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Photographic portrait of Seán Lester, League of Nations Archives, https://archives.ungeneva.org//lester-sean-irlande-secretaire-general-p208-voir-aussi-grand-format-g384-729-vol-1

Seán Lester Collection

  • IE DCUA C1
  • Collection
  • 1935-2003

The collection mainly consists of eleven diaries written by Seán Lester from 1935- 1942 when he was High Commissioner of the League of Nations in Danzig [Gdansk, Poland], then Deputy and subsequently General Secretary of the League of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Lester's diary entries and the numerous letters, telegrams and other documents included in the diaries give an invaluable insight into his work in the League of Nations, the momentous historical events that were taking place, and his personal thoughts and struggles during this period. The first diary opens with the following entry by Lester written in October 1935: 'So I've opened a diary at last, the odds are against a dozen entries.' In fact, Lester would go on to write hundreds of entries over the next few years, recording the background workings of the League 5 of Nations with accounts of meetings, public events, conversations with political leaders and diplomats, transcripts of telephone calls, copies of letters he sent, and many of the letters he received and pasted into the pages of the diaries. They provide an invaluable insight into some of the most significant historical events during this period, including the rise of the Nazis in Danzig, the increasing persecution of Jews, the failed attempts to appease Hitler in the run-up to war, and the eventual outbreak of the Second World War.

They also chart Lester's career in the League of Nations as it developed in tandem with these events: the increasing pressure and intimidation he faced as High Commissioner in Danzig from the Nazis as they undermined the authority of the League, his promotion in late 1936 to Deputy Secretary General in Geneva (essentially as a form of appeasement to the Nazis), and his assuming the role of Acting Secretary General of the League after Joseph Avenol left Geneva for Vichy France in 1940. The diaries also show his courage and determination to keep the League (albeit, only its basic functions) running throughout the course of the Second World War.

Details of Lester's personal life and struggles during this period are also recorded, particularly the torment and loneliness he felt being separated from his wife Elsie and three daughters Dorothy Mary, Ann and Patricia following their evacuation from Geneva to Ireland in 1940. Ireland is never far from his thoughts during the period, and the diaries feature numerous correspondence with Irish friends, accounts of brief trips home for Christmas and family holidays to Connemara in the years up to 1940, and reflections on Irish current affairs and political figures. One of the most notable entries in the diaries is Lester's extensive account of his meeting with James Joyce and his family in Geneva in December 1940. The Joyce family had fled their home in Paris the previous May and sought Lester's help in obtaining a visa for their daughter Lucia; the Nazis had refused to issue her with a visa and she remained in a mental health clinic in German-occupied France. A related letter from Joyce to Lester prior to this meeting is also included in the diaries, as is correspondence between Lester and members of the Joyce family and friends following the death of James Joyce in Zurich less than a month later.

The collection also includes a metal case in which Lester – fearing that the Nazis could invade Switzerland at any moment – placed his diaries before burying them next to a bench in the Palais des Nations, the headquarters of the League of Nations in Geneva. This may account for why the diary entries stop in 1942. Also included in the collection is an address book kept by Lester during the period of the diaries, and a television documentary about Lester written and presented by John Bowman which includes a segment on the diaries.

Lester, Seán

Diary: October 1935 - January 1936

Consists of handwritten and typed diary entries relating to Lester's time as High Commissioner of the League of Nations in Danzig. Consists of handwritten and typed diary entries relating to Lester's time as High Commissioner of the League of Nations in Danzig. Includes reference to Konni Zilliacus (1894-1967), Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen (1861-1930), Arthur Henderson, (1863-1935), George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Sir Roger Casement (1864-1916), Carl Joachim Hambro (1885-1964), SirAnthony Eden (1897-1977), Henri Le Rond (1864-1949), Charles Gates Dawes (1865-1951), Arthur Sweetser (1888-1968).

'Imperial Preference – Certificate of Origin E' form.

Form relates to the importation of a '[s]tandard 10 h.p. de luxe saloon [?motor car] by John G McEntagart, Director and Secretary, McEntagart Brothers Limited’. Some of the entries in the form are filled in with typed and handwritten text.

