Vanessa Bell Letters to Julian Bell: Finding Aid mssHM 57498-57534
Gayle M. Richardson
The Huntington Library
December 2023
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Business Number: (626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Vanessa Bell letters to Julian Bell
Creator:
Bell, Vanessa,
1879-1961
Identifier/Call Number: mssHM 57498-57534
Physical Description:
1.25 Linear Feet
(1 box)
Date (inclusive): 1927-1936
Abstract: A series of letters written by British
painter Vanessa Bell to her son Julian Bell.
Language of Material: Materials are in
English.
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[Identification of item]. Vanessa Bell letters to Julian Bell, The Huntington Library, San
Marino, California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Sotheby's (lot 209), July 1980.
Vanessa (Stephen) Bell (1879-1961) was a British painter, interior designer, and a central
figure in the Bloomsbury group -- a group of friends, artists, writers, and intellectuals
united around a belief in the importance of the arts. She was the sister of author Virginia
Woolf and the wife of art critic Clive Bell whom she married in 1907. The Bells had two sons
Julian Bell and Quentin Bell; the couple also had an open marriage and Vanessa Bell had a
daughter, Angelica, with the painter Duncan Grant.
Julian Heward Bell (1908-1937) was an English poet and the son of Vanessa Bell and Clive
Bell. He was educated at King's College, Cambridge and, in 1935, went to China to teach
English at Wuhan University. Though initially a pacifist, by 1937, Bell was more supportive
of the socialist and anti-fascist movements and became an ambulance driver for the
Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. After just a month in Spain, he was hit by bomb
fragments and died in a military hospital at the age of 29.
A collection of thirty-six letters from Vanessa Bell to her son Julian Bell which discuss
family, vacation and travel plans, and other personal matters. The letters are written from
Sussex, Essex, and London as well as France. There are references to Virginia Woolf in
several of the letters. There is one letter with a small drawing of a butterfly and one
letter from Angelica (Bell) Garnett which contains several drawings.
Processed by Rebecca Tuttle, April 1998; in December 2023, Gayle M. Richardson created a
finding aid.
Arranged chronologically.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Bloomsbury group
English literature -- 20th century
Families -- Great Britain -- History -- 20th century
Drawings (visual works)
Letters (correspondence)
Bell, Julian,
1908-1937
Garnett, Angelica
Woolf, Virginia,
1882-1941
Box 1, Folder 1-37
Vanessa Bell letters to Julian Bell 1927-1936