One of the primary aims of the Association is to collect and provide good cataloguing and archiving of the many various types of materials that constitute the historical evidence of the remarkable story of the Basque Children who came to this country.

Through personal contacts we are all actively engaged in collecting archive materials. We have recently agreed that in due course we will deposit most of our material with the Special Collection Division of the Hartley Library at the University of Southampton.

The Special Collection has a strong interest in refugee groups who arrived in this country through the docks of Southampton, and it seems fitting that this town that provided care and shelter at the beginning should do so again at the end of the story.

The Special Collection Division has a very proactive approach to promoting its materials for research, and this was another of the attractions, as we are always eager to encourage and support research in this field. Further details of both research and archiving activities are outlined below.

Dissemination of Information

The Secretary is continually receiving e-mails and letters from teachers, students, authors, media programme producers, niños, their children and relatives, requesting information about the colonies, help for research etc. To assist in this matter the Association has produced a bibliography on literature concerning the niños as a starting point for researchers. These books, most of which are in English, are listed below.

Other ways in which the Association has supported research

• It has provided archival information to students doing Masters or undergraduate theses. (To date, it has received copies of 4 Masters and 3 undergraduate theses.)
• It has also provided information for a BBC radio documentary produced by Simon Evans, and material for the BBC film ‘The Guernica Children’
• It has provided background information for an established novelist whose latest book is set in Spain during the Civil War.
• Members of the Committee have refereed articles for learned journals.

Collection of Archival Material

The Association has received many photographs, posters, programmes and other printed matter, and is always interested in new material.

It has discovered a collection of photographs of the niños which had been lying dormant in the Oxford Public Library (in the Cyril Arapoff collection), and a collection of 30 pencil drawings of the niños from the Langham (Colchester) colony made by Richard Murry, the brother of the writer John Middleton Murry.

Some members have been to local libraries and trawled through newspapers of the time to find new information about the niños’ stay, which they have passed on.

The Association has received 3 videos of film footage from the colonies at Hull, Cambridge and an unidentified one. A video was recently made at the unveiling of a blue plaque in Sutton-on-Hull.

Current Research

Susana Sabin, a post-graduate student in the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Southampton, is currently engaged in Ph.D. research on the niños vascos.

Here is a list of books of interest to those wanting to find out more about the Basque children refugees in Great Britain.

• Alpert, Michael, “Los Niños Vascos en Inglaterra”, Sábado Gráfico, June 1975
• Arasa, Daniel, “Los vascos: exilio infantil e independentismo”, “Exiliados y Enfrentados”, Barcelona: Ediciones de la Tempestad, 1994, pp.25-36
• Arrien, Gregorio, “Niños Vascos Evacuados a Gran Bretaña”, Bilbao: Asociación de Niños Evacuados el ’37, 1991
• Bell, Adrian, “Only For Three Months”, Norwich: Mousehold Press , 1996
• Bill, Ron and Newens, Stan, “Leah Manning”, Harlow: Leah Manning Trust, 1991
• Buchanan, Tom, “The Role of the British Labour Movement in the Origins and Work of the Basque Children’s Committee,1937-9”, European History Quarterly, Vol 18, 1988
• Casas, Julio Martín and Urquijo, Pedro Caravajal, “El Exilio Español”, Barcelona: Planeta, 2002
• Castresana, Luis de, “El Otro Arbol de Guernica”, Barcelona: Ediciones Internacionales Universitarias: 1994
• Cloud, Yvonne, “The Basque Children in England”, London, 1937
• Ellis, Richard, “Four Thousand Basque Children”, The Lancet, May 29, 1937
• Eizaguirre,Domingo,ed. , “Corazón de cartón”, self published 1999
• Fyrth, Jim, "Four Thousand Basque Children", “The Signal was Spain”, London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1986, pp.221-242
• Hawkins, Eric, "The Basque Children", Listening to Lorca, London, CILT 1999, pp. 96-118
• Legarreta, Dorothy, “The Guernica Generation”, Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1984
• Manning, Leah, “A Life for Education”, London: Victor Gollancz, 1970
• Mitchell, David, “The Children They Sent Away”, Lookout, September 1983
• Pamies, Teresa, “Los Niños de la Guerra”, Barcelona: Editorial Bruguera, 1977
• Phillimore, Mark, “Basques at Stoneham”, Hampshire, December 1978
• Pons Prades, Eduardo, “Las Guerras de los Niños Republicanos”, Madrid: Compañia Literaria, 1997

For further information and any queries please contact secretary@basquechildren.org