IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0369 STE
Held at: School of Slavonic and East European Studies
Title: Stevens Collection
Date(s): 1925-1972
Level of description: Collection (Fonds)
Extent: 30 files
Name of creator(s): Stevens | Harry C | 1896-1972 | translator of Russian and Polish literature
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Harry C Stevens (1896-1972) was a translator of Russian and Polish literature and had a strong interest in the affairs of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. During World War One he was a conscientious objector from military service on religious grounds and was imprisoned. From August 1919 to September 1924 he worked with the Polish, Russian and joint British and American Units of the Friends War Victims' Relief Committee on a number of aid projects based in Warsaw, Minsk, Buzuluk and Moscow. On his return to Britain Stevens wrote articles and lectured on his experiences. From 1929 to 1935 he was a research worker in England for the Marx-Engels Institute and in 1931 became manager of Atlas Film Company which was engaged in the commercial exploitation of Soviet silent films. He was also during this time a very active member of the Society for Cultural Relations with the USSR.
During the 1930s Stevens increasingly devoted more time to the translation of Russian and Polish literature and this remained his main occupation until 1953 when a decline in commissions led him to take a post as a clerk. From 1940-1945 however he worked for the Polish Ministry of Information (Government in exile in London) as an editor and translator.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Correspondence relating to Horace C Stevens' work as a translator of Russian and Polish literature. The subject files include with individuals, publishers (including with Gollancz and about his translation of the work of Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov) and the Polish Ministry of Information, 1925-1972.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English, Polish and Russian.
System of arrangement:
Correspondence files partly arranged by date and partly by correspondent.
Conditions governing access:
Unrestricted access. Researchers wishing to consult the archives or seeking further information should contact UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) Library, 16 Taviton Street, London WC1H 0BW
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Librarian.
Physical characteristics:
Finding aids:
Online catalogue available on the UCL Archives website.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/libraries-and-study-spaces/ucl-school-slavonic-and-east-european-studies-library
Related material:
SSEES Library also a photograph album of a British miners' delegation to the Soviet Union, 1926, at which Stevens was present as a translator. (Ref MIN)
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Archivist's note: Revised by Alan Kucia as part of the RSLP AIM25 Project.
Date(s) of descriptions: Revised Jan 2003