UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
247. Fales Library, New York University
Elizabeth Robins Papers
284 boxes, nearly 100 linear feet. The Fales Library has a guide to the papers: Evander, Janet and Marion Casey. The Papers of Elizabeth Robins: 1803-1963. A Guide to the Collection in Fales Library, New York University. The Papers are divided into 13 series.
1. Diaries, 1873-1952
Includes diaries (1876-1952), engagement books (1892-1925), and notebooks (1873-1940).
2. General Correspondence, 1873-1952
Correspondents include Janet Achurch, Elin Ameen, Helen A. Archdale, William Archer, Sir James Barrie, Florence Bell, Sir Hugh Bell, Molly Bell (Lady Trevelyan), Elsa Bell (Lady Richmond), Hugo Bell, Gertrude Bell, Sarah Bull, Mrs Patrick Campbell, Charles Charrington, Samuel Clemens, Edward Compton, Oswald Crawfurd, Dr George Dabbs, W.E.B. DuBois, Gerald Duckworth, Alfred Earl, T.S. Eliot, Johnston Forbes-Robertson, John Galsworthy, J.G. Graham, Edmund Gosse, Alice Stopford Green, J.T. Grein, Edvard Grieg, Zoe Hadwen, Cicely Hamilton, Thomas Hardy, John Hare, Beatrice Harraden, William Heinemann, Herbert Hoover, Colonel House, Henry James, Marie Jenny-Streiff, Annie Kenney, Gertrude Kingston, Vera S. Laughton, Marion Lea, Salmon O. Levinson, Justin McCarthy, Ramsay MacDonald, John Masefield, Christabel Pankhurst, Emmeline Pankhurst, Sylvia Pankhurst, G.M. Parks, Sydney S. Pawling, Emmeline and Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, Arthur Wing Pinero, Viscountess Rhondda, Anne Thackeray Ritchie, Olive Schreiner, Clement Scott, David Scott, Evelyn Sharp, Rachel Sharp, Charlotte F. Shaw, George Bernard Shaw, Florence Simmonds, W.T. Stead, Ellen Terry, Herbert Beerbohm Tree, Sir Hugh Walpole, Genevieve Ward, H.G. Wells, Rebecca West, Edith Wharton, Oscar Wilde, Leonard Woolf, Virginia Woolf, Charles Wyndham, and William Butler Yeats. There are also subject files, which include material on Time and Tide.
3. Robins Family Papers, 1803-1933.
4. Raymond Robins and Margaret Dreier Robins, 1887-1951
For details of the political and social activism of the couple see Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement 3 for Margaret, Supplement 5 for Raymond. The Series includes correspondence from Raymond and Margaret Dreier Robins to ER, correspondence from Margaret Dreier Robins to Raymond Robins, general correspondence of Raymond Robins, printed material and ephemera.
5. Florence Bell, 1891-1930
Florence Bell was a playwright and author, best known now for At the Works. She also edited her stepdaughter Gertrude’s letters. The Series includes letters from ER to Florence Bell (1892-1930), letters from Florence Bell to ER (1891-1930), general correspondence of Florence Bell (1891-1929), literary productions and printed materials.
6. Octavia Wilberforce, 1916-1963
Wilberforce was a friend and companion. She studied medicine with ER’s assistance and they shared an interest in women’s health and medical issues. The Series includes letters from Octavia Wilberforce to ER (1916-1950), letters from ER to Octavia Wilberforce (1924-1943), general correspondence (1918-1963), including letters from Marjorie Hubert, Florence Bell, Mrs Yates Thompson, Raymond Robins and George Bernard Shaw, and printed material.
Addendum: photocopy of Wilberforce’s unpublished autobiography, ‘The Eighth Child.’
7. Literary Productions
29 feet, 6 inches of manuscripts and typescripts of published and unpublished novels, plays, autobiographical writing, stories, articles and letters to the editor; correspondence relating to them; and notes for her writing. ‘Whither and How’ and ‘Heights and Depths’ are continuations of her autobiography Both Sides of the Curtain. There are copies of speeches and articles on Ibsen, an essay on Oscar Wilde, an essay on ‘Christabel Pankhurst and White Slavery,’ and her transcripts of open air women’s suffrage meetings in 1906 which informed Votes for Women and The Convert.
8. Theater Productions
Includes contracts, business records, set sketches, prompt copies and correspondence.
9. Photographic Materials
Includes photographs of ER, the Robins family, friends, acquaintances and Backsettown.
10. Legal and Financial Records, 1885-1951
11. Scrapbooks, 1871-1904
1 unbound volume, 15 bound volumes and a folder of oversize material. Scrapbooks of ER and husband George Richmond Parks, covering ER’s childhood, acting career in the U.S. and the U.K., and her writing career to 1904, and Parks’s acting career.
12. Printed Material
Includes proofs and galleys, copies of published short stories and articles, materials on the New Century Theatre, maps, 4 boxes of unsorted clippings and books from ER’s library. Books from her library are also held by Washington State University (No. 248) and the Fawcett Library (No. 265).
