18th- and 19th-Century British Literary and Artistic Collections
Provided below are brief descriptions of collections of at least one box in size or larger consisting of materials by or about 18th- and 19th- century British, Scottish, and Irish literary and artistic figures. Please consult the resources and links cited in each entry for additional information. Paper inventories may be consulted in the Kenneth Spencer Research Library's Reading Room or by contacting a curator (Elspeth Healey, ehealey@ku.edu, or Karen Cook, kscook@ku.edu). For collections that are not primarily literary/artistic in nature or for bound manuscripts or collections of only a few items in size, please see the other tabs in this guide.
Bailey, Philip James, 1816-1902 (MS 204)
Correspondence of English poet, Philip James Bailey. England; Scotland; U.S., 1839-1884. 193 letters and 5 other items. Correspondents include intimates (e.g. Westland Marston, George Gilfillan, Newton Crosland); fans (e.g. Alfred Tennyson, Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning); northern and provincial writers; patrons.
Size: 2 boxes
Access Point: Reading Room Paper Inventory under "Bailey (Philip James) Correspondence" and Online Catalog
Catalog or Finding Aid link(s): http://catalog.lib.ku.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?bbid=3010026
Bell, Mackenzie, 1856-1930, SEE Ingelow, Jean
Brown, Ford Madox, 1821-1893 (MS 206)
Correspondence and exhibition catalogs pertaining to British Painter Ford Madox Brown.
Size: 1 box
Access Point: Reading Room Paper Inventory (under "Brown, Ford Madox")
Catalog or Finding Aid link(s): n /a
Byron - MacDonald Correspondence (MS 107)
Correspondence. A collection of letters between Lady Byron (Anne Isabella Milbanke Byron, Baroness, 1792-1860), widow of the poet (George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824), and George MacDonald, the author, her protégé. With MacDonald’s poem "The Gospel Women," and his photograph; and letters from Greville MacDonald in 1925. 1857-1860.
Size: 1 box
Access Point: Reading Room Paper Inventory (under "Byron-MacDonald Correspondence") and Online Catalog
Catalog or Finding Aid link(s): http://catalog.lib.ku.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?bbid=
Curl, Edmund, 1706-1714, SEE "Ruhe, Edward L."
Hunt, William Holman, 1827-1910 (MS 60 and MS 208)
MS 60: Three albums containing printed emphemera (clippings, reviews, leaflets, exhibition catalogs, articles by and about Hunt) as well as 10 manuscript letters (primarily from others to Mrs. Hunt). MS 208: Letters of Pre-Raphaellite painter William Holman Hunt. Includes letters to Ernest Gambart, Edward Burne-Jones, John Everett Millais, and photographs of William Holman Hunt. Complete descriptions of both collections in Reading Room Paper Inventory
Size: MS 60: 3 albums in 3 boxes; MS 208: 1 box
Access Point: Reading Room Paper Inventory (under "Hunt, Holman") and Online Catalog
Catalog or Finding Aid link(s): MS 60: http://catalog.lib.ku.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?bbid=3003781. MS 208: some item level catalog records avaialable by conducting "Author" search (Last name, First name) at http://catalog.lib.ku.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First and then sorting by date.
Ingelow, Jean, 1820-1897 and Bell, Mackenzie, 1856-1930 (MS 45)
Materials, including correspondence, kept by the writer Mackenzie Bell concerning his interviews with the poet Jean Ingelow in preparation for a magazine article about her.
Size: 1 box
Access Point: Reading Room Paper Inventory (under "Ingelow-Bell") and Online catalog
Catalog or Finding Aid link(s):Multiple catalog records avaialable by conducting "Author" search (Last name, First name) at http://catalog.lib.ku.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First and then sorting by date.
L. E. L. (Letitia Elizabeth Landon), 1802-1838 (MS 223)
Collection of this poet, consisting of unbound poems; correspondence with editors and fellow writers; social correspondence; Londoner's visit to country cousins. England; Dates covered 1822-1836.
Size: 1 box
Access Point: Online Finding Aid (see link below)
Catalog or Finding Aid link(s): http://hdl.handle.net/10407/6996587078
Landor, Walter Savage, 1775-1864 (MS 111)
Documents of Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864), collected by John Forster (1812-1876), ca. 1830-1876. John Forster's biography of Walter Savage Landor was published in 1869. The Collection consists largely of letters addressed to Forster, after the publication of the book, concerning Landor's character. Some other letters addressed to Forster; some original Landor matetial; portraits and other materials concerned with the publication of the book.
