Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1931-1951 (Creation)
Level of description
File
Extent and medium
623 ff.
Guarded and filed in four volumes.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
The Rev. John Dyfnallt Owen (Dyfnallt, 1873-1956), poet, writer and journalist, was born at Coedffalde, Glamorgan, on 7 April 1873. He was Congregational minister at Lammas Street, Carmarthen, 1910-1947. He won the crown at the 1907 National Eisteddfod in Swansea and was made Archdruid of Wales in 1954. From 1927 he edited the weekly Welsh newspaper Y Tyst. Dyfnallt was, from 1908, a member of the Celtic Congress. He visited Brittany in 1928, publishing his accounts of the journey in Y Tyst (collected in O Ben Tir Llydaw (Merthyr Tydfil, 1934)). He became friends with leading Breton nationalists and literary figures, including Taldir and the Abbé Perrot. Dyfnallt's daughter Meirion (1905-1991) and son Geraint (1908-1993) also became deeply interested in Breton matters. Dyfnallt died in Aberystwyth on 28 December 1956.
Following the Liberation of France from Nazi occupation in 1944 many Breton nationalists were imprisoned or otherwise punished by the French authorities on charges of collaboration. Dyfnallt was among the prominent Welshmen who sought to defend some of those affected, campaigning on their behalf and writing in their defence in the Welsh press. He was part of a delegation from the Council of the National Eisteddfod to visit France in April 1947, on the invitation of the French government, to inquire into the situation.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Letters, 1931-51, to Geraint Dyfnallt Owen from his father the Reverend John Dyfnallt Owen ('Dyfnallt'; 1873-1956), containing personal and family news, comments on the progress of the war, and news of religious, political and cultural affairs in Wales.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Readers consulting modern papers in the National Library of Wales are required to abide by the conditions noted on the 'Modern papers - data protection' form issued with their Readers' Tickets.
Conditions governing reproduction
Usual copyright laws apply.
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Welsh.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
The contents of NLW MSS 22853-23691 are indexed in greater detail in Handlist of Manuscripts in the National Library of Wales, vol. 9 (Aberystwyth, 2003).
Generated finding aid
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Title based on contents.
Note
Preferred citation: NLW MSS 23318D, 23319-23320E, 23321C.
Alternative identifier(s)
Virtua system control number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Dyfnallt, 1873-1956 -- Correspondence (Subject)