13. Artifacts and Ephemera
248. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin
The holdings contain important material on ER’s women’s suffrage activities and correspondence relating to ER’s writing:
Alan’s Wife Bernard Shaw 28 Aug 1899
George Mandeville’s Husband Gilbert Murray 2 Jan 1897 [sic]
A Dark Lantern H.G. Wells n.d.
Votes for Women Emmeline Pankhurst 19 Nov 1906, 19 Apr 1907; Henry James 24 Nov 1906; Bernard Shaw 29 Dec 1906, 8 Mar 1907; Florence Bell 22 Jan 1907, 24 Jan 1907, 7 May 1907; Millicent Garrett Fawcett 5 May 1907; Hall Caine 25 May 1907; Amber Reeves [1907]; H.G. Wells n.d. Correspondence re the London production from Harley Granville-Barker, John E. Vedrenne and Taylor Platt.
The Convert Florence Bell 30 May [?] 1907, 28 Aug 1907; Emmeline Pankhurst 19 Sept 1907; Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence 30 Oct 1907; William Archer Saturday
‘Woman’s Secret’ Gilbert Murray 27 Oct.; Frederick Pethick-Lawrence 2 Oct. 1907; Edmund Gosse 1 Nov 1907; Christabel Pankhurst 25 July 1910.
‘Why?’ Christabel Pankhurst 29 Apr 1909; Gilbert Murray 9 Sept 1909 [letter fragment, the other part of which is held in the Bodleian Library]; Lady Mary Murray 11 Sept 1909; Frederick Pethick-Lawrence 5 Nov 1909.
‘Docet umbra’ John Masefield 6 Dec 1909.
‘Where Are You Going To …?’ Christabel Pankhurst 5 Apr 1913 [with the Sybil Smith correspondence].
Theatre and Friendship Henry James (his uncle’s literary executor)
Both Sides of the Curtain Bernard Shaw 26 May 1931
‘Annie Besant’ Bernard Shaw 28 Nov 1936
Raymond and I ER to Marie Belloc-Lowndes 7 Oct 1933
The Center will supply a detailed guide to ‘Manuscripts by and relating to Elizabeth Robins, 1862-1952.’
Elizabeth Robins Collection
Correspondence from ER to Edgar Gascoyne-Cecil, Henry James (his uncle’s literary executor), Women’s Social and Political Union, Dame Christabel Pankhurst, Mrs Emmeline Pethick Lawrence, H.G. Wells, Stanley John Weyman.
Correspondence to ER from unidentified authors, Amy H.H. [Amy Hutchinson], M.K.R., E.A.M.T. [Dolly Yates Thompson], Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Louisa Garrett Anderson, Alice Hayes Archer, Charles Archer, William Archer, Lady Florence Bell, Hon. Gertrude Bell, Mrs Amber Blanco White, John Buchan, Beatrice Campbell, Viscount Edgar Gascoyne-Cecil, Ruth Draper, Gertrude Elliott (signed Gertrude Robinson), the English Association, Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Harley Granville-Barker, Sir Edward Grey, Cicely Hamilton, Sir Ian Hamilton, Mary Agnes Hamilton, Beatrice Harraden, William Heinemann, Laurence Housman, Dorothea Baird Irving, Henry James (with autograph note by ER, 2 autograph notes attached), Henry James (his uncle’s literary executor), Annie Kenney, John Maynard Keynes, Francis H. Low, Lillah McCarthy, Reginald McKenna, Princess Marie Louise, H.W, Massingham, Alice Meynell, Gilbert Murray, Lady Mary Murray, Henry W. Nevinson, Sir Henry Newbolt, Dame Christabel Pankhurst, Emmeline Pankhurst, Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst, Emmeline and Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, Maud Reeves, Margaret Haig Rhondda, Sybil Rhondda, Lady Mary Scott-Moncrieff, Evelyn Sharp, Baroness Sybil Mary Smith, J.L. Stubb, M. Taylor, Sir Charles Trevelyan, John E. Vedrenne, Taylor Platt, Mary Augusta Ward, Amy Catherine Wells, H.G. Wells, Stanley J. Weyman, Charles Langford Wilberforce,Virginia Woolf.
1 letter. Unidentified author to unidentified recipient. 8 Apr 1910
1 letter. Dame Christabel Pankhurst to Sybil Smith. 5 Apr 1913. Enclosed in letters from Smith to ER.
‘Notes written on April 12, 1907, re the novel [The Convert]. Ams. 3 pp. Written on four miscellaneous typescript pages’ [of ‘Come and Find Me!’]
