Papers of H. Rolf Gardiner

This collection comprises Rolf Gardiners (RG) work on the youth movements of Britain and Europe, His travels with dance and folk groups, his furtherance of the restoration and conservation of his estate and his writings on conservation, agriculture and landscape husbandry. There is also a fair amount of personal material ranging from his birth, schooling, later life and death, correspondence with friends and visits to other countries. Some material pertains to his friendships in Germany, and there a few indications of the problems he had with his association with the National Socialist movement in Germany, this collection containing a letter to Dr Goebbels, praising the 'national renewal' that the party had begun.

Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

Purchased by Cambridge University Library in 1991 from his daughter Mrs Rosalind Richards.

A catalogue of the collection can be found on ArchiveSearch.

The copyright in Rolf Gardeners papers rests with his daughter, Mrs Rosalind Richards, to whom enquires should be directed. She also retains some family papers. Address: Mrs Rosalind Richards, c/o Springhead, Fontmell Magna, Dorset, SP7ONU

Cambridge University Library holds microfilm copies of Gardiners diaries. These were started as holiday diaries in 1914 and continued through his life, though not continuously. The amount of detail varies greatly, from brief 'calendar' entries to full narratives. The original diaries were returned to Mrs Richards. CUL has 9 reels of film, Microfilm MSS 9630-9638 There are also files relating to Rolf Gardiner's African estates in the Borthwick Institute, York.

See Water Springing from the ground, an anthology of Gardener's writings, with a biographical introduction, edited by Andrew Best (Springhead 1972).