Yvonne Kapp Papers

Papers of Yvonne Kapp, mainly relating to her work for the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU), 1941-1946 comprising: reports of AEU Production Enquiries, 1941-1943; papers on AEU Health and Welfare Enquiry, 1944-1946; general papers on Kapp's work for the AEU, including record of work of the AEU Research Department, 1941-1945 and typescript of article by Kapp, on 25th anniversary of the foundation of the AEU, 1945; correspondence and papers on John Eliott Burns (1858-1943), including letters to Burns from Eleanor Marx (1888), May Potter (1893), George Mitchell (1893-1897), Joseph Edwards, editor of the Labour Annual (1895), Samuel McGowan (1897) and others and correspondence on the disposal of Burn's library on the history of London and the early history of the Labour movement. (The books were divided between the London Library and the AEU); Kapp's diary (mainly engagements) 1943; miscellaneous files on production, training and joint consultation 1945-1965; copies of obituaries of Kapp, 1999.

Born Yvonne Mayer, 1903; educated at King's College, London; married the artist Edmond Kapp in 1922; joined the Communist Party of Great Britain, 1936, following a visit to the Soviet Union; worked with Basque and Jewish refugees, 1937-1938; Assistant Director, British Committee to Refugees from Czechoslovakia, dismissed from her post by the Home Office, 1940, and wrote pamphlet 'British Policy and the Refugees', 1941; Research Officer, Amalgamated Engineering Union, 1941-1946; worked for Medical Research Council, undertaking field work in the East End of London, 1947-1953; editor and translator, Lawrence and Wishart (publishers) 1953-11957; died 1999. Publications: four novels under the pseudonym Yvonne Cloud, including 'Nobody Asked You' 1932 and 'The Houses in Between' 1938; 'Eleanor Marx' 2 volumes 1972, 1976.

Papers arranged in 5 classes: Box 1 (1) AEU Production Enquiries (2) AEU Heath and Welfare Enquiry (3) General Work for the AEU; Box 2 John Burns papers and miscellaneous files.

Open to bona fide researchers by appointment, at the discretion of the TUC Librarian.

Donated by Betty Lewis, 2000.

List available at in the TUC Library.

Compiled by Alan Kucia as part of the RSLP AIM25 Project. Used with kind permission of AIM25 2002. Submitted to the Archives Hub in 2008 as part of the Genesis 2008 Project.

Photocopying is permitted within the terms of copyright legislation, although copying of some items including fragile material is at the discretion of the librarian.

The Institute of Germanic Studies, University of London, also holds a small collection of the papers of Yvonne Kapp and Margaret Mynatt, (Ref GB 0367 MYK), including Kapp's correspondence with Helene Brecht-Weigel and the Bertolt Brecht Archiv, Berlin; correspondence of Mynatt and Kapp with Phyllis Rosner, Elisabeth Hauptmann and Ilse Warnber [sister of Elisabeth Hauptmann]; minutes and papers of the Czech Refugee Trust Fund, [1938-1940]; correspondence, 1939-1941, including letters written under the pseudonym Yvonne Cloud; hand-written copies of poems on the Communist Party; refugee papers selected by Dr Charmian Brinson, 1997; 3 volumes of press cuttings on the 'Internment Crisis', July-Sep 1940; obituaries of Kapp from The Independent, The Times and The Guardian, 1999.