Gwyn Thomas
Born July 6, 1913, Cymmer, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Wales—died April 14, 1981, Cardiff
Welsh novelist and playwright whose works, many on grim themes, were marked with gusto, much humour, and compassion.
Thomas was educated at Oxford and the University of Madrid and began writing seriously in the 1930s. His first novel, The Dark Philosophers (1946), was built on the conversations of four unemployed Welsh miners. Thomas’s next important novel, All Things Betray Thee (1949), set in an ironworks in industrial Wales in 1885, is grim in style and tone but relieved by an ironic humour. A Few Selected Exits (1968) is “a sort of autobiography.” Among his plays are The Keep (1962), Loud Organs (performed 1962), Jackie the Jumper (1963), The Councillors (performed 1971), and The Breakers (1976). Thomas also wrote for radio and television.
Institute and Welfare Hall Libraries
The Richard Burton Archives holds many documents relating to libraries that were part of institutes and welfare halls in the south Wales coalfield.
These archives are complemented by the libraries of over 60 miners' institutes and welfare halls from across the South Wales coalfield that are now held at the South Wales Miners' Library. These libraries give an insight into the literature 'valued by working men and their communities'.
Photograph of the Oakdale Miners' Institute Library, 1945 (Ref. SWCC/PHO/NUM/4/9)
You can find more information on the Miners' Institutes and Lodges at Coflein, linked below.