Papers of Virginia Woolf, 1902-1956
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Mortimer Rare Book Room Smith CollegeNorthampton, MA
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Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Papers of Virginia Woolf
Creation of Papers of Virginia Woolf
Time of Creation of Papers of Virginia Woolf
Woolf, Virginia, 1882-1941
Biographical History for: Papers of Virginia Woolf
Biographical Note 188225 January: Born Adeline Virginia Stephen.18955 May: Death of mother, Julia Stephen.1899Virginia's brother, Thoby Stephen, attends Cambridge, where he meets members of the future Bloomsbury Group (Lytton Strachey, Leonard Woolf, Clive Bell).190422 February: Death of father, Leslie Stephen. Travels in Italy. Moves to Gordon Square. 14 December: Virginia's first publication, an unsigned review, appears in the Guardian.1905Travels in Spain and Portugal.1906Travels in Greece. 20 November: Death of brother, Thoby Stephen.19077 February: Marriage of Vanessa Stephen and Clive Bell. April: Moves to 29 Fitzroy Square.19084 February: Nephew Julian Bell is born.190917 February: Lytton Strachey proposes marriage to Virginia, and she accepts. The engagement is soon called off.191019 August: Nephew Claudian [Quentin] Bell is born.191210 August: Marries Leonard Woolf.1913Suicide attempt.1915March: The Voyage Out (originally entitled Melymbrosia) is published.1917Formation of Hogarth Press.1918May: Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians is published.1919July: The Woolfs buy Monk's House. 20 October: Publication of Night and Day.1921March: Publication of Monday or Tuesday.1922October: Jacob's Room published. December: Meets Vita Sackville-West.1924Moves to 52 Tavistock Square.1925April: Publication of The Common Reader. May: Publication of Mrs. Dalloway 1927May: To the Lighthouse is published.1928Awarded Femina Vie Heureuse prize. October: Publication of Orlando. At Cambridge reads two papers on which A Room of One's Own is based.1929October: Publication of A Room of One's Own.1930February: Meets Ethel Smyth.1931October: Publication of The Waves.1932January: Death of Lytton Strachey. July: Letter to a Young Poet is published.1933Flush is published by Hogarth Press.1934September: Death of Roger Fry.1937March: Publication of The Years. July: Julian Bell dies in Spanish Civil War.1938June: Publication of Three Guineas.1939August: Virginia and Leonard move to 37 Mecklenburgh Square.1940July: Publication of Roger Fry: A Biography.194126 February: Between the Acts is completed. 28 March: Commits suicide.
Scope and Contents of the Collection The Virginia Woolf Papers consist of 2.25 linear feet of material, dating from 1902 to 1956. Types of materials include correspondence, reading notes, drafts of essays and short stories, corrected page proofs of novels and collected essays, printed ephemera, and photographs. The bulk of the collection was assembled by Frances Hooper (1892-1986) and bequeathed to Smith College in 1986. A few additional manuscripts have been added through purchase and gift. The papers are arranged in six series.
Bloomsbury group.
lcsh
Novelists, English--20th century--Biography--Sources.
Women novelists, English--20th century--Biography--Sources.
Woolf, Virginia, 1882-1941.
lcnaf
Bell, Quentin.
Davidson, Angus.
Mansfield, Katherine, 1888-1923.
Strachey, Lytton, 1880-1932.
Walpole, Hugh, Sir, 1884-1941.
Sackville-West, V. (Victoria), 1892-1962.
Woolf, Leonard, 1880-1969.
Woolf, Virginia, 1882-1941 Common reader.
Woolf, Virginia, 1882-1941 Orlando.
Woolf, Virginia, 1882-1941 To the lighthouse.
Hogarth Press.
series
Series I. Correspondence of Virginia Woolf and Lytton Strachey
This series includes 101 letters from Woolf, with an additional postcard addressed to Duncan Grant, and 39 letters from Strachey. Enclosures include a poem by Strachey (Box 1, folder 61) and a letter from Richard Aldington to Woolf (Box 2, folder 123). A few letters are also written by Leonard Woolf (Box 1, folders 45, 77, 78). The correspondence is accompanied by an autograph manuscript preface by James Strachey for the 1956 Hogarth Press edition of Letters: Virginia Woolf & Lytton Strachey (Box 1, folder 2). Of the 32 letters from Woolf not published in this edition, most are invitations written on halfpenny and penny postcards. One is illustrated with an anti-war graphic (Box 2, folder 137). Picture postcards in the collection depict Alfoxton House, Holford (Box 1, folder 46) and other landscapes in England and Europe. A portrait of George Eliot, with a caption by Virginia Woolf, illustrates a 14 May 1931 card to Strachey (Box 2, folder 143). The correspondence begins in 1906 after Virginia's elder brother, Thoby Stephen, died of typhoid fever. The correspondence ends in 1931 when Strachey died from stomach cancer. In addition to family and friends, Woolf and Strachey discuss literature and their travels. They mention Ralph Partridge, Dora Carrington, Lady Ottoline Morrell, Henry James, Katherine Mansfield, Duncan Grant, and Vanessa and Clive Bell.
