Imogen Holst conducting a small orchestraThis small collection of early records of the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA) was donated to The Dartington Hall Trust Archive by Nan Plummer in 2001. The records were accumulated by Sybil Eaton between about 1939 and 1944. The collection consists primarily of travelling reports by Sybil Eaton, Ronald Biggs, Imogen Holst, and other CEMA workers. The handwritten reports are a daily journal record of musical rehearsals and concerts organised by CEMA workers dispersed throughout wartime England. Reports mention orchestras and musicians, discuss the success or failure of performances, and the viability of various English counties and regions for further music concert organising efforts.

Imogen Holst, was CEMA organiser for the south west region of England and was based at Dartington Hall from about 1943. However, Holst's reports preserved in this collection are written in 1940 and 1941 when she was based at Oxford. Other materials in the collection include correspondence and CEMA Bulletins (issues 1-35 with a few gaps). A common refrain in the reports is the shortage of petrol and the difficulties of regional travel.