Greek Relief Fund (Modern Greek Archive)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0100 KCLCA MGA/GRF
Held at	: King's College London College Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/library/archivespec/ ›
Full title	: Greek Relief Fund (Modern Greek Archive)
Date(s)	: 1947-1984
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 15 boxes
Name of creator(s)	: League for Democracy in Greece | Great Britain and Northern Ireland | Relief Committee Greek Relief Fund | Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The League for Democracy in Greece was a political pressure group founded in 1945 whose aims included the provision of relief to Greeks who suffered for their left-wing beliefs and activities, to their dependants, and to the dependants of Greeks who died fighting for democracy. These relief functions were initially exercised by a sub-committee of the League, but when it was realised that charitable status would encourage broader support of the Fund's humanitarian objectives the committee was succeeded in 1968 by the Greek Relief Fund, which assisted political prisoners and their families, and former prisoners. The charity had premises at Goodge Street, London. The Fund was wound up in 1984.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records, 1947-1984, of the League for Democracy in Greece Relief Committee and its successor the Greek Relief Fund, including minutes; administrative, legal and financial material; correspondence with donors and with organisations including branches of the Red Cross, relief funds, and pro-Greek democracy organisations in various overseas countries; material relating to appeals for funds for relief work; press cuttings on the visit of Queen Frederika of Greece to Britain, 1963; papers relating to visits to Greece and to conferences on Greece, including a draft paper, 1979, by Diana Pym on 'The British Philhellenic Movement, 1944-1974'; correspondence concerning the archives of the League for Democracy in Greece; and winding up of the Greek Relief Fund, 1984. The bulk of the material pertains to recipients of aid, including correspondence, and the papers are relevant to the resistance activities and prison records of individual Greeks opposed to the regime in Greece.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English, Greek

System of arrangement:

Correspondence with recipients of aid is largely arranged alphabetically.

Conditions governing access:

Open, subject to signature of reader's undertaking form.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Photocopies, subject to the condition of the original, may be provided for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees, attention of the Director of Archive Services.

Finding aids:

List available in reading room at King's College London Archives.

Archival Information

Archival history:

The papers are the organisational archives of the League for Democracy in Greece Relief Committee and the Greek Relief Fund.

Immediate source of acquisition:

The papers were sorted by Marion Sarafis and deposited in King's College London Archives by A Christopher Lake and Diana Pym (chairman and secretary of the Fund) in 1985. A second deposit was made by Diana Pym in 1991.

Allied Materials

Related material:

King's College London Archives holds records of the League for Democracy in Greece and associated bodies, 1935-1992.

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Compiled by Rachel Kemsley as part of the RSLP AIM25 project. Sources: Diana Pym and Marion Sarafis, 'The League for Democracy in Greece and its Archives' (typescript available in reading room at King's College London Archives); King's College London Archives, MGA/GRF17.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Feb 2001