Collection Guide
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Harris (Frank) Collection
MS.2010.005
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
Title: Frank Harris Collection
Identifier/Call Number: MS.2010.005
Physical Description:
0.75 Linear Feet
2 boxes and other items
Date (inclusive): 1896-1928
Abstract: This finding aid describes the Clark Library's collection of material created by and related to Frank Harris, and includes
correspondence, manuscripts, news clippings, typescripts and proofs.
Physical Location: Clark Library
Language of Material:
English
.
Collection is open for research.
The Clark Library owns the property rights to its collections but does not hold the copyright to these materials and therefore
cannot grant or deny permission to use them. Researchers are responsible for determining the copyright status of any materials
they may wish to use, investigating the owner of the copyright, and obtaining permission for their intended publication or
other use. In all cases, you must cite the Clark Library as the source with the following credit line: The William Andrews
Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
[Identification of item], Frank Harris Collection, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
This finding aid gathers together material from multiple accessions.
The exact provenance of some materials is unclear. Other material described here originated in accessions MS.1982.004 and
MS.2010.005, as indicated in the container list.
Processed by Rebecca Fenning, March 2010. Revised April 2024.
Much of this material is also described in the finding aids for the Oscar Wilde and His Literary Circle Collection: Correspondence and Oscar Wilde and His Literary Circle Collection: Manuscripts and Miscellaneous Materials.
Frank Harris was born James Thomas Harris in Galway, Ireland, February 14, 1856. He emigrated alone to the United States in
1869 and after years of study and work both in America and on the European continent, he returned to London in 1882. Harris
become the editor of the London Evening News in 1883. In 1886, he left the Evening News for a post editing the Fortnightly
Review, which he would continue to do until 1894. From 1894 to 1898, he edited the Saturday Review. In his posts at these
publications, he became acquainted with many of the notable figures of fin-de-siècle London, including Oscar Wilde.
Harris struggled with financial stability often after this period, and moved a great deal, living in the south of France and
in London in the years before World War I. In 1915, he returned to New York, where he wrote a number of anti-British articles
as well as his volumes of Contemporary Portraits. He was the editor of Pearson's Magazine from 1915-1922 and got into many
clashes with American censors and others who found him and his work offensive. During this period, he also began dictating
his sprawling and sexually explicit memoirs, My Life and Loves, which was published in various forms (expurgated and not)
after 1922.
In 1923, he settled permanently in Nice with his longtime partner, Nellie O'Hara, who he married in 1927. He died in Nice
in 1931.
This finding aid describes the Clark Library's collection of material created by and related to Frank Harris, and includes
correspondence, manuscripts, news clippings, typescripts and proofs.
Materials in this collection are not all physically housed together, because of the different acquisition dates and because
of various organization schemes developed over time by the Clark. Box numbers listed below indicate the collection with which
each item is physically placed.
The collection is organized into the following series:
- Series 1. Correspondence, 1895-1928, undated
- Series 2. Manuscripts and Proofs, 1915-1925
The Clark holds a great deal of material related to Frank Harris and his professional and social circles, particularly during
the 1890's. The list below is not exhaustive, but contains links to online finding aids for the papers of Oscar Wilde and
his circle, as well as to the papers of Harris's friend and colleague in the 1880s and 1890s, John Verschoyle.
- John Stuart Verschoyle papers, MS.2007.001. (Finding aid online)
- Oscar Wilde and his Literary Circle Collection : Correspondence, MS. Wilde. (Finding aid online)
- Oscar Wilde and his Literary Circle Collection : Forgeries, MS. Wilde. (Finding aid online)
- Oscar Wilde and his Literary Circle Collection : Manuscripts and Miscellaneous Materials, MS. Wilde. (Finding aid online)
- Oscar Wilde and his Literary Circle Collection : Wildeiana, MS. Wildeiana. (Finding aid online)
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Letters -- United States -- 20th century
Editors -- 20th century
Proofs -- 20th century.
Douglas, Alfred Bruce, Lord
Holland, Vyvyan Beresford, 1886-1967