Correspondence from or to ER is also held in the William Archer Collection, J.M. Barrie Collection, Hall Caine Collection, T.J. Cobden-Sanderson Collection, E.M. Forster Collection, John Galsworthy Collection, J.L. Garvin Collection, E.W. Gosse Collection, Thomas Hardy Collection, William Henley Collection, Henry James Collection, Andrew Lang Collection, Vachel Lindsay Collection, M.A.B. Lowndes Collection, Rose Macaulay Collection, Compton Mackenzie Collection, John Masefield Collection, George Moore Collection, Gilbert Murray Collection, PEN Archive, Rothenstein Collection, G.B. Shaw Collection, Hugh Walpole Collection, G.H. Wells Collection, H.G. Wells Collection, Robert Lee Wolff Collection (a letter to Mary Elizabeth Braddon) and Virginia Woolf Collection. Many of the 145 letters from Henry James in the Henry James Collection were published in Theatre and Friendship. More of the correspondence from Gilbert and Mary Murray concerning ‘Why?’ is in the Bodleian Library, Oxford (see No. 269).
249. New York Public Library, Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature
1 folder of agreements, correspondence, forms, statements from various theatrical agencies concerning ER. From the files of the American Play Company.
John Masefield, ‘Animula.’ Holograph scenario, unsigned and undated. [Sept 1909] Notebook inscribed to ER. With ‘Docet umbra.’ Holograph outline, unsigned, dated 2-18 Feb 1910. With ER’s pencilled ms. notes.
John Masefield, ‘Docet umbra.’ Holograph synopsis of play, unsigned and undated. With ms. note in ER’s hand to accompany Act II. ‘Docet umbra’ developed into a collaborative playwriting venture. The play was to be about the white slave traffic, the leading female characters being Vida and Muerte Levering. Aspects of the background of the proposed play and the motif of a nursery song were used by ER in ‘Where Are You Going To…?’
9 letters, 3 telegrams. ER to John Masefield. 25 Jan-2 Apr 1910. 3 folders. Includes a cutting from an unidentified published source of her dedication of The Open Question to Jane Hussey Robins, her grandmother. The dedication, dated 1896, was not used in 1898.
265 letters from John Masefield to ER. 17 Nov 1909-29 Nov 1912. 53 folders. The bulk of the correspondence comprises love letters in which he casts himself as a surrogate child of ER. The letters contain much incidental praise of ER’s books and stories, praise a diary entry suggests ER found undiscriminating. In some letters Masefield collated evidence of men’s attitudes to prostitution and mentioned his research on prostitution (18 Dec 1909, 25 Mar 1910, 30 Mar 1910). On 2 Apr 1910 he sent an explicit essay on masculine sexuality. The correspondence includes 5 holograph pages in ER’s hand. Several letters and envelopes bear annotations by ER.
1 letter. Harley Granville-Barker to John Masefield. 16 Feb 1910. With Masefield’s note to ER at bottom.
3 letters. Constance Masefield (John Masefield’s wife) to ER. 25 Jan 1910(2), 12 Jan 1911.
Letters, telegrams (6 pieces) from miscellaneous correspondents to ER. Feb-Mar 1910. 1 folder.
1 letter fragment. Raymond Robins to ER. Undated.
1 letter. ER to Gilbert Farquhar. 18 Jan.
2 letters. ER to Leonard Woolf. 30 Nov 1945, 3 Nov 1946.
2 letters. ER to Virginia Woolf. 5 July 1939, 25 June.
250. Smathers Library, University of Florida, Gainesville
MS Group 15. Rare Books. Special Collections
Biographical
Folder missing
Personal letters
ER to ? n.d.
ER to Mary E. Dreier. n.d., 1910, 1913, 1914, 1923, 1942, 1944.
ER to Margaret Dreier Robins. 1905-1909, 1910-1918, 1920-1924, 1932-1937, 1939-1945.
ER to Raymond Robins. 1912, 1925-1926, 1932, 1935-1936.
Margaret Dreier Robins to ER. 1915, 1920, 1934, 1939.
Labour and Social History Correspondence ER. Letter. Times (London) 27 Oct 1906.
Poems (Box R 13)
‘We still eat Speeches (Box R 16)
ER on Women’s Suffrage, October 1908 (?)
Photos (Boxes R Ph 1-3 & 5)
Possible photos of Elizabeth Robins among MDR’s friends, family and associates, and miscellaneous
‘Miscellaneous Letters.’ Rare Books and Manuscript section. Special Collections Department
Emmeline Pankhurst to ER. 9 May 1910.
Correspondence between ER and Margaret and Raymond Robins and the speech have been microformed as part of the Papers of the Women’s Trade Union League and Its Principal Leaders. Woodbridge, CT: Research Publications. This microform collection also includes correspondence between ER and Leonora O’Reilly.
251. Washington State University, Pullman
The library will supply a more detailed guide to the papers.
Cage 8
#1 Reveille, devoted to the disabled sailor and soldier 1 (August 1918), ed. John Galsworthy
Enclosed: John Galsworthy to ER. 19 Aug 1918. Asks her to contribute to the journal. Undated photograph of ER.
#2 Undated papers
Letter from Sybil and B., no addressee
Note: ‘Gertrude Bell,’ Vol. II, p. 512, 615. 1 leaf ms.
W.S. Maugham to ER.
Alice Carter to ER. 27 Jan.
