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COLLECTION Identifier: MS Eng 1293

Osbert Sitwell correspondence and compositions

Overview

Contains correspondence of English authors Osbert and Edith Sitwell from friends in their literary, artistic, and social world as well as compositions by them.

Dates

  • Creation: 1950-1967

Language of Materials

Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.

Extent

1 linear feet (2 boxes)

Contains letters written to Osbert Sitwell, his sister Edith, and to other Sitwell family members. Letters mention Edith's poetry anthology book, a disrespectful article about Edith in the journal Isis, questions and thoughts about the poetry collection The Creative Encounter, and a description of the Quaker College Haverford in Pennsylvania. Also contains many letters from Baroness Christabel Aberconway to Edith concerning travels in Russia and Paris, meeting with Ambassadors in London, and a trip on the ship S.S. United States. Osbert received letters from Lorna Andrade who was managing business while he was away in Florence and also wrote him about current art shows. Letters also express sympathy for the death of Edith, life in New York city, and the Vietnam war. There is also a letter recommending Osbert for Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Also include two letters from Gore Vidal concerning the death of Edith, letters from Osbert's brother Sacheverell, and a letter from James Whittaker asking for a letter on his behalf for knighthood.

Biographical / Historical

Sitwell was an English author.

Arrangement

Organized into the following series:

  1. I. Letters to Edith Sitwell
  2. II. Letters to Sir Osbert Sitwell
  3. III. Other letters
  4. IV. Compositions

Physical Location

b

Immediate Source of Acquisition

72M-46. Gift of Mr. Frederick R. Koch, 101 West 12th. Street New York, New York 10011; received: 1973 March 29.

Title
Sitwell, Osbert, 1892-1969. Osbert Sitwell correspondence and compositions, 1950-1967: Guide.
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou00771

Repository Details

Part of the Houghton Library Repository

Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.

Contact:
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Harvard University
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