kelly; F G Thomas and the rural theatre; puppeteer Richard Odlin; actor, poet, and impresario, Maurice Browne; and actor theorist, Michael Chekhov. Also included is a collection of theatre programmes from performances at Dartington and at professional and amateur theatres around Britain, dating from the late 1920s to 1980.