IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0369 BRO
Held at: School of Slavonic and East European Studies
Title: Bromhead Collection
Date(s): 1915-1918
Level of description: Collection (Fonds)
Extent: 2 boxes
Name of creator(s): Bromhead | Alfred Claude | 1876-1963 | Lieutenant Colonel
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Alfred Claude Bromhead (1876-1963) worked before the First World War as the British representative of the French film projector company belonging to Leon Gaumont. This led to him also becoming involved with the showing and distribution of films. Bromhead was also a territorial officer in an infantry battalion of the Queen's Regiment. After the outbreak of the First World War he was chosen by the British Government to undertake British Military Cinematographic Mission to Russia to show British propaganda films to Russian troops. The aim was to impress upon Russian troops the scale of the British war effort in order to keep up morale and to encourage pro-British sentiment.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Papers of Lt Col Alfred Claude Bromhead, 1915-1918, comprising:
typescript copies of Bromhead's diaries of his work with the British Military Cinematographic Mission to show British propaganda films to Russian troops, 1916-1918, Bromhead and his mission made visits to the Finnish, Baltic, Ukrainian, Caucasian, Turkish and Romanian Fronts. There is also a diary for Bromhead's Italian mission from May-December 1918; correspondence between Bromhead and the Government Committee for Propaganda, supervising his activities, correspondence received by Bromhead from British and Russian contacts in Russia, memo on Russian affairs by Sir Bernard Pares, Russian printed material; photographs (probably) taken by Bromhead while on his mission to Russia, the main subjects of the photographs are Russian troops and the work of the Mission, 1916-1917
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English, Finnish, French, Italian, Russian and Swedish
System of arrangement:
The papers are arranged in 3 classes - Diaries(Bro/1), correspondence and papers (BRO/2) and photographs (BRO/3)
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:
Not known
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:
University of London Library has a collection of Bromhead's books and manuscripts including the original ms diaries (ref MS 817/1-2), however this collection is mostly unrelated to his work in Russia. The Imperial War Museum has copies of the diaries and photographs as well as copies of some of the films shown by Bromhead during his mission.
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Archivist's note: Revised by Alan Kucia as part of the RSLP AIM25 Project.
Date(s) of descriptions: Revised Feb 2002