Series II. Letters by Virginia Woolf
This series includes 36 letters written by Virginia Woolf about her novels and essays to editors, publishers, booksellers, private readers, and famous writers, such as Enid Bagnold, Katherine Mansfield, and Hugh Walpole. Woolf also writes to her nephew, Quentin Bell, and to a few friends, such as Vita Sackville-West, about illness, furniture, clothes, and the dangers of traveling by automobile and airplane. A series of letters to Angus Davidson, an employee of the Hogarth Press, describe Woolf's travels in Cornwall, Greece, and Italy via Holland and Germany. There are also ten letters to Robert and Mela Spira, who were Austrian refugees during World War II (Box 2, folder 164). Woolf wrote an affidavit for Robert Spira who was interned on the Isle of Man. A 1931 letter to the book dealer, Mr. Wilson, asks for a complete set of Macaulay's works. Woolf also writes to a bibliographer of Leslie Stephen about her father's work (Box 2, folder 167).
Series III. Manuscripts by Virginia Woolf
Boxes 3-5 hold series III., Manuscripts by Virginia Woolf, which is arranged alphabetically by title.
Series IV. Hogarth Press Ephemera
Box 5 holds series IV., Hogarth Press Ephemera, which is arranged chronologically by item number from A Checklist of the Hogarth Press by J. Howard Woolmer
Series V. Manuscripts by Others, 1904-1926
This series includes a letter from Anne Thackeray Ritchie to Mr. Darwin (probably one of the sons of Charles Darwin). Ritchie's letter discusses the declining health of Leslie Stephen, who died in 1904. In addition, the series contains a holograph draft by Arnold Bennett, "Books and Persons," which is a review of The Common Reader, Mrs. Dalloway, and Jacob's Room. The review appeared in the Evening Standard on 2 December 1926 under the title "Another Criticism of the New School." The other manuscripts in this series are letters written by Richard Aldington, James Strachey, Lytton Strachey, and Leonard Woolf which are housed in Series I.
Series VI. Photographs, 1902-1927
The only original work in this series is the 1923 framed photograph of Virginia Woolf at Garsington (box 7, folder 204). The other two photographs are modern reprints.
Notes about the correspondence: holograph by James Strachey, 1952
Preface to Virginia Woolf & Lytton Strachey Letters: holograph by James Strachey, [1956]
Woolf to Strachey, [1906 Nov 22]
Woolf to Strachey, [1908 Apr 22]
Strachey to Woolf, 1908 Apr 23
Woolf to Strachey, [1908 Apr 28]
Woolf to Strachey, [1908 May 18]
Woolf to Strachey, [1908 Jul 28]
Strachey to Woolf, 1908 Aug 24
Woolf to Strachey, [1908 Aug 30]
Strachey to Woolf, 1908 Sep 27
Woolf to Strachey, [1908 Oct 4]
Woolf to Strachey, [1908 Oct 14]
Woolf to Strachey, [1908 Nov 11]
Strachey to Woolf, 1908 Nov 17
Woolf to Strachey, [1908] Nov 20
Woolf to Strachey, [1908 Nov 23]
Woolf to Strachey, [1908 Dec 1]
Woolf to Strachey, [1908 Dec 7]
Woolf to Strachey, [1908 Dec 19]
Woolf to Strachey, [1908 Dec 25]
Strachey to Woolf, 1909 Jan 3
Woolf to Strachey, [1909 Jan 4]
Woolf to Strachey, [1909 Jan 26]
Strachey to Woolf, 1909 Jan 27
Woolf to Strachey, [1909 Jan 28]
Strachey to Woolf, 1909 Jan 31
