Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1908-1993 (Creation)
Level of description
Sub-fonds
Extent and medium
2.291 cubic metres (79 large boxes)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Emyr Humphreys (1919-), one of Wales' most significant writers and cultural activists, was born in Prestatyn and brought up in Trelawnyd, both Flintshire. He was educated at UCW, Aberystwyth, where he studied history, learnt Welsh, and where he became a Welsh nationalist. He had registered as a conscientious objector in 1939, and was sent to work in Pembrokeshire during the Second World War. Later in 1944 he was sent as a war relief worker to the Middle East and then to Italy until 1946, where he was an officer with the Save the Children Fund. He married in 1946, the daughter of a Congregational minister. He became a teacher, and taught at Wimbledon Technical College until 1951, and then at Pwllheli Grammar School. He worked for the BBC as Drama Producer from 1955 until 1965, when he became a lecturer in drama at the University College of North Wales, Bangor. In 1972, he left to become a full-time writer. He has won numerous prizes, including the Somerset Maugham Award in 1952 for his novel Hear and Forgive, and The Hawthornden Prize in 1958 for A Toy Epic, and has published articles in Planet and the Welsh Internationalist. He has published over twenty novels, including The Little Kingdom (1946), The Voice of a Stranger (1949), A Toy Epic (1958), The Anchor Tree (1980), A Change of Heart (1951), Hear and Forgive (1952), A Man's Estate (1955), The Italian Wife (1957), Outside the House of Baal (1965), National Winner (1971), Flesh and Blood (1974), The Best of Friends (1978), Salt of the Earth (1985), An Absolute Hero (1986), Open Secrets (1988), Bonds of Attachment (1991), The Gift (1973), Jones (1984), Unconditional Surrender (1996), The Gift of a Daughter (1998), Ghosts and Strangers (2001), Old People are a Problem (2003), and The Shop; a collection of short stories, Natives (1968), and four volumes of verse, Ancestor Worship (1970), Landscapes (1976), The Kingdom of BrĂ¢n (1979), Pwyll a Rhiannon (1980). His book Emyr Humphreys: Conversation and Reflections (2004), bring his uncollected writings together.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Emyr Humphreys; Pryniad/Purchase; 1994.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Papers of Emyr Humphreys, 1908-1993, comprising mainly correspondence, 1930-1993, including personal correspondence, 1939-1993, correspondence between parties other than Emyr Humphreys, 1930-1993, and correspondence relating directly to his work, 1942-1994, and his interests, such as the arts and politics, including papers relating to Plaid Cymru and Gymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, 1956-1992; volumes, published and unpublished, [1946]x1991; short stories, in manuscript and typescript form, together with some poems and scripts and unidentified prose, 1937x1981; articles, reviews, adjudications and lectures, c. 1949x1993; radio and television scripts, including scripts containing references to Emyr Humphreys, with contributions by him and reviews of his work, 1946xc. 1993; poems, 1936xc. 1993; together with miscellaneous items, which include a file of official publications, circulars, memoranda and related papers (c. 1945-1946) relating to the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in Italy, and Welsh and English newspaper cuttings, 1908-1990.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
All records have been retained.
Accruals
System of arrangement
Arranged into the following: correspondence; volumes (published and unpublished), with the exception of short stories and poetry; short stories; articles, reviews, adjucations and lectures; poems; and miscellaneous.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Readers consulting modern papers in the National Library of Wales are required to sign the 'Modern papers - data protection' form.
Conditions governing reproduction
Usual copyright laws apply.
Language of material
- English
- German
- Welsh
Script of material
Language and script notes
Welsh, English, German.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Virtua system control number
Project identifier
Access points
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Description control area
Description identifier
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Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
- English
- Welsh
Script(s)
Sources
Archivist's note
Compiled by Annette Strauch for the ANW project, February 2003.