Size: 1 box
Access Point: Online Finding aid (see link below)
Catalog or Finding Aid link(s): http://hdl.handle.net/10407/2593856672
MacDonald, George SEE "Byron - MacDonald Correspondence"
Moore, George, 1852-1933 (MS 7)
Collection of materials by and concerning the novelist George Moore (1852-1933), consisting of correspondence, manuscripts, and a portrait. ca. 1888-1932.
Size: 4 boxes
Access Point: Reading Room Paper Inventory (under "Moore, George") and Online Catalog
Catalog or Finding Aid link(s): http://catalog.lib.ku.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?bbid=3008833
O'Shaughnessy, Arthur William Edgar, 1844-1881 (MS 24)
Papers of poet Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy, 1832-1906. Collection of letters received by O'Shaughnessy; also other letters; literary texts by O'Shaughnessy and others; some sketches in letters, and photographs. Primarily literary and artistic subjects.
Size: 1 box
Access Point: Online finding aid (see link below)
Catalog or Finding Aid link(s): http://hdl.handle.net/10407/5153583650
Pindar, Peter, SEE "Wolcot, John"
Porter Family Collection (MS 28)
The Porter Family Collection consists of letters, literary manuscripts and personal papers of an English literary family from the mid-eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century. Two-thirds of the almost 3000 items in the collection consists of the correspondence of the siblings, Sir Robert Ker Porter (1777-1842), Jane Porter (1776-1850), Anna Maria Porter (1778-1832) as well as other members of the Porter family.
Size: 11 linear feet (46 boxes), 7 volumes, 1 oversize box
Access Point: Online finding aid
Catalog or Finding Aid link(s): http://hdl.handle.net/10407/5051194575
Rossetti Family Correspondence (MS 23)
Letters from and to poet Christina Georgina Rossetti, 1830-1994; poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1828-1882; Gabriele Pasquale Giuseppe Rossetti (father), 1783-1854; writer and critic William Michael Rossetti, 1829-1919; and William's wife, Lucy Madox (Brown) Rossetti, 1843-1894. Also present are a very limited number of manuscript fragments.
Size: 2 boxes
Access Point: Reading Room Paper Inventory (under "Rossetti Family Correspondence") and Online Catalog
Catalog or Finding Aid link(s): http://hdl.handle.net/10407/1774744049
Ruhe, Edward L., 1923-1989 (MS 218)
"A list of books published by Edmund Curll 1706-1714;" and related papers. Papers of scholar Edward Ruhe (1923-1989); unbound (typed draft bio/bibliography, with typed and MS notes, correspondence, clippings, etc): publishing history.
Size: 2 boxes
Access Point: Online finding aid (see link below)
Catalog or Finding Aid link(s): http://hdl.handle.net/10407/8668942033
Shields, Frederic James, 1833-1911 (MS 44)
Correspondence of Frederic Shields. Great Britain, 1865-1912. Shields (of Manchester and London) was an artist and moved in Pre-Raphaelite circles. Most of the 24 writers of letters in this collection are British artists; some are writers, critics, or collectors.
Size: 1 box
Access Point: Online finding aid (see link below)
Catalog or Finding Aid link(s): http://hdl.handle.net/10407/4197952247
Sotheby Family Papers (MS 4)
A collection of manuscripts (letters, journals, poems, commonplace books, account books, etc.) of the Sotheby family. 16-- to 18--. Contains materials for: James Sotheby II, 1656-1720; James Sotheby III, d. 1742; Col. William Sotheby, d. 1766.; Admiral Charles Sotheby d. 1854; Charles William Hamilton Sotheby, 1820-1871; William Sotheby (poet), 1757-1833; Isted Family Correspondence, 1709-1823; Includes correspondence (including some from literary figures), personal papers, estate and family papers, and some small misc. items; photographs, and manuscripts belonging to the family. See Reading Room Paper Inventory for list of associated bound manuscripts with different call numbers.
Size: 10 boxes + bound manuscripts
Access Point: Online Finding Aid (see link below)
Catalog or Finding Aid link(s): http://hdl.handle.net/10407/3481228700
Wolcot, John, 1738-1819 (MS 128)
English writer who published under the nom-de-plume, Peter Pindar. Drafts of poems: amorous-pastoral, elegiac, nature, hunting-songs, ballads, excerpts from plays, "Jack Ketch". Fowey (Cornwall), Madeira, Teneriffe, and n.p., 1786-1811 and n.d.
Size: 1 box
Access Point: Reading Room Paper Inventory (under "Wolcot, John") and Online Catalog
Catalog or Finding Aid link(s): http://catalog.lib.ku.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?bbid=3008005