William Archer to ER. [1893]
#3 Dated papers
Sara Bull to ER. 25 Sept [18]87.
[Milner, Edith?] to ER. 9 Sept 1905.
Charles Trevelyan to Lisa [ER]. 24 Mar 1921.
#4 Elsie Chancellor to ER. 22 July [1941].
#5 Isabelle Smith to ER. 27 July 1941.
? to ER. 5 May 1941.
G.M. Trevelyan to ER. 15 Aug 1941.
Thomas Jones to ER. 20 Aug 1941.
Martha Draper to ER. 8 Oct 1941.
#6 Translating vocabulary for Ibsen plays, Norwegian-English, August, 1892.1 v.
Loose notes and papers re translation, 1895-1896. 341.
#7 Letters found in Elizabeth Robins’ s books 2 letters. L.A. Maidstone to ER. 30 June and 5 July.
[Lucy Jane Clifford] to ER. 11 Nov [n.d.]
Mary A. Ward to ER. 10 Oct 1902.
[Florence Bell] to [ER?].
—–
Bond telegram to Miss Robins. 5 June 1905.
Robert W. Chambers to Miss Robins. 18 Mar 1908.
Maggie Ponsonby to ER. [1914]
Emily M. Ritchie to ER. 22 Aug[1918].
#8 Article found in Reveille:
Mortimer, Raymond. ‘Published at Last: An Adventure of 1900.’ n.d. A critique of Raymond and I.
The library also holds books from ER’s library, including her Booth prompt books. Cage 8 also includes some letters to Octavia Wilberforce and a letter to Sallie E. Robins. The material dating from after 1940 (#4 and #5) is mainly about ‘Portrait of a Lady, or The English Spirit Old and New’ (No. 221).
252. State Historical Society of Wisconsin
Raymond Robins Papers
Letters to Raymond Robins among his correspondence. The chronologically arranged correspondence fills 40 boxes and is not indexed. There are finding aids to the papers.
253. Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe College
Mary E. Dreier Papers MC309 Box 13 Folder 210
55 letters, 1 letter fragment. ER to Mary E. Dreier. 1909-1952, many with incomplete dates. Most of the correspondence dates from 1935 to 1944. ER’s principal topics are her concerns for the health of Raymond and Margaret Robins, arrangements for visits and travel, her enjoyment of Dreier’s company and her own health. She admires the Roosevelts and Churchill’s war leadership.
A/S 645E E.H. Smith
A Robins autograph for the Manchester and District Suffrage Bazaar, Feb 1912.
254. Rare Book and Special Collections Library, University of Illinois, Urbana
Wells Archive. 7 letters. 1 letter fragment. 2 newspaper clippings
ER to H.G. Wells. 24 Aug 1905. Reports the favourable reception of Mankind in the Making in serial form in the U.S.A. She is stirred by his power ‘to speak to the understanding & the sympathies of men in America.’
ER to H.G. Wells. 12 Oct 1906. Makes a suggestion in response to his letter about the Book War. Has read In the Days of the Comet and has things to say to him about it in person.
ER to H.G. Wells. 17 Jan 1907. Extends a lunch invitation. Mentions the straight talk he promised about her play [Votes for Women]. If he is not inclined to talk about the play they could ‘talk “nigger”’ or on other topics.
ER to Mrs Wells. 14 Nov 1907. Thanks for hospitality.
ER to H.G. Wells. 1 Apr. Extends an invitation to lunch or dine.
ER to Mrs Wells, n.d. Covering letter for a letter of introduction to her brother for Mrs Snowden.
ER to Mrs Wells, n.d. Extends an invitation to both H.G. and Jane Wells to dine on 17 Nov.
ER to [H.G. Wells] n.d. Pp. 5-8 of a letter about the position of women and race relations in the U.S., probably a response to his scathing review of Ancilla’s Share.
Clipping of an article from the Morning Post, 13 Nov 1907, ‘Mr F.E. Smith and the Liberal Millenium.’
Unidentified clipping, probably clipped for ‘The Court of Aldermen.’ Putnam Firm. Records. 1891-1934.
Volume 13, item 750. Record of receipt of bound copies of Ancilla’s Share, 18 June 1924.
255. Newberry Library, Chicago
Henry Kitchell Webster Papers. Call Number ‘We.’ 9 items
Letters. ER to Webster, early Sept and 27 Sept [1930], 15 Oct 1930, 28 Nov 1930, ‘Xmas night’ 1930. Envelope. Nov 1930. Telegram. 11 Dec 1930 [30 Dec 1931] Concern arrangements for a visit.
Letter. ER to Webster. 29 July 1932 Impatient with the MS he saw on her visit, she has deposited it in the Westminster Bank of Brighton. Discusses the genesis of Theatre and Friendship and a suggestion for an autobiography made by Bernard Shaw. [She took up this suggestion in writing Both Sides of the Curtain.]
2 clippings 17 May 1930 Lady Bell’s obituary in the Times (No. 239).
256. Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachussets
bMS Eng 1148 (1252) 31 letters. ER to Sir William Rothenstein. 1922-1940 & [n.d.]
bMS Eng 1213.3 (176) 1 letter. ER to Theodora Bosanquet. 20 Oct 1946.
bMS Am 1092 (812) 1 letter. ER to William James. 10 Dec. 1907. 44M-32F 1 photograph of Robins as Countess Zicka in Divorce [Diplomacy]. Inscribed ‘To Mr Henry James … Jan 20th 94.’
257. Special Collections, University Library, University of California, Los Angeles
Collection 100 Box 12
Letter. ER to Mr Richards. 14 Oct.
Collection 703 Box 2
14 items, including a letter dated 10 August 1897. The other items, addressed to Douglas Ainslie, have no years and are mostly short notes.
258. John M. Olin Library, Cornell University, Ithaca
4 letters
259. Princeton University, Princeton
General Manuscripts [Misc.] (00140) Box: Hunt. S-Hunt. Z. Folder: Hunt. Violet. 1866-1942. Subfolder 1.
Letter. ER to Violet Hunt. n.d. Arranges a meeting.
F.L. Pleadwell Papers (CQ535), Folder 11.
Letter. ER to Sir Humphrey Rolleston. n.d. Extends an invitation to dine Archives of Charles Scribner’s Sons (CO101). Autograph Collection. Box 2. Folder: Robins.
Letter. ER to Mr G[or J]ilder. 10 May [1902]. Writes to say that her next novel already has a U.S. publisher.
260. University of Rochester, Rochester
Clement William Scott Papers
Letter. ER to Clement Scott. 7 Nov. Thanks him for his encouraging comments on ‘Pauline de Lassouquer’ in that day’s Telegraph.
Letter. ER to Clement Scott. 10 Mar 1890. Asks Scott to read a recently revised narrative of hers.
MSS. COLL.
Letter. ER to Lady Cowdray. 6 Apr 1915. Seeks financial contribution to an unnamed hospital for women and children. [An enclosed brochure is now missing.]
261. Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Butler Library, Columbia University, New York
Stephen Crane Papers
Letter. ER to Mrs Stephen [Cora] Crane. 3 Jan 1899.
Gordon Ray Collection of Literary and Historical Letters and Manuscripts
Letter. ER to Mrs Holmes. 28 Mar 1914.
262. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven
MS Vault Shelves St Helier
Letter ER to Lady Jeune, later St Helier n.d. Asks Lady Jeune to readdress an enclosed note to Mr Hardy.
263. Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C.
y.c. 1431 (1) Letter. ER to Augustin Daly, Esq. 28 July 1888, with postscript 29 July 1888. Discusses terms of employment.
264. Oliver Wendell Holmes Library, Phillips Academy, Andover
O 396/R 55 Letter. ER to Mrs Katherine Mackay. 14 July 1908, Rebound in a leather jacket with an autographed copy of Robins’s ‘Woman’s Secret.’ Discusses the British reception of American women’s supposed lack of interest in suffrage reform. Mentions she has refused American publication of ‘Woman’s Secret,’ because she hopes some day to give it as a lecture.
265. Vassar College, Poughkeepsie
Letter. ER to Mrs [Owen] Powell. 3 Jan 1914. Regrets she is unable to contribute to a particular project because of larger writing commitments.
266. William R. Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham
Sir Leslie Stephen Papers
Chronologically arranged correspondence section. Letter. ER to Mrs Julia Prinsep (Jackson) Duckworth Stephen. 2 Dee 1893. Thanks Mrs Stephen for her invitation to the unveiling of the James Russell Lowell Memorial and reports her experience of the occasion.
UNITED KINGDOM
267. British Library, London
Add MSS 62697 Letter to Joseph Knight Temporarily unavailable in Nov 1993.
Add MSS 45852 f 18 Letter to ‘Michael Field’ 1893
ER regrets her inability to perform in Michael Field’s play at the Independent Theatre.
Add MSS 50513 & 50527 4 letters to Bernard Shaw.
29 Nov 1896. Offers tickets to Little Eyolf
23 Aug 1899. Re his attribution of Alan’s Wife to her. [Also held at the University of Texas at Austin]
15 July. Arranges a meeting, re Candida according to GBS’s annotation. Undated. Mentions the second volume of autobiography on which she is working. Realises how much assistance Shaw offered during the early 1890s.
Add MSS 56791 Correspondence to Herbert Thring in the Society of Authors Archive 1909-1918
Seeks advice on contracts and propositions from publishers. Several letters concern publication of her appreciation of Uncle Tom’s Cabin in Author (1909).
Add MSS 45295. f 32b Letter to William Archer 1910
Re a Heinemann edition of Hedda Gabler and Archer’s role in producing the acting script for ER and Marion Lea’s production.
Add MSS 61743 4 letters to Geoffrey West 1936-37 Re ER’s projected book on Annie Besant.
