Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Kenyon, John, 1784-1856.
- Abstract:
- This collection consists of a disbound autograph album chiefly containing manuscripts and letters written by leading British Victorian political, scientific, and literary figures; there is also a small amount of material by American, French, German, and Polish writers.
- Extent:
- 111 pieces in 2 boxes
- Language:
- English.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The majority of the collection consists of manuscripts and letters written by leading British Victorian political, scientific, and literary figures; there is also a small amount of material by American, French, German, and Polish writers. The manuscripts include poems by Daniel Webester, John Greenleaf Whittier, and Helen Maria Williams. The political correspondents include John Bright, Hugh McCalmont Cairns (Earl Cairns), George William Villiers (Earl of Clarendon), Frances Power Cobbe, Richard Cobden, William Ewart Gladstone, George Cornewall Lewis, Henry Temple (Viscount Palmerston), and George Frederick Robinson (Marquess of Ripon). The artist, scientific, and literary correspondents include Charles Babbage, Sara Coleridge, Charles Eastlake, Maria Edgeworth, Robert Fitzroy, John Forster, Elizabeth Gaskell, Grace Greenwood, Felicia Hemans, Richard Monckton Milnes (Baron Houghton), Edwin Landseer, William Macready, Harriet Martineau, Roderick Impey Murchison, Caroline Norton, and Catharine Maria Sedgwick.
- Biographical / historical:
-
John Kenyon (1784-1856), was a British poet and philanthropist. Other important addressees in the collection are: Robert Johnston Barton (d. 1879), was a British Captain in the Coldstream Guards, killed in action in Zululand in 1879; James Booth (1796-1880), was a British Barrister and Secretary of the Board of Trade, and his wife, Jane Noble Booth (d. 1872); Thomas Milner Gibson (1806-1884), was a British politician; Henry Bellenden Ker (1785?-1871), British legal reformer.
- Acquisition information:
- Purchased from Soethby's, lot 522, July 1964.
- Processing information:
-
1. The autograph album which originally housed the letters has been disbound, and the letters placed in individual folders; the album also contained a small group of loose letters placed at the back of the album, and these have also been placed in individual folders.
2. The autograph album was started by John Kenyon at an unknown date, and continued after his death, possibly by a family member, until the beginning of the 20th century. It was decided to retain the name of John Kenyon Autograph Album, even though the majority of the letters are addressed to James Booth and various other addressees.
- Arrangement:
-
Organized in the following manner: Manuscripts, Correspondence and Ephemera (Boxes 1-2); arranged alphabetically.
- Rules or conventions:
- Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
- Subjects:
- Authors, American -- 19th century --
Correspondence.
Authors, English -- 19th century -- Correspondence.
Scientists -- 19th century -- Correspondence.
Statesmen -- Great Britain -- Correspondence.
Women authors -- 19th century -- Correspondence.
Business letters -- 19th century.
Ephemera -- 19th century.
Letters (correspondence) -- 19th century.
Manuscripts -- 19th 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 RoadSan Marino, CA 91108, US
- Contact:
- (626) 405-2191