The Papers of Sasha Moorsom

Sasha Moorsom was born on 25 January 1931, in England, and brought up in South Africa. She was educated at Bedales School and Girton College, Cambridge. She married Michael Young (from 1978, Lord Young of Dartington) in 1960, with whom she had one son and one daughter.

She worked in radio at the BBC, producing documentaries, features and drama for the Third Programme. She was editor of the magazine "Where?" and a regular contributor to "The Listener". She collaborated with her husband on many projects, including establishing the International Extension College in Mauritius and Africa; editing course books for the Open College of the Arts; and helping with the launch of Health Line. She was a poet, novelist, ceramic sculptor, and the translator of Perrault's fairy tales. She died on 22 June 1993.

Her publications include: "A Lavender Trip" (1976); "In the Shadow of the Paradise Tree" (1983); and "Your Head in Mine" (1994), a posthumous collection of poems with Michael Young edited by her daughter Sophie Young.

Papers comprising letters, diaries, poems, radio scripts, school and university notebooks, Cambridge memorabilia, and photographs.

The papers were left to Churchill Archives Centre by Sasha Moorsom in her will and transferred by Michael Young in 1995 (Acc 988). Two further accessions were received in 1998 (Acc 1111) and 2000 (Acc 1173).

Letters from Sasha Moorsom to Michael Young and a file about her death have been placed with Michael Young's papers.

The collection is closed until 2013.

Once the collection has been opened, researchers wishing to publish excerpts from the papers must obtain prior permission from the copyright holders and should seek advice from Archives Centre staff.

Please cite as Churchill Archives Centre, The Papers of Sasha Moorsom, YONG

Churchill Archives Centre also holds the papers of Michael Young (reference: GBR/0014/YUNG), and letters to Sasha Moorsom from Martin J. Walker (reference: GBR/0014/MISC 85).

A copy of this catalogue is available for consultation at Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge, the National Register of Archives, London, and on the Janus website http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/.

This collection (fonds) level description and catalogue were prepared by Sophie Bridges at Churchill Archives Centre. The collection was sorted, arranged and listed by Sophie Bridges, May 2003. Information was obtained from Sasha Moorsom's obituary in "The Guardian", 26 June 1993.