Unlicensed Lord Chamberlain’s Plavs List 1 Vol. 4
Typescript of Cicely Hamilton and ER’s stage adaptation of ‘Where AreYou Going To…?’
Lord Chamberlain’s Plays Correspondence LR 1914 Opinions of Ernest A. Bendall, Lord Sandhurst, Stanley Buckmaster, Walter Raleigh, Col. Sir Douglas Dawson and Sir Squire Bancroft on the licensing of a stage adaptation of ‘Where Are You Going To …?’ Ancillary correspondence.
268. Fawcett Library, London Guildhall University
In A.L. vol. I. 4 letters
ER to Millicent Garrett Fawcett. 1 Nov [1906]. Writes of her novelisation of Votes for Women and asks Fawcett to read the play. Fawcett’s reply is in the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin.
ER to Millicent Garrett Fawcett. 9 July 1908. Asks for confirmation of the rumour that a deputation of constitutional suffragists is to be received by the Government.
ER to Mrs Newsome. 1 Nov 1937, 13 Nov 1937. Re a petition to press for an Honour for Mrs Pethick-Lawrence.
In A.L. vol. XXVUF
Letter. ER to Lady Jane Strachey. 14 Feb 1907. Re assignation of rights in Votes for Women to Gertrude Kingston.
In Box 92
Letter. ER to Lady Strachey. 29 June 1908. Invites her to join a deputation.
In A.L. vol. VII
Letter. ER to Miss Flatman. 19 Nov 1909. ER’s health is too poor for her to accept a speaking engagement.
In A.L. box
Letter. ER to ‘Madam.’ 1914. Unable to be located by library staff in Nov. 1993.
In Box 222. 2 letters
ER to A. Maude Royden. 18 Apr [19] 18. [check] A lunch invitation, refers to the reintroduction of legalised sex-slavery.
ER to A. Maude Royden. 16 Apr 1920. Thanks for being allowed to visit.
Octavia Wilberforce’s unpublished autobiography, ‘The Eighth Child.’
The Backsettown Trust donated many of ER’s personal copies of her books to the Fawcett Library. Several bear her annotations.
269. Bodleian Library, Oxford
(July 1897-1898) MS Gilbert Murray 5
fols. 86r-87v, fol. 102r, fols. 104r, 105r & v, fols. 11 Or-113r ER to Murray. 6 Dec 1897, 16 Dec 1897, Dec 1897, 4 Jan 1898. Concern Murray’s Carlyon.
fol. 113r Johnston Forbes-Robertson to ER. 1 Jan 1898. Makes an appointment to hear her read.
fols. 129r-132v Florence Bell to Mr Murray. 7 Feb 1898. Bell starts out to write a letter on ER’s behalf, relaying the message that Forbes Robertson will write directly to Murray.
(May 1909-Feb. 1910) MS Gilbert Murray 16
fols. 43r-44v ER to Mr Murray. 17 Aug 1909. Asks him and Lady Mary to comment on an article on the suffrage campaign, fols. 54r-59r Part of a letter to ER. 9 Sept 1909. Criticisms of ‘Why?’ The typescript has been annotated by ER with her responses to specific criticisms. The other part of the letter is in the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin (see No. 248). fols. 62r-63v ER to Lady Mary & Mr Murray. 13 Sept 1909. Thanks them for their views, and asks Lady Mary for further comment.
(Aug 1919-Jan 1920) MS Gilbert Murray 40
fol. 103r & v Handwritten form letter soliciting autographed books and signed photographs for a bazaar in aid of the New Sussex Hospital for Women and Children, officered by women. Oct 1919. Signed ER and Beatrice Harraden, ER having addressed it to Mr Murray, with a brief signed note.
(Jan-Aug 1925) MS Gilbert Murray 49
fols. 215r, 216v ER to Mr Murray. 19 Aug 1925. Asks how to obtain a copy of his recent lecture on the origins of drama in Europe.
(Sept 1925-Feb 1926) MS Gilbert Murray 50
fols. 38r, 39v ER to Mr Murray. 16 Sept 1925. Returns his lecture, apologising for the delay. She is glad of his tribute to William Archer.
270. University of Sussex Library, Brighton
SxMS18.MHL (VW). 4 letters to Virginia Woolf. 14 letters from Woolf. 1936-1941.
13 of Woolf’s letters are published in Leave the Letters Till We’re Dead: The Letters of Virginia Woolf. Volume VI: 1936-1941, ed.
Nigel Nicolson. London: Chatto & Windus, 1980. The additional letter from Woolf, posted on 29 July 1939, confirms a social engagement. Robins’s letters to Woolf are as follows:
11 Dec 1936. About the writing and possible publication of her recollections.
7 Sept 1939. About publishers and petrol rationing,
28 Feb 1940. Mentions a note of what she had wanted to write in Woolf’s book.
25 June. Mentions ‘R & I’ [Raymond and I].
SxMS13.III. 4 letters to Leonard Woolf. 1941-1948.
