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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Administration Information
  • Biographical Note
  • Arrangement
  • Scope and Content
  • Related material in the Huntington Library includes:
  • Indexing Terms

  • Descriptive Summary

    Title: Leigh family papers
    Dates: 1686/87-1866
    Collection Number: mssHM 81608-81660
    Creator: Leigh (Family : Adlestrop, England)
    Extent: 53 items, plus the album
    Repository: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens Manuscripts Department
    The Huntington Library
    1151 Oxford Road
    San Marino, California 91108
    Phone: (626) 405-2203
    Fax: (626) 449-5720
    Email: manuscripts@huntington.org
    URL: http://www.huntington.org
    Abstract: The Leigh family papers is a collection of letters, poems and manuscripts of six generations of the Leigh family of Adlestrop mainly concerning family matters and the society in which they lived.
    Language of Material: The records are in English.

    Administration Information

    Access

    Collection is open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, please go to following web site  .

    Publication Rights

    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], Leigh family papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

    Acquisition Information

    Purchased by the Library Collectors' Council from Karen Thomson, Rare Books, Catalogue No. 102, January 10, 2015.

    Biographical Note

    The Leigh family, descended from Sir Thomas Leigh, Lord Mayor of London for Queen Elizabeth I, were a long-established family in Adlestrop in Gloucestershire. They were connected by marriage to many other wealthy families in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, including the Dukes of Chandos and the Austens. The Leighs of Adlestrop were Jane Austen’s maternal relatives.

    Arrangement

    The collection is arranged chronologically. It is housed in two boxes.

    Scope and Content

    The papers consist of the following:
    Box 1: Correspondence and Manuscripts are arranged chronologically. The collection consists of letters, poems and other manuscripts written by various members of the Leigh family and other people in their circle. The letters are mainly concerned with the intimate, mundane, playful and tragic aspects of family life from the early modern period until the middle of the 19th century. There is also a small number of poems, written by or copied out by family members, a Hymn, a speech, and a travel account.
    Please note: there is no material in this collection by Jane Austen nor is she a subject of any of this material. But, the Leigh Family Papers will allow researchers to develop enhanced understanding of her family and kin networks, gendered relationships, literature, and English sociability.
    Box 2: Album. The 19th century volume is titled in gild on the spine, "Original Family Papers &c. Vol. 1. MSS." Letters and other material purchased by the Library Collectors’ Council have been removed from the volume by the Huntington Library Conservation Department. An unknown number of letters were removed from the volume prior to the Huntington Library purchase.
    The entire collection has been digitized. Please visit the Huntington Digital Library  to view the material:

    Related material in the Huntington Library includes:

    • Stowe papers, 1175-1919: Brydges family papers

    Note

    Cataloger's Notes
    1. The decision was made to remove and conserve all material in the album. This work was done before the material was cataloged; but some evidence of original mountings (old glue, stubs, etc.) remain on the letters and manuscripts.
    2. A large number of the letters and manuscripts retain the autograph ink notes written by Frederick Leigh Colvile, 1819-1886 (FLC); these notes were not noted on the folder or in the Finding Aid.

    Indexing Terms

    Personal Names

    Austen, Jane, 1775-1817 -- Family -- Sources
    Austen-Leigh, James Edward, 1798-1874
    Barton, Henry, 1717 or 1718-1790
    Brydges, Henry, 1676?-1728
    Chandos, James Brydges, Baron, 1642-1714
    Colvile, Frederick Leigh, 1819-1886
    Cooper, Edward, 1770-1835
    D'Oyly, Diana Rochfort, Lady, -1803
    D’Oyly, John Hadley, Sir, 1754-1818
    Hastings, Warren, 1732-1818
    Hoskyns, Mary Leigh, Lady, 1699-1735
    Leigh, Caroline Brydges, Lady, 1730-1804
    Leigh, Charles, 1700-1766
    Leigh, Edward, 1708-1737
    Leigh, Elizabeth Craven, approximately 1651-1687
    Leigh, Elizabeth, 1735-1816
    Leigh (Family : Adlestrop, England) -- Archives
    Leigh, James Henry, 1765-1823
    Leigh, James, 1724-1774
    Leigh, Joanna Pury, 1625?-1689
    Leigh, Julia Twisleton, 1771-1843
    Leigh, Mary Lord, approximately1695-1756
    Leigh, Mary Leigh, 1731-1797
    Leigh, Mary, 1728-1768
    Leigh, Theophilus, approximately 1643-1725
    Leigh, Theophilus, 1693-1785
    Leigh, Thomas, 1734-1813
    Leigh, Tryphena, 1678-1744
    Leigh, William, 1691-1757
    Leigh of Stoneleigh, Edward Leigh, Baron, 1742-1786
    Leigh of Stoneleigh, Thomas Leigh, Baron, 1713-1749
    Parr, Samuel, 1744-1825
    Rowe, Elizabeth Singer, 1674-1737
    Trapp, Joseph, 1679-1747
    Turner, Edward, Sir, 1719-1766
    Warburton, William, 1698-1779
    Willes, John, Sir, 1685-1761
    Wentworth, Thomas, 1693?-1747
    Wight, Cassandra Leigh, 1695-1778

    Subjects

    Childbirth -- Great Britain -- History -- 17th century
    Childbirth -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century
    Earthquakes -- Great Britain -- 18th century
    Families -- Great Britain -- History -- 17th century
    Families -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century
    Families -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century
    Smallpox -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century

    Geographic Areas

    Bath (England) -- History -- 17th century
    Bath (England) -- History -- 18th century
    England -- Social life and customs -- 17th century
    England -- Social life and customs -- 18th century
    England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century

    Genre

    Drawings -- Great Britain -- 18th century
    Letters (correspondence) -- Great Britain -- 17th century
    Letters (correspondence) -- Great Britain -- 18th century
    Letters (correspondence) -- Great Britain -- 19th century
    Manuscripts -- Great Britain -- 18th century
    Manuscripts -- Great Britain -- 18th century
    Poems -- Great Britain -- 18th century
    Poems -- Great Britain -- 19th century