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Guide to the Ronald Knox Papers
H2004.4  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Access
  • Publication Rights
  • Preferred Citation
  • Acquisition Information
  • Processing History
  • Biography / Administrative History
  • Scope and Content of Collection
  • Indexing Terms
  • Separated Material

  • Descriptive Summary

    Title: Ronald Knox papers
    Dates: 1894-1970
    Bulk Dates: 1900-1962
    Collection number: H2004.4
    Creator: Knox, Ronald Arbuthnott, 1888-1957.
    Collection Size: 2.3 linear feet (5 boxes)
    Repository: Claremont Colleges. Library. Special Collections, Honnold/Mudd Library.
    Claremont, CA 91711
    Abstract: The Ronald Knox Papers contain over five hundred items, including personal letters, published and unpublished articles, broadcast transcripts, sermons, a few photographs and some manuscript writings.
    Physical location: Please consult repository.
    Languages: Languages represented in the collection: English

    Access

    Collection open for research.

    Publication Rights

    All requests for permission to publish must be submitted in writing to Special Collections.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], Ronald Knox papers. Special Collections, Honnold/Mudd Library, Claremont University Consortium.

    Acquisition Information

    Purchase, 2004.

    Processing History

    Processed by Jennifer Bidwell, 2005.

    Biography / Administrative History

    Ronald A. Knox was born in Knibworth, Leicestershire on February 17, 1888 to Ellen Penelope French and the Reverend Edmund Arbuthnott Knox. After completing his formal education at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford in 1910, Monsignor Knox was appointed as chaplain at Trinity College. Later in 1917, Ronald Knox converted to Roman Catholicism. He served as a chaplain at the University of Oxford and was later appointed as a prelate by the Pope in 1936. Monsignor Knox was a prolific writer both in religious commentaries and texts as well as literature. He translated the St. Jerome Latin Vulgate Bible into English as well as the Old and New Testatment in 1944 and 1945 respectively. He wrote a number of articles with religious themes such as The Belief of Catholics and A Spiritual Aenied. Although he only wrote six novels such as the Viaduct Murder and the Footsteps at the Lock, his writings are well known and he was a prominent member of the Detection Club.

    Scope and Content of Collection

    The Ronald Knox Papers is a partial collection of Monsignor Knox's writings, both published and unpublished articles, letters, broadcast transcripts, sermons, some photographs and manuscript writings originally compiled Patricia Cowan. The collection contains Ms. Cowan's notations about his writings as well as a list of his works. In addition, there are laid-in items such as postcards, letters, and articles found in the Knox books catalogued in the Oxford Collection of Special Collections at the Honnold/Mudd Library. The bulk of the collection is hand- and type-written letters by Knox and photocopies of published articles written by Monsignor Knox reproduced in journals such as The Outsider, The Tablet and newspapers such as The Sunday Times. There are a few manuscript letters and writings but much of the material is unattributed so it is unclear which items are manuscript writings. Many of the letters are from his early years while he attended Eton College and Balliol College as well as his appointment as an Anglican chaplain at Trinity College and later as a Roman Catholic chaplain at the University of Oxford. The unique items in this collection are the laid-in items from Special Collections holdings as well as the letters written by Knox.

    Indexing Terms

    The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
    University of Oxford -- Intellectual life
    Religious thought -- Great Britain
    Catholic Church -- Sermons
    Sermons, English
    Trinity College (Dublin, Ireland). Chapel

    Separated Material

    Ronald A. Knox collection of books individually cataloged, list of items in Knox file in Special Collections.