18 Aug 1941. From Maine, mainly in praise of Virginia Woolf. Mentions Portraits [her pamphlet ‘Portrait of a Lady’?].
Undated. About her writing and her need for a secretary.
4 Dec 1944. About her visit to Howard University.
31 May 1948. About secretarial help.
271. Trinity College, Cambridge
P-LI378 & 3133-146 Letters to Lord and Ladv Pethick-Lawrence 1912-1950
P-LI378 er to Mrs Lawrence. [Feb 1938]. A book has not arrived.
P-L3133 ER to Mr Lawrence. 9 Oct 1912. Thanks for a scarf and responds to a lunch invitation.
P-L3134 ER to Mr Lawrence. 30 Oct 1914. Discusses having to register as an American, asks about his book, mentions her difficulties in concentrating, offers a brief comment on the government, and thanks him for hospitality.
P-L3135 ER to Mr Lawrence. 10 Feb 1916. Thanks for being allowed to see something, too ill to travel to Florida.
P-L3136 ER to Mr Pethick Lawrence. 19 Aug 1925. Thanks him for being allowed to read the full texts of some of his speeches and asks for advice about handling a law firm.
P-L3137 ER to Mr Lawrence. 26 Aug 1925. Is to follow his advice about handling their lawyer.
P-L3138 ER to Mr & Mrs Pethick-Lawrence. 18 May 1929. Responding to a dinner invitation.
P-L3139 ER to Mrs Pethick Lawrence. 24 Mar 1932. A luncheon invitation.
P-L3140 ER to Mrs Lawrence. July 1938. Concerning departure for Braunwald.
P-L3141 ER, no addressee. 20 July 1938;
P-L3142 ER to Mr Lawrence. 5 Apr 1940; P-L3143 ER to Mr & Mrs Lawrence. 6 Apr 1940. About details of Jenny Streiff’s planned visits.
P-L3144 ER to Mrs Lawrence. 21 Aug 1940. About the difficulties of her journey to Maine, asks advice on how to secure American military support for England.
P-L3145 ER to Lord Pethick-Lawrence. 28 Mar 1949. Arranges a meeting.
P-L3146 ER to Emmeline and Fred. 22 Aug 1950. About to fly to the U.S.
272. Churchill College, Cambridge
CHAN I 5/18
Letter. ER to Mrs Lyttleton. 30 Aug 1917. Expresses her admiration for Mrs Lyttleton’s Alfred Lyttleton.
W.T. Stead Papers. STEP 1/61
14 letters. ER to W.T. Stead. 1891-1905. About religious beliefs and her writing, include an invitation to the opening night of her production of Hedda Gabler. Several are signed ‘Hedda.’
273. University of Reading Library, Reading
Hogarth Press Archives
MS2750/170 General file re the Hogarth Essays. 1 letter. ER asks if she can use parts of Ibsen and the Actress in a book she is writing. MS2750/400 File on Ibsen and the Actress. 4 letters from ER, 3 carbons of letters from Leonard Woolf and his correspondence with the printers.
MS2750/611 6 letters to Hogarth Press.
274. Reed International Books Library, Rushden
Heinemann archives
1 letter. George R. Halkett, editor Pall Mall Magazine, to ER. 17 Oct 1904. Discusses a story she submitted [‘The Caribou Stand’?], asking for a cut to about 6,000 words.
ER to Miss Louisa Callender. 8 Nov 1948, Writes of suggestions for film adaptations of Where Are You Going To …?, turns down Alfred Fellows’s request for permission to adapt the book, and asks whether Heinemann would consider a new edition. Letters exchanged between Alfred Fellows and Louisa Callendar are also held in the archive.
5 letters exchanged between Louisa Callendar and ER. 1950-1951. Concern ER’s unpublished novel ‘Debut in the Rocky Mountains.’
Letter. ER to Messrs Wm. Heinemann Ltd. 1 Mar 1951. Asks whether her contract for Both Sides of the Curtain precludes her offering her next book elsewhere.
275. Brotherton Library, Leeds Stoker Correspondence
ER to Bram Stoker. 11 Feb 1895. Requests a theatre box to see King Arthur.
ER to Bram Stoker. 12 Oct 1896. Requests a theatre box.
Note to Stoker on ER’s card. Asks to see him during a performance.
ER to Mrs Stoker. 12 May. Relays news from Charles Trevelyan about properties the Stokers were interested in leasing.
ER to Sir Henry Irving, 14 June [1899]. Marked private. Offers to read the part of Portia for him.
ER to Sir Henry Irving. Undated reply to his reply per L.F. Austin to her earlier letter. Discusses her desperate need for a theatrical engagement and iterates her belief Irving would find her a suitable understudy for Ellen Terry if she could read the Portia scenes for him.
Shorter Correspondence
ER to Clement Shorter. 8 May. Discusses the difficulties of agreeing to be photographed in her study.
276. Dorset County Museum, Dorchester
Thomas Hardy Memorial Collection. 5 letters to Thomas Hardy.
