William Morris Papers, 1839-1999

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Summary

Creators:
Morris, William, 1834-1896.
Abstract:
This collection contains the archival and manuscript portion of the Sanford and Helen Berger collection and primarily contains manuscripts, correspondence, and ephemera created by or related to 19th century English artist, decorator, poet, and printer William Morris (1834-1896) and his circle.
Extent:
Approximately 650 items in 19 boxes
Language:
English.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains the archival and manuscript portion of the Sanford and Helen Berger collection and primarily contains manuscripts, correspondence, and ephemera created by or related to 19th century English artist, decorator, poet, and printer William Morris (1834-1896) and his circle. Though this collection is named the William Morris Papers, the Bergers also collected manuscript and printed material related to nineteenth and twentieth century British Pre- Raphaelites, Fine Printing and private presses (Kelmscott Press and the Doves Press), architects, illustrators, and the Arts & Crafts movement (Morris & Co.).

The William Morris Papers are perhaps unique among the Huntington’s other holdings in that they are an integral part of a much larger collection of stained glass, furniture, tiles, pottery, art work and printed books, making it one of the premier nineteenth century Arts & Crafts collections in the world.

The papers consist of the following series:

1. Manuscripts (Boxes 1-2, Oversize Material Box 19, Folder 1)) are arranged alphabetically by author and title. Included in this series are: a minute book, notes, personal reminiscences, lectures, poems, prose narratives and essays. This series includes manuscripts by many authors, most notably by: Edward Burne- Jones, Sydney C. Cockerell, Walter Crane, John Henry Dearle, William F. De Morgan, Frederick E. Startridge, Alice Macdonald Fleming, William Minto, William Morris, Eden Phillpotts and Charles Canning Winmill.

2. Correspondence (Boxes 3-13) is arranged alphabetically by author. This series includes letters from notable people in the literary, arts, fine printing, publishing and architectural fields in England during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including: Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Ford Madox Brown, Edward Burne-Jones, Georgiana Burne-Jones, T.J. Cobden-Sanderson, Sydney C. Cockerell, Walter Crane, Evelyn De Morgan, William F. De Morgan, H. Buxton Forman, Arthur Hughes, Edward R. Hughes, William Holman Hunt, W.R. Lethaby, J.W. Mackail, John Everett Millais, Jane Burden Morris, May Morris, William Morris, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Simeon Solomon, Emery Walker, Philip Webb and Charles Canning Winmill.

3. Ephemera and Miscellaneous (Boxes 14-18, Oversize Material Box 19, Folders 2-5) is arranged by subject. It comprises approximately 300 items and includes: photocopies of Account Books and various letters, printed material, material removed from scrapbooks, photographs, clippings, material related to Philip Henderson’s Morris biography and material related to Peter Stansky’s work on The House of Wolfings.

Biographical / historical:

William Morris (1834-1896) was born March 24, 1834, in Walthamstow, then a suburb of London; he attended Marlborough College and in 1852 entered Exeter College, Oxford. He left in 1855, without taking orders, as he originally planned, but instead embarked on a varied career as a poet, visual artist and Socialist. He married Jane Burden, April 26, 1859, and they had two daughters, Jane Alice (Jenny), born in 1861 and Mary (May) in 1862.

William Morris, a man of tremendous energy and creativity, became, over the years, a poet, artist, decorator, manufacturer, printer and lecturer. He helped to begin the Arts & Crafts movement in England, through Morris & Co., and strove to better the lives of the working class through his work with Socialist causes. It was possibly the strain of overwork as he tried to maintain a busy lecture schedule, as well as oversee the Kelmscott Press and other business interests, that caused Morris to become ill in June, 1896. After a lingering illness he died on October 3, 1896, at his home, Kelmscott House in London.

Morris & Co. operated from 1875 until 1940 and was known for its stained glass, wallpaper, pottery, and textile designs. The firm succeeded Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., which had been founded in 1861, when Morris became the sole owner. John Dearle (1860-1932) assumed leadership of the company when he became its Art Director following Morris’s death in 1896. In 1905 the company’s name was changed to Morris & Co. Decorators Ltd.

Sanford Lionel Berger (1919-2000) was an architect and William Morris enthusiast. A University of California at Berkeley and Harvard-trained architect, Berger practiced for 38 years and became a senior vice president for the firm of Stone, Marracini & Patterson in San Francisco, California. Berger's wife Helen was also a Harvard-trained architect.

In the 1960s, the Bergers purchased an almost complete set of books printed by William Morris's Kelmscott Press, thus beginning almost four decades of building a collection of books, manuscripts, textiles, wallpapers, carpets, tapestries, drawings, stained glass, ephemera, and ceramics that during their lifetimes was regarded as the largest private collection of William Morris materials in the United States. Their collection was acquired by the Huntington Library in 1999.

The renown of the Sanford and Helen Berger Collection of William Morris grew steadily over the years, and their residence in Carmel, California, became known as "Kelmscott Carmel" or "Kelmscott West."

Berger was active in many bibliophilic societies and organizations and served as a president of the Book Club of California. He enjoyed hobby printing, and operated two small, private presses, the Tunnel Road and the Scenic Road presses, both from his homes of the same addresses.

Sanford L. Berger died on July 30, 2000. Helen Berger died in 2001.

Acquisition information:
Acquired from Sanford and Helen Berger in 1999.
Arrangement:

The collection is organized in the following series: Manuscripts (Boxes 1-2), Correspondence (Boxes 3-13), Ephemera and Miscellaneous (Boxes 14-18), Oversize Materials (Box 19). Items arranged alphabetically by author in each series.

Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:
Architects -- Great Britain -- Correspondence.
Artists -- England -- 19th century -- Archives.
Arts and crafts movement -- Great Britain.
Authors, English -- 19th century -- Archives.
Art and society -- Great Britain.
Biographers -- Great Britain -- Archives.
Decorative arts -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.
Dyes and dyeing -- Great Britain.
Fine books -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.
Embroidery -- Great Britain.
Glass painting and staining -- Great Britain.
Pre-Raphaelites -- Great Britain -- Correspondence.
Private presses -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.
Socialism -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.
Biographies -- Great Britain -- 20th century.
Business records -- Great Britain 19th century.
Drawings -- Great Britain -- 19th century.
Drawings -- Great Britain -- 20th century.
Ephemera -- Great Britain -- 19th century.
Ephemera -- Great Britain -- 20th century.
Letters (correspondence) -- Great Britain -- 19th century.
Letters (correspondence) -- Great Britain -- 20th century.
Manuscripts -- Great Britain -- 19th century.
Manuscripts -- Great Britain -- 20th century.
Notebooks -- Great Britain -- 19th century.
Notebooks -- Great Britain -- 20th century.
Personal papers -- Great Britain -- 19th century.
Photographs -- Great Britain -- 19th century.
Photographs -- Great Britain -- 20th century.
Poems -- Great Britain -- 19th century.
Poems -- Great Britain -- 20th century.
Professional papers -- Great Britain -- 19th century.
Professional papers -- Great Britain -- 20th century.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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