Correspondence of Philip Mairet, Patrick McLaughlin, Violet Welton, and associated documents concerning Christian socialist ideas.

The collection comprises 11 files:
1. Letters from Philip Mairet to Tom Heron – and occasionally to his wife Eulalia 'Jack' Heron -, covering the period 1957 to 1975. Subjects include the Chandos Group, T.S. Eliot, Dimitrije Mitrinović, W.T. Symons, Joseph Dalby, Neil Montgomery, V.A. Demant, Teilhard de Chardin, Simone Weil, S.T. Coleridge, E.F. Schumacher, Christian spirituality, science and religion, Heron's poetry, the journal 'Theoria to Theory' and various family matters.
2. Letters/notes by Philip Mairet to Neil Montgomery and the Reverend Martin Jarrett-Kerr. Also a letter from Violet Welton(?) to Tom Heron, portions of letters by Mairet to two unknown correspondents and a portion of a letter by Patrick F. James. Subjects include S.T. Coleridge, C.H. Douglas, world population and Mairet's literary estate.
3. Twenty typescript letters mostly from the French psychologist Hubert Benoit to Philip Mairet - with some of his replies -, a documentary 'Histoire d'un cas', in which Mairet describes his career and spiritual history, and a what's on-type guide to Moscow theatres. Subjects include Buddhism, spirituality, Dimitrije Mitrinović and Benoit's books La Doctrine Suprême and De l'Amour.
4. Letters to Maurice Reckitt from correspondents including W.T. Symons, Noel D. Hicks, Violet Welton, V.A. Demant, Winifred Childs, John Reiss and the Reverend F.C. Tyler. Subjects include Reckitt's and others' publications and croquet.
5. A file consisting of minutes (1957-1972), annual reports (1957-68, with gaps), course outlines, press releases (1940s) and a very small amount of correspondence relating to the St. Anne's Society, Soho. Correspondents include Patrick McLaughlin, Arnold Toynbee and George Every. Mostly typescript, some photocopies.
6. Documents, letters, etc. relating to Patrick McLaughlin's resignation from St. Anne's House, London, and other matters. Subjects include the Christendom Trust, Philip Mairet and Dorothy L. Sayers. Mostly typescripts or copies of typescripts.
7. A file of about fifty letters and associated documents mostly to and from Violet Welton and Patrick McLaughlin and mostly concerning the British section of the European Youth Campaign (Campagne Européenne de la Jeunesse) and its activities in Paris during the 1950s. Subjects include Christian Democracy, Les Nouvelles Equipes Internationales (NEI), Mouvement Européen, the Retinger Committee, St. Anne's House, London, Denis de Rougemont, Georges Rebattet, Canon John Collins, Lady Rhys Williams, André Philip, Paul-Henri Spaak and Robert Bichet.
8. Four files created by Violet Welton:
8/1. A very small file containing typescript copies of a letter from Dorothy M. Kelgy and Welton's response - the first in answer to an article in 'The Church Teacher' by Violet Welton.
8/2. A file containing typescript documents and typescript and manuscript letters mostly by, to or from Violet Welton and concerning the education of youth in Europe and allied matters. Subjects include the European Youth Campaign (Campagne Européenne de la Jeunesse), Assembly of Political Youth, Les Nouvelles Equipes Internationales (NEI), Sir Walter Moberly, Jean Moreau and Professor George Lehmann.
8/3. A file containing typescript documents and typescript, manuscript and photocopied letters to and from Violet Welton, Dorothy L. Sayers, Gilbert Shaw, Christopher Dawson, Anne Ridler, Patrick McLaughlin, Tom Heron, Kathleen Raine, David Peck and Daisy Carden, and concerning the European Youth Campaign (Campagne Européenne de la Jeunesse), the St. Anne's House, London, and other matters.
8/4. A file containing a photocopy of a letter from an unknown correspondent to Dorothy L. Sayers concerning St. Anne's House, London, a typescript report by J.H.C. Molenaar, and documents concerning the European Youth Campaign (Campagne Européenne de la Jeunesse).

Artificial collection of files and loose material relating to Philip Mairet and others connected to Christian socialist ideas.

Items have been kept in files as received. It is not clear whether original order had been retained. To assist users, correspondence files have been ordered by date when possible.

Available to researchers, by appointment. Access to archive material is subject to preservation requirements and must also conform to the restrictions of the Data Protection Act and any other appropriate legislation. A number of items in files 1 and 4 are restricted under the Data Protection Act.

Donated by Philip Conford in 2016.

Unpublished catalogue

Some documents have mechanical damage and must be handled with care: creasing, tears and staining.

Described by Martin Levy, with Alison Cullingford, using ISAD(G) 2, April 2017.

Copies may be supplied or produced at the discretion of Special Collections staff, subject to copyright law and the condition of the originals. Applications for permission to make published use of any material should be directed to the Special Collections Librarian in the first instance. Special Collections staff will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

This material has not been appraised. There is believed to be little or no irrelevant material.

No further accruals are expected.

Related collections in Special Collections include the Mitrinović Library and Archive (GB 532 NAF) and the Peart-Binns Christian Socialist Archive (GB 532 PEA). Related collections elsewhere include: Reckitt Papers (University of Sussex GB 181 SxMs 44); Correspondence with Violet Welton relating to 'Autobiographical and other papers' by Philip Mairet, edited by C.H. Sisson (Carcanet, 1981) (University of Manchester GB 133 CPA/2/3/157); Material concerning St Anne's Soho in the Papers of Juliet Rhys Williams (London School of Economics GB 97 RHYS WILLIAMS J).