Stoatley Rough School Archives

Records of Stoatley Rough School, 1923-2000, including Council Meeting reports, 1935-1959, dealing with the administration of the school; general administrative material, 1933-1962, notably salary books, annual accounts, memorandum and articles of association and pupil card files; school desk diaries, 1949-1955, giving details of term dates and appointments; general administrative correspondence, 1934-1960, including letters relating to the establishment of the school, pupil applications, building maintenance, former pupils and teachers, as well as correspondence with the Jewish Refugees Committee; academic papers, 1934-1960, including examination papers, certificates, syllabuses, timetables and pupils' exercise books; school reports, 1939-1950; pupil files, 1932-1960; material concerning student helpers, 1950-1951, including index cards and correspondence; general papers and publications, 1923-1960, notably attendance and ration lists, papers relating to teaching methods, and material on various refugee organisations; various memoirs and reminiscences by former students and staff, 1948-1991, notably an oral history by Eleonore Astfalck; a typescript history of Stoatley Rough School, 1990. Later deposits include the personal papers of Dr. Hilde Lion including material relating to her early life and career in Germany; papers of Gerda Mayer; papers collected by Herta Loeser and deposited by Barbara Wolfenden in 2008, including History Steering Group papers, 1990s; papers relating to the search for former pupils and arrangements for reunions, 1990s; letters to and from former staff and students, including a few items from the 1930s-1940s, but mainly dating from the 1990s.

Stoatley Rough School was founded by Dr Hilde Lion in 1934 as a mixed boarding school, mainly for refugee children from Nazi Europe. It was recognised by the Ministry of Education in 1940. After World War Two, a number of British pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds were sent to the school by local authorities. It was also attended by private boarders. Stoatley Rough was run as a non-profit-making concern, and was closed upon the retirement of Dr Lion in 1960. The Stoatley Rough School History Steering Committee (later the Stoatley Rough School Association) was constituted in July 1991 following a reunion, and is dedicated to preserving, cataloguing and researching the historical records of the School.

The collection is arranged as follows: 1. Council meeting reports. 2. School diaries. 3. Correspondence. 4. Academic Papers. 5. School reports. 6. Pupil files. 7. Student helpers. 8. General papers. 9. Publications. 10. Pupil files (Additional). 11. Additional Material. 12. Gerda Mayer. 13. Additional Papers Deposited by Gillian Weinmann in September 2006. 14. Additional material deposited in 2008. 15. Papers collected by Herta Loeser

Mainly open; some items closed

Upon the closure of Stoatley Rough School, Dr Hilde Lion removed the records to her own house with the intention of writing a sociological study of the school. On her death in 1970 the papers were bequeathed to Louise Leven, who deposited them in the British Library of Political and Economic Science. Further deposits were made by members of the Stoatley Rough School History Committee (later the Stoatley Rough School Association) and others in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2008

Catalogue available from Archives staff

Sources: British Library of Political and Economic Science Archives catalogue. Compiled by Sarah Aitchison as part of the RSLP AIM25 project. Updated Apr 2008 by LSE Archives

Most items can be photocopied, subject to handling and copyright restrictions. No material may be published without the prior permission of both the copyright holder and the Library. All applications for publication must be made to the Archivist in the first instance, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user.

Expected.

Ed Hans Loeser Since then... (Privately printed, 1971), containing letters from former pupils and staff of the School.