9 Mar 1896. ER asks to read Tess with a view to showing it to a manager.
18 Mar 1898. ER perplexed to learn that Hardy had entered into negotiations with Mrs Campbell to play the part of Tess, since she was expecting to play the part.
3 July 1904. ER issues a dinner invitation
5 July 1904. ER hopes Hardy will be able to visit
4 Dec 1919. ER requests an autographed book in aid of The New Sussex Hospital for Women and Children.
277. King’s College, Cambridge
Kingston Papers, 3 letters
Misc. 6/5/94 ER to Gertrude Kingston. 18 June 1908. Invites her to drive from Euston to Hyde Park as a show of support.
Misc. 6/5/94a ER to Gertrude Kingston. 25 Nov. Praise for a performance
Misc. 6/5 94b ER to Gertrude Kingston. 9 Feb 1913. Regrets her inability to have accepted an invitation.
278. Hull Central Library, Hull
Winifred Holtby Collection. 2.42-2.44 Letters to Holtbv in correspondence file.
2.44 ER to Holtby. 10 Oct 1932. Expresses admiration for Holtby’s hostile review of G. Alterton’s [Gertrude Atherton’s?] book [Adventures of a Novelist?]. This is the only letter the library could locate.
279. Public Record Office, London
In PR030/69. Letters to J. Ramsay MacDonald.
16 June 1933, 11 July 1933, 15 July 1933. ER requests an appointment to present David Scott to him, asks for a letter of introduction to oculist Sir Stewart Duke-Elder, and thanks him for a prompt reply. MacDonald’s letter of introduction and Duke-Elder’s brief reply are filed at 271 and 277. MacDonald calls Robins a friend.
280. University of London Library
A.L. 333/1 Letter. ER to Florence Farr. 2 Aug 1892. Thanks Farr for her letter and requests a photograph of Farr.
A.L. 333/2 Letter. ER to Florence Farr. 26 Oct. Offers Farr £10 for 4 performances.
281. Manchester Central Library, Manchester
In MS 50/2/1/232. Letter. ER to Millicent Garrett Fawcett. 27 Oct 1906. Expresses admiration for Fawcett’s generosity towards militant suffragettes. Discusses not being allowed to testify in support of militant suffragettes at a magistrate’s hearing.
282. Guildhall Library, London
MS 16,368 Letter. ER to Ernest Hodder Williams. 12 Dec. Praise for An Englishwoman’s Love Letters [published anonymously by Laurence Housman, 19001.
283. Theatre Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
AL Collection. Letter to Irene Vanbrugh. 6 Jan 1933. Thanks for unnamed favour.
284. Ellen Terry Memorial Museum, Smailhythe Place, Tenterden
Postcard from ER to Edith Craig. 30 Sept. Tries to arrange a meeting.
285. John Murray (Publishers) Pty Ltd, London
Letter. ER to John Murray 13 [?] Apr 1915. Requests a donation of books to the library at the Endell Street Military Hospital.
286. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, London
Contracts for Way Stations, Camilla and The Messenger. Correspondence between A.P. Watt and Hodder & Stoughton concerning Way Stations and Camilla.
EIRE
287. National Library of Ireland, Dublin
In MS 16,703. Letter to Edward Martyn. 17 Jan [1900?]. About her terms for doing Martyn’s play Maeve.
AUSTRALIA
288. Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney
Miles Franklin Papers. MS 364. V. 13. pp. 285-291
Letter. ER to Miss Franklin. 1 Aug 1918. Recommends Paul Reynolds as an agent, replies to a query about services.
Letter [copy]. Miles Franklin to ER. 10 Oct 1940. Sends a review of Both Sides of the Curtain, describes the history of their meetings.
MICROFORM
289. Archives of Grant Richards 1897-1948. Cambridge: Chadwyck-Healey
Out-letterbooks
Reel 29, Outletter book A29 Grant Richards to ER. 18 Dec 1919. Response to her appeal for books.
Reel 30, Outletter book A30 Unsigned letter to ER. 19 Feb 1921. Response to ER’s request to see Grant Richards.
Reel 31, Outletter book A31 Grant Richards to ER. 14 June 1921. Covering letter for reader’s report—on ‘The Book of Revelations’? [report missing].
Grant Richards to ER. 20 June 1921. Reply to ER’s response to report. ER’s insistence on anonymity a stumbling-block.
Correspondence (incoming)
ER to Grant Richards. 12 Dec 1919. A request for books for a stall. [Annotated, probably by employees.]
In American Literary Manuscripts, 2nd ed., Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge is listed as holding 15 letters from Robins. The library advises that references to Robins do not appear in its manuscript finding aids. The Location Register of Twentieth-Century English Literary Manuscripts and Letters lists a fragment of a letter from Robins to Andrew McCormick in the E.A. Homel Art Gallery and Library, Kirkcudbright. This letter is in fact from the writer Elizabeth Robins Pennell, author, and wife of Joseph Pennell, the illustrator. A.P. Watt, Robins’s agent for many years, advises the company holds no manuscript letters or other material.