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Felkin: The Papers of Arthur Elliott Felkin

 Fonds
Reference Code: GBR/0272/AEF

Scope and Contents

The collection includes detailed journals recording his business and personal life, including sexual relationships, while working as a diplomat in Switzerland, China, India, and America; personal and business papers; correspondence with Kingsmen and literary figures including E.M. Forster, Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson, John Maynard Keynes, Raisley Moorsom, Margaret Jourdain and Ka Cox [Arnold-Forster]; photographs; Rugby School and Cambridge University examination papers; material relating to First World War Prisoner of War camps at Frongoch, Wales, Frith Hill, near Aldershot, and Blandford, Dorset; reports and printed material concerning the League of Nations, especially its Permanent Central Opium Board, later the Drug Supervisory Body of the United Nations. Includes the papers of Valentine van Muyden.

Dates

  • Creation: 1899 - 1956

Creator

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to quote in print from the published or unpublished writings of Elliot Felkin, or to reproduce any photographs taken by him, should be obtained from Mr Hugh Felkin. Further information can be obtained from the Archive Centre.

Biographical / Historical

Elliott Felkin was born on 31 December 1892. He was admitted to King's College, Cambridge in 1911. After graduating he worked as an interpreter in prison camps until his employment as personal assistant to Arthur Salter, General Secretary of the Reparation Commission in Paris and later head of the economics section of the League of Nations Secretariat. Felkin was appointed Secretary to the Permanent Central Opium Board in the 1930s.

Elliott Felkin married Joyce Chapman in 1920; they had a son and a daughter. The couple were divorced during the Second World War. After his retirement Felkin moved to the Alpes Martines.

Extent

33 volume(s) : paper

41 archive box(es) (41 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Other Finding Aids

A full catalogue is available in hard copy in the Archive Centre.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Elliott Felkin presented his letters, papers and journals (AEF/1-/6) to King's College in 1957 on condition that they would remain closed to scholars for 50 years, or until the death of his surviving children. During this time, the material was held in locked trunks within one of the Library stores. In February 1996, Hugh Felkin agreed to a relaxing of the original restrictions on access to his father's collection. Items catalogued as AEF/4/21-4 were placed in a separate locked trunk, and appear to have been placed in the custody of Raisley Moorsom for an indefinite period during the 1950s. They may have been returned to Elliott Felkin for deposit along with the remainder of his papers, or presented separately to King's at a later date.

Appraisal

All journal volumes and file boxes containing loose papers were secured with combination locks. These have been removed. For conservation purposes, the file boxes have been replaced by archival envelopes.

Bibliography

For biographical details, see 'Annual Report of the Council, King's College, Cambridge'. Nov. 1968, pp. 34-5. A copy is available in the Archive Centre.

Originator(s)

Felkin, Arthur Elliott (1892-1968), diplomat

Date
1999-07-24 14:02:20+00:00
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Archive Centre, King's College, Cambridge Repository

Contact:
Archivist
King's College
Cambridge CB2 1ST United Kingdom
+44 (0)1223 331444