It is likely that this car was purchased by Kevin J Kenny from McEntagart Brothers Limited.

To-morrow, volume 1, numbers 1 and 2.

Two issues of the literary magazine edited by Henry Francis Montgomery Stuart and Cecil Salkeld featuring contributions from Irish poets, writers and artists including WB Yeats, Lennox Robinson and Liam O’Flaherty. Volume 1, number 1 from August 1924 includes: ‘The Madonna of Slieve Dun’ by Lennox Robinson; ‘A Red Petticoat’ by Liam O’Flaherty; ‘Leda and the Swan’ by WB Yeats; ‘The Japanese Pine’ and ‘Just Now’ by Charlotte Arthur; ‘Be a Trembling Petal’ by Henry Francis Montgomery Stuart; ‘“As I was Among the Captives”’ by Joseph Campbell; ‘The Principles of Painting’ (with illustration) by Cecil Salkeld; an editorial by Henry Francis Montgomery Stuart and Cecil Salkeld; ‘Sonnet’ by OF Fleck; ‘Why we Live’ by ‘“Sachka”’; ‘A Primitive’ by LK Emery; Colour by Margaret Barrington, and ‘Alba’ by RND Wilson.

Volume 1, number 2 from September 1924 includes: ‘Honore Dumier’ by Arthur Symons; ‘The Garden’ by ‘Sachka’; ‘Marriage Song’ and an untitled poem by Blanaid Salkeld; ‘Wet Loveliness’ and ‘The Horse-Breaker’ by FR Higgins; ‘Two Poems’ [‘An Etching’ and ‘Gifts’] by Charlotte Arthur; ‘An P’ [in the German language] by OJ Fleck; ‘The Sea’ by RND Wilson; ‘In the Hour before Dawn’ by Henry Francis Montgomery Stuart; ‘The Popular Road’ by Iseult Stuart; ‘The Principles of Painting’ [continued from volume 1, number 1] (and illustration) by Cecil Salkeld, and ‘The Tendencies of the Younger Irish Poetry’ by LK Emery.

The address of the journal publisher is given as 13 Fleet Street, Dublin in volume 1, number 1 and is given as Roebuck House, Clonskeagh, Dublin in volume 1, number 2. Price of the journal is six pence.

Kenny’s Advertising Agency and Kenny Press

Sub-series consists of a pass to enable Kevin J Kenny to visit Kenny’s Advertising Agency at Middle Abbey Street after it had been destroyed during the 1916 Easter Rising; a photograph of the first Kenny’s Advertising Agency dance, and publications produced by the agency and Kenny Press.

Mid-Week Pictorial with image of Arthur Griffith on front cover.

Mid-Week Pictorial was an illustrated weekly newspaper supplement published by The New York Times. Includes a full-page photograph of Arthur Griffith on the front cover, describing him as the 'Head of the Irish Free State'. Inside is a one-page feature about Ireland including photographs of five government ministers: George Gavan Duffy, Richard Mulcahy, Michael Collins, Eamon J Duggan, WT Cosgrave.

Colum Kenny purchased this journal from a bookshop in the USA in March 2010, through www.abebooks.com. File includes the relevant section of Colum Kenny’s original finding aid for the collection that notes that Mid-Week Pictorial was purchased from www.abebooks.com, the shipping manifest for the item, and the address of the bookshop that the newspaper was purchased from.

Issues of The Freeman's Journal and The Evening Standard published following the destruction of their respective printing presses.

File includes: two reduced single-sheet-formatted versions of the Freeman’s Journal from 30 and 31 March 1922, and a four-page single-sided-sheet version of the Evening Telegraph (Dublin) from 1 April 1922. The Anti-Treaty IRA destroyed the printing presses of both newspapers in March 1922.

Note discussing the proposed cessation of Civil War hostilities

Stencil copy of typed single page. Lists conditions upon which a cessation of hostilities may occur. One of the conditions includes the '[d]eclaration of [Éamon] De Valera and [WT] Cosgrove [sic] that unless requested by two-thirds of new Parliament neither will accept office of head of State.'

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