During the time that he wrote the items contained in this class, Betts was lecturer and later professor of the following universities - Belfast, Southampton, Birmingham and SSEES. The class contains several outlines and plans for books. However Betts never actually published a book, in part this was due to most of his books and papers being destroyed in an air raid during the Second World War. A posthumous collection of his writings "Essays in Czech history" was published in 1969 (London)
Contents: part of mss for book on the Czech contribution to civilisation; plan and introduction for book on Czech cultural history; plan and introduction for book on the Czech reformation; chronologies of events in European countries 1928-1938; notes on development of medieval European universities; typescripts mainly re aspects of Czech history; photograph of Betts
9 envelopes and 1 folder
To detailed item listing of BET/1
BET/2 - Betts' lecture notes (circa) (1934-1956)
Betts was always primarily a lecturer in history. However he also appears to have lectured on some politics courses and while at Southampton University gave lectures for the Workers' Educational Association.
Contents: lecture notes on politics, European history, economic history and the Reformation in Bohemia
3 folders, 1 notebook and 1 envelope
See also: BET/3/6 which contains notes for a talk on the settlement and expansion of the Slavs
To detailed item listing of BET/2
BET/3 - Betts' notes taken from original manuscripts and early writings (1928-1948)
Betts obviously visited the major archives and libraries of Austria and Czechoslovakia at some point as this class contains a number of transcriptions and photostats taken from the original Latin manuscripts. Although it is not clear when Betts made many of the transcriptions, they were probably made during the 1930s as he had few opportunities for travel to Czechoslovakia and Austria after the Second World War.
Contents: transcriptions and photostats of Latin documents re Jan Hus, Peter Payne and the Reformation in Bohemia from Czech, Austrian and Bavarian libraries; transcriptions from documents at the British Public Record Office; translation into English of account of the 1381 Norfolk peasants uprising
3 folders and 3 envelopes
See also: BET/4/2 which contains notes taken from published editions of Latin documents
To detailed item listing of BET/3
BET/4 - Writings by and notes from books by other writers
Contents: writings by and notes from books by other writers
2 folders
To detailed item listing of BET/4