Woolf to Strachey, [1909] Feb 1
Woolf to Strachey, [1909 Feb 9]
Woolf to Strachey, [1909 Feb 16]
Strachey to Woolf, 1909 Feb 17
Strachey to James Strachey, 1909 Mar 9
Woolf to Strachey, [1909] Jun 4
Woolf to Strachey, [1909 Jun 25]
Woolf to Strachey, [1909 Oct 6]
Strachey to Woolf, 1909 Oct 13
Strachey to Woolf, [1909] Nov 26
Woolf to Strachey, [1910 Jan 21]
Woolf to Strachey, [1910 Nov]
Woolf to Strachey, [1911 Nov 6]
Woolf to Strachey, [1911 Nov 20]
Woolf to Strachey, [1912 Feb 13]
Woolf to Strachey, [1912 Feb 16]
Woolf to Strachey, [1912] May 21
Woolf to Strachey, 1912 Jun 6
Woolf to Strachey, [1912 Aug 16]
Woolf to Strachey, 1912 Sep 1
Strachey to Woolf, 1912 Nov 8
Woolf to Strachey, [1912] Nov 16
Strachey to Woolf, 1912 Dec 1
Woolf to Strachey, [1912] Dec 26
Woolf to Strachey, [1914 Jan 17]
Woolf to Strachey, [1914] Jan 29
Woolf to Strachey, [1914] Feb 7
Woolf to Strachey, [1914 Dec 8]
Woolf to Strachey, [1915 Jan]
Strachey to Woolf, 1915 Feb 28
Woolf to Strachey, [1915] Oct 22
Strachey to Woolf, 1916 Feb 25
Woolf to Strachey, [1916] Feb 28
Strachey to Woolf, 1916 Apr 15
With poem enclosure, typewritten, 3 leaves (3 pages)
Strachey to Woolf, 1916 Jul 17
Woolf to Strachey, [1916] Jul 25
Strachey to Woolf, 1916 Jul 28
With autograph transcription by James Strachey, 1948 Feb 24, 1 leaf (1 page)
Strachey to Woolf, 1917 Feb 21
Woolf to Strachey, [1917 May 12]
Woolf to Strachey, [1917 Jul 5]
Strachey to Woolf, 1917 Aug 13
Woolf to Strachey, [1917] Aug 14
Woolf to Strachey, [1917 Dec 6]
Strachey to Woolf, 1917 Dec 21
With autograph transcription by James Strachey, 1948 Feb 24, 2 leaves (2 pages)
Woolf to Strachey, [1917 Dec 28]
Woolf to Strachey, [1918] Mar 15
Strachey to Woolf, 1918 Mar 19
Woolf to Strachey, [1918 Mar 24]
Woolf to Strachey, [1918] Apr 23
Woolf to Strachey, 1918 May 24
Begins with TLS from Leonard Woolf
Woolf to Strachey, [1918 Jun 11]
Also from Leonard Woolf
Woolf to Strachey, [1918] Oct 12
Strachey to Woolf, 1919 Jan 29
Woolf to Strachey, [1919 Jan 30]
Woolf to Strachey, [1919 May 26]
Strachey to Woolf, 1919 May 27
Woolf to Strachey, [1919 Sep] 14
Strachey to Woolf, 1919 Sep 28
Woolf to Strachey, [1919] Oct 28
Woolf to Duncan Grant, [1919 Nov 7]
Woolf to Strachey, [1919 Nov 26]
Strachey to Woolf, 1919 Nov 27
Woolf to Strachey, [1919 Nov 30]
Woolf to Strachey, [1920] Feb 21
Strachey to Woolf, 1920 Apr 3
Woolf to Strachey, [1920 Jul 30]
Strachey to Woolf, 1921 Jan 24
Woolf to Strachey, [1921] Jan 25
Woolf to Strachey, [1921] Mar [30]
With picture postcard
Woolf to Strachey, [1921] Apr 17
Strachey to Woolf, 1921 Aug 23
Woolf to Strachey, 1921 Aug 29
Woolf to Strachey, [1922 Feb 1]
Strachey to Woolf, 1922 Feb 6
Strachey to Woolf, 1922 Feb 10
Woolf to Strachey, [1922] Feb [11]
Woolf to Strachey, [1922 Feb 23]
Strachey to Woolf, 1922 Aug 22
Woolf to Strachey, 1922 Aug 24
Strachey to Woolf, 1922 Sep 19
Strachey to Woolf, 1922 Oct 9
Woolf to Strachey, 1922 Oct 9 [?10]
Woolf to Strachey, [1923 Jun 1]
Strachey to Woolf, 1923 Jul 20
Woolf to Strachey, [1923 Jul ?21]
Woolf to Strachey, [1923 Oct 4]
Strachey to Woolf, 1923 Oct 6
Woolf to Strachey, 1924 Mar 21
Strachey to Woolf, 1924 May 1
Woolf to Strachey, [1924 May 2]
