Norreys Jephson O'Conor papers, 1890-1964, bulk 1940-1958

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Summary

Creators:
O'Conor, Norreys Jephson, 1885-1958
Abstract:
Papers belonging to American poet and author Norreys Jephson O'Conor.
Extent:
28.20 Linear Feet (25 boxes, 2 cases, 2 folders)
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Norreys Jephson O'Conor papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection, which is made up of approximately 1,110 items, consists of manuscripts and correspondence related to the life and writings of Norreys Jephson O'Conor. The letters are addressed to O'Conor from a number of literary figures, most of them dating from O'Conor's stay in California between 1940 and 1958. There are a sizable number of carbon copies of O'Conor's letters, thus forming in many cases a complete correspondence. The manuscripts are mostly by O'Conor, including notes, autograph and typewritten copies of many of his poems and essays. Correspondents in the collection include: Conrad Potter Aiken, William Rose Benet, Elizabeth Bowen, Van Wyck Brooks, Arthur Bryant, Pearl S. Buck, Charles Bruce Catton, T.S. Eliot, John Gould Fletch, Maxwell Struthers Burt, Robert Frost, Oliver St. John Gogarty, Walter Lippmann, Christopher Morley, John Hall Wheelock, Howard Moss, Rolfe Humphries, Robert Linscott, Compton Mackenzie, Kenneth Roberts, Garrett Mattingly, Samuel Eliot Morison, Howard Nemerov, Allan Nevins, Robert Malise Bowyer Nichols, Victoria Mary Sackville-West, Emily Hilda Young. There are also some watercolors done by O'Conor.

Biographical / historical:

Norreys Jephson O'Conor (1885-1958) poet and critic, was born in New York City in December 1885. He graduated from Harvard in 1911 and worked for several years in the publishing field before returning to Harvard for an advanced degree in Old and Middle Irish. O'Conor considered himself part of the Irish Literary Revival and moved to London in the 1930s. In 1939, he returned to the United States and eventually settled in Pasadena, later moving to Santa Barbara. In 1952, O'Conor published a volume of verse, Late offering. His earlier books included translations from the Gaelic and several volumes of social history, tracing, in part, the history of an English family of the Renaissance, a distant relation of his. O'Conor died in Santa Barbara in 1958.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Norreys Jephson O'Conor, March 1942, and Evangelia O'Conor, June 1945, September 1963, and November 1976.
Processing information:

Processed by Huntington Library staff in August 1976. In 2022, Brooke M. Black created a finding aid.

Arrangement:

Organized in the following series: 1. Manuscripts; 2. Correspondence; 3. Miscellaneous.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Terms of access:

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Norreys Jephson O'Conor papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

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