Description: Records accumulated by Leonard Elmhirst relating to the promotion of higher education among adults in rural areas, principally Devon and Cornwall. The records document Leonard's association with the Workers Educational Association (WEA); the University College of the South West of England, Exeter (UCSW) later to be known as the University of Exeter; and the Board of Education (Local Education Authority or LEA) in the planning and provision of a Rural Extension Scheme. This scheme was to be achieved by the extension of university teaching to create courses in response to local needs and in partnership with local community groups and organisations.

Leonard Elmhirst worked in a variety of roles as chairman, president and vice-president of committees and associations. Included are letters between Leonard Elmhirst and the Joint Committee for Tutorial Classes; the LEA; Social Services; F G Thomas; J Murray, principal and Sir J Cook, Vice-Chancellor of the University College of the South West of England, Exeter (UCSW); K Murray, Grants Committee; Workers' Educational Association, Devon area (WEA); World Association for Adult Education (WAAE) and its chairman, Albert Mansbridge; Henry Morris; Professor R H Tawney; W E Williams; Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA); R Briggs; Mary Kelly; and Sir William Holford.

AdminHist: Leonard Elmhirst was introduced to the idea of the Workers' Educational Association by his headmaster, William Temple (who later became the Archbishop of Canterbury) at Repton in 1911.

At Trinity College, Cambridge, Leonard met and became a life-long friend of Albert Mansbridge, the founder of the WEA and chairman of the British Institute of Adult Education.

In 1920, as part of the WEA Rural Extension Scheme, a Joint Committee for Tutorial Classes was established by the University College of the South West and the WEA for the purpose of promoting education of university standard amongst adults in Devon and Cornwall. It was recognised as an official responsible body by the Board of Education, apart from the college. The UCSW acted as the co-ordinating centre for the activities of the Extension Service and received Board of Education grants directly for its classes. The LEA in providing for salaries, sought to continue the pioneer effort of rural extension work that had been originally initiated by the WEA with the help of a Carnegie grant. The experience and advice of the WEA was to be spread over a wider area and was allowed to experiment in a wider variety of fields such as drama, dance, and music.

In response to a request from the UCSW and the Devon County authorities, the Dartington Hall Trustees agreed to co-operate in this venture on a regional basis. The Trust accordingly provided a grant to the Joint Committee for Tutorial Classes and the WEA, to enable them to carry on the pioneering experiment in drama, dance and music under the supervision of F G Thomas.

Devon thus was the first county to consider such a scheme, one that provided a unique opportunity for broadening the whole field of adult education, and therefore for a social experiment of a very significant kind.

The role of the Joint Committee for Tutorial Classes was to advise the local authority upon its expenditure on adolescent and adult education, to supervise work financed by the authority, and to plan means by which urban volunteers could be made available for rural areas. This arrangement made possible tours of amateur dramatic societies in the surrounding areas, and other forms of cultural education into rural areas of Devon.

The UCSW through its Extra Mural Work offered guidance and training for leaders of various voluntary bodies including the Women's Institute; Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA); the British Legion; and the Young Farmers Club. Leaders of local groups met for expert tuition and consultation at weekend and summer residential schools held at Dartington Hall. The Arts Department of Dartington Hall became a training centre with responsibility for standards of work. Dartington Arts Department staff were also asked to give short courses to school teachers; and longer courses to extension workers in the fields of music and drama, dance and design.