Description
This collection consists of manuscripts, journals (scattered years between 1896-1941), journal typescripts, ephemera, and
correspondence
by English novelist Countess Elizabeth Russell (1866-1941).
There is also correspondence addressed to Countess Russell in the collection, and manuscripts by
Mathilde Blind (Love's completeness : a poem), E.M. Forster (Nassenheide), Geoffrey Kerr (A scenario), and Katherine Mansfield
(Poems).
The collection also contains many letters and manuscripts which describe life during World War I and the beginning years of
World War II in France,
England and the United States; there are also many references to Adolf Hitler, the Nazis, the treatment of the Jewish people,
and the Battle of Britain.
Background
Mary Annette Beauchamp (1866-1941), English novelist, became known to the world as
“Elizabeth” after the publication of her first novel, Elizabeth and Her
German Garden, in 1898. She was the daughter of Henry Herron Beauchamp,
a cousin of Katherine Mansfield, and the sister-in-law of Bertrand Russell. She was
a very popular writer during her lifetime and wrote some twenty works, mainly
semi-autobiographical novels, between 1897 and 1940; two of her novels have been
made into films, Mr. Skeffington and The Enchanted
April. Her friends included many writers and also select groups which
visited, first, her chalet in Switzerland and then her estate on the French Riviera;
throughout her life she traveled extensively in Europe and the United States.
Extent
1,787 pieces + ephemera in 40
boxes.
Restrictions
The literary rights for E.M. (Edward Morgan) Forster, 1879-1970, are owned by:
King’s College, Cambridge, England.
Availability
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services
Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.