Personal Papers of Beryl Power

Miscellaneous collection containing: 3 photograph albums (many unidentified); news cuttings pertaining to the Royal Commission on Labour in India 1929-1931; photographs and letters from Burmah (Myanmar) and Persia (Gulf states) 1930-1931; reports on American Labour Laws (Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Fellowship) 1927; 1 file of testimonials 1947-1951; notes on a Russian trip 1932; Route of Himalayan Walk 1930; summary report as International Labour Office Advisor to Chinese Ministry of Social Affairs 1949. Letter/memo to Dr Donald Howard 'Biographical Sketch' 14 November 1945; Indian Pictorial Education.

Beryl Millicent Le Poer Power was born in 1891. She read History at Girton College 1910-1913. On leaving College, she became an organiser and speaker for the women's suffrage movement, work which was terminated by the outbreak of the First World War. She went on to become a senior civil servant, first as an inspector in the Board of Trade, later Ministry of Labour, then working to set up the Juvenile Transference Scheme and ultimately in charge of housing and welfare for the Ministry of Supply. She travelled widely as part of her work, in India, America and China. She died in 1974. Her sister Eileen Power also studied at Girton College.

Access is open to bona fide scholars by appointment only.

Girton College Library, University of Cambridge

Collection Description taken from Genesis in Sep 2008 as part of Genesis 2008 Project. Description by Catherine Burke, Genesis Project Officer 17/01/2002

The papers of her sister Eileen Power are also held in the Girton College Archives.