MAURICE BROWNE PAPERS

This collection consists of three boxes of letters and literary manuscripts donated by Jack and Alice Palmer, and is composed of letters between Maurice Browne and his adopted daughter, Molly Underwood; correspondence about Maurice Browne; and poems by Maurice Browne. Browne and his wife, American actress Ellen Van Volkenburg, founded The Chicago Little Theatre in 1912. By 1927, Browne had returned to London and he began to serve as an advisor to Dorothy and Leonard Elmhirst, helping to establish the Dartington Hall drama programme. With the Elmhirsts' backing, Browne also started Maurice Browne Ltd., a West End theatre company which controlled the theatrical rights to R C Sherriff's play 'Journey's End', a huge success in the 1930s.

After the Second World War, the Elmhirsts helped to support Browne while he worked on his autobiography, 'Too Late to Lament' which was published in 1955. He remained close to the Elmhirsts until his death. Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst's theatre papers also hold considerable information on Browne, Maurice Browne Ltd, and 'Journey's End'.

The Dartington Hall Trust Archive also holds Leonard Elmhirst's papers about Maurice Browne (RefNo: LKE/BR).