1 cassette: 2 sides, total time 69 minutes 39 seconds

Cassette recording, Diana Rait Kerr, MCC Curator (1946-1968) interviewed by Geoffrey Moorhouse. The interview took place in the Old Library at Lord's Cricket Ground. Side A: [0:00-1:10] Moorhouse introduces the record and Rait Kerr talks about moving to Lord's when her father (Colonel R S Rait Kerr) became Secretary of MCC in 1936 and living in a house behind the Grand Stand, [1:10-2:40] Rait Kerr talks about her father's career in the army, [2:40-4:20] Rait Kerr talks about her early impressions of Lord's and feels that it was less formal in comparison with 1989, [4:20-5:30] Rait Kerr talks about her interest in cricket and her father's experience of playing first-class cricket for Europeans, [5:30-7:05] Rait Kerr talks about not playing cricket when she was younger and the sports she played at school and the playing of lacrosse on the Nursery Ground at the end of the cricket season, [7:05-8:40] Rait Kerr talks about not having any qualifications and taking on the role of MCC Curator, [8:40-10:30] Rait Kerr talks about becoming Curator thanks to her father, the acquisition of the Ford and Cahn collections prior to the Second World War, her classification of the Library books, [10:30-11:15] Rait Kerr talks about T H Carlton Levick's role as Honorary Curator prior to her appointment, [11:15-13:15] Rait Kerr talks about her office and the move of the Old Library to the Library in the Memorial Building after she left and E W Swanton's insistence in moving books from the Pavilion basement to new premises, [13:15-14:05] Rait Kerr talks about the Arts & Library Committee, [14:05-15:30] Rait Kerr talks about her priorities upon becoming Curator including cataloguing the books and restoring the pictures and using Arnold Wiggins and Sons framers, [15:30-21:30] Rait Kerr talks about the Memorial Gallery and the decision to build a Memorial Gallery which she was not involved with, and her disappointment that it was not bigger and her regret that it would be more of a watercolour gallery, and the decision to put on display pictures of grounds donated by other national cricket associations when it first opened, and the Colman collection which was on display, [21:30-23:55] Rait Kerr talks about acquiring cigarette cards for the collection and the volume of books on cricket writing compared to other sports, [23:55-26:50] Rait Kerr talks about acquiring the picture of Thomas Hope of Amsterdam which gave her most pleasure as Curator and receiving help from the National Art Fund in acquiring the painting, [26:50-28:00] Rait Kerr talks about what she didn't achieve as Curator including her desire to have collections catalogued better, [28:00-32:50] Rait Kerr talks about her enjoyment of the cricket matches played at Lord's at the end of the Second World War and the Victory Tests, and the Australian tour of England in 1948, and being invited to Windsor Castle with the MCC Staff for a lunch at the request of MCC President Lord Gowrie and seeing Queen Mary, [32:50-34:00] Rait Kerr talks about George Portman and how he baked a cake for D G Bradman's birthday, [34:00-39:15] Rait Kerr talks about the cricketers she met and the changes to Lord's since she worked at the Club. Side B: [0:00-4:45] Rait Kerr talks about R T Gaby and the staff who worked at Lord's after the Second World War, and J A Bailey's time as Secretary, [4:45-9:30] Rait Kerr talks about P F Warner, Stanley Jackson and Charles Lyttelton, and her claim that she never saw Warner's manager's report to the MCC Committee about the MCC tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1932-1933, [9:30-10:35] Rait Kerr talks about working with H S Altham and seeing him as a 'father figure', [10:35-13:30] Rait Kerr talks about visiting Lord's after she retired, and her and Moorhouse talk about living in London, [13:30-16:10] Rait Kerr talks about not being allowed into the Pavilion because she was a woman, and her belief that MCC's stance on women membership would not change in her lifetime (MCC gave Rait Kerr Honorary Life Membership in 1999 as one of the first ten women members of MCC), [16:10-17:05] Rait Kerr talks about crowd behaviour at the end of matches, [17:05-18:05] Rait Kerr talks about learning about cricket literature as part of her job as Curator and acquiring the E Rockley Wilson collection of books and ceramics, [18:05-27:30] Rait Kerr talks about the amount of cricket played at Lord's when she worked at MCC compared to 1989, an exhibition at Abermarle Street hosted by MCC and the National Book League in 1950 which included an exchange between Francis Meynell and John Arlott over calling cricketers by their Christian name, the changes in dress style for Eton vs. Harrow and Oxford vs. Cambridge matches, the Cambridge University vs. West Indians match in 1950 when both sides made over 500 in their first innings, watching D C S Compton bat for Middlesex and England in 1947 and the South African tour of England in 1947, cricketers who suffered from polio, and the Australian team which toured England in 1989, [27:30-30:24] Moorhouse criticises C H Lloyd who he believed had damaged cricket from using fast bowlers in the West Indian team, and talks about the use of bouncers in cricket.

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English