Papers relating to Volunteers

Papers relating to individuals from Britain who travelled to Spain to volunteer during the Spanish Civil War. Largely comprising papers relating to those who fought in the International Brigade but also including papers relating to medical volunteers.

Papers are organised into series by volunteer and can include: papers belonging to or produced by volunteers such as diaries, correspondence, photographs, identification cards and documents issued during their time in Spain, as well as printed material, memoirs, poetry and pieces of writing produced after their return from Spain. Other material, collected by families as well as organisations such as the International Brigade Association or the International Brigade Memorial Trust often includes press cuttings, printed material and obituaries for individual volunteers. In some cases the papers of individuals also contain material related to organisations which they were involved with, such as Bill Alexander's papers which include significant correspondence relating to his involvement in the International Brigade Association.

Additional material relating to volunteers can be found throughout the Spanish Collection. Some small collections of material of, or relating to, Brigaders from outside Britain and Ireland can be found in SC/IND alongside papers of other significant individuals, including contemporary Aid Spain campaigners.

Personal papers of volunteers have been donated to the library both directly and through the International Brigade Association and, more recently, the International Brigade Memorial Trust. Related papers have been collected by the Library and also by the aforementioned organisations on behalf of the Library.