Archive of Roger Rawlinson

Research material, typescripts, notes and proofs for books and publications, and material relating to campaign groups with which he was involved. The archive reflects in particular Rawlinson's interest in the campaigns at Larzac, Wyhl and Marckolsheim, and involvement with Nottingham CND, WRI, and the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Formats in the archive include typescripts, manuscripts, ephemera, circulars, press cuttings, audiocassettes containing interviews, and photographic material (slides, print and negatives).

Roger Rawlinson was born on 27 January 1918 and was brought up on his father's farm until the age of seven. The family then moved to France, where he was educated, becoming bilingual. His Second World War experiences, mainly in the Middle East, led him to believe in the abolition of war. He became an active supporter of many peace-related campaigns, notably the Fellowship of Reconciliation and Amnesty International. Roger Rawlinson was a professional photographer. He also regularly visited France and Germany to investigate non-violent campaigns there. Among these campaigns was the struggle by the farmers of the Larzac in the Languedoc to protect their land from military purposes. Rawlinson's publications included The Battle of Larzac (Fellowship of Reconciliation, 1976) and Larzac: a popular nonviolent campaign in Southern France (Sessions, 1996). He died in 2003.

Rawlinson labelled and in some cases numbered his files (figures between 115 and 123 are seen) but there is no over-arching system that we can discover. Original order has been disrupted by the process of sending files to the service and by the loss of his adhesive file labels which cannot always be reunited with their original folders. We have roughly sorted files by topic in the initial sort, retaining original order within files.

Available to researchers, by appointment. Access to archive material is subject to preservation requirements and must also conform to the restrictions of the Data Protection Act and any other appropriate legislation. This Archive contains correspondence and other items likely to contain personal data so access is restricted under the Data Protection Act pending further cataloguing. This will be carried out in response to user demand so individuals are encouraged to inform Special Collections of their interest in this material.

Bequeathed to Commonweal by Roger Rawlinson. Part of the archive, mostly photographic material, was received as a bequest by the Peace Museum, who in 2013 donated it to Special Collections.

Biography is based on blurbs of published works by Roger Rawlinson and Appreciation by Tony Latham published in Peacelinks vol 17 no 4.

A basic boxlist has been produced to make the Archive accessible as quickly as possible. This will be further refined in response to user demand.

Newsprint is fragile, adhesive labels of files are loose or absent, some photographic prints have curled up.

Described by Alison Cullingford, February 2015, with minor edits November 2018.

Copies may be supplied or produced at the discretion of Special Collections staff, subject to copyright law and the condition of the originals. Applications for permission to make published use of any material should be directed to the Special Collections Librarian in the first instance. The Library will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material. We have not yet investigated the ownership of Rawlinson's copyrights.

Duplicates and irrelevant material have been weeded as seen; further appraisal will be carried out as the Archive is catalogued in more detail.

Rawlinson, Roger. The Battle of Larzac (Fellowship of Reconciliation, 1976)
Rawlinson, Roger. Larzac: a popular nonviolent campaign in Southern France (Sessions, 1996)