Woolf to Strachey, 1924 Nov 11
Woolf to Strachey, [1925 Jan 31]
Woolf to Strachey, [1925] Sep 8
Strachey to Woolf, 1925 Sep 11
Woolf to Strachey, [1925 Nov 25]
Woolf to Strachey, [1926] Jan 26
Woolf to Strachey, [1926 May]
Woolf to Strachey, [1926 Nov 17]
Woolf to Strachey, [?1927]
Woolf to Strachey, [1927 Mar 21]
Woolf to Strachey, [1927 Mar 28]
Woolf to Strachey, 1927 Apr 12
Woolf to Strachey, 1927 Sep 3
Strachey to Woolf, 1927 Sep 16
Woolf to Strachey, [1927 Nov 23]
Woolf to Strachey, [1928 Nov 7]
Strachey to Woolf, 1928 Dec 21
Woolf to Strachey, [1928] Dec 25
Woolf to Strachey, [1930 Jan 21]
Woolf to Strachey, [1930 Mar 25]
Woolf to Strachey, [1930 May 28]
Woolf to Strachey, [1930 May 30]
Woolf to Strachey, [1930 Jul 1]
Woolf to Strachey, [1930 Nov 17]
Woolf to Strachey, [1930 Dec 7]
Woolf to Strachey, [1931 May 14]
Woolf to Strachey, [1931] Dec 10
Woolf to Leigh Ashton, 1930 May 27
Woolf to Leigh Ashton, [1930 May 29]
Woolf to Enid Bagnold, 1928 Oct 28
Woolf to Miss Batchelder, 1934 Nov 3
Woolf to Quentin Bell, 1929 Feb 17
Woolf to Charles E. Brumwell, 1938 Jul 12
Woolf to Catherine Carswell, [1933] Aug 3
Woolf to Angus Davidson, [1926] Dec 25
Woolf to Angus Davidson, [1927 Apr]
Woolf to Angus Davidson, 1927 Apr 14
Woolf to Angus Davidson, [1927] Dec 22
Woolf to Angus Davidson, [1935] Apr 11
Woolf to Angus Davidson, 1938 May 26
Woolf to Crosby Gaige, 1928 Oct 29
Woolf to Duncan Grant
See: box 1, folder 87
Woolf to William Jackson, 1930 Apr 29
Woolf to Katherine Mansfield, [1921] Feb 13
Woolf to Robert Nichols, 1936 Sep 24
Postcard with envelope. Written on one of Leonard Woolf's printed postcards.
Woolf to Margery Olivier, [1916] Jan 13
Woolf to Margery Olivier, [1916] Jan 21
Woolf to Vita Sackville-West, [1939 Feb 26]
Purchased.
Woolf to Mela and Robert Spira, 1939 Jan 11-1940 Oct 2
(with 8 envelopes, bound)
Woolf to J. C. Squire, [1919] Nov 18
Woolf to Hugh Walpole, 1932 Mar 3
Woolf to Carlton F. Wells, 1936 Nov 19
Woolf to Mr. Wilson, 1931 Dec 8
Woolf to Unidentified, 1928 Oct 17
"As to Criticism": holograph, [1924?] Feb 4
The Common Reader. Donald C. Brace to Crosby Gaige, 1925 Jul 14
The Common Reader.
The Common Reader: page proofs, corrected, 1925.
Stamped: FIRST PROOF, R. & R. Clark, LTD., EDIINBURGH, 13-19 MAR. 1925. Corrected by Virginia Woolf for the American edition (published 14 May 1925, by Harcourt, Brace and Company, Inc.) Includes tear sheets of "Miss Ormerod" from The Dial, December 1924 77:6, 466-74. Printer's annotations throughout.
Italian: autograph manuscript notebook, 1916 Jun 7.
Begins with lesson XXXI. Includes notes, translations, and exercises in Virginia Woolf's hand from an Italian grammar. Purchased.
Letters: Virginia Woolf &Lytton Strachey
See: box 1, folders 1-144
Orlando.
Orlando: page proofs, corrected, 1928.
Inscribed by author: Corrected page proofs for Mr Gaige. Proofs stamped: FIRST PROOF, R. &R. CLARK, LTD., EDINBURGH, 9-14 JUN. 1928; THIRD PROOF, R. &R. CLARK, LTD., EDINBURGH, 18 JUL. 1928. Printer's annotation on page 257 of the third proof: July 22, 1928. Includes a later proof of pages 257-272. Corrected by Virginia Woolf for the American edition (published 2 Oct 1928 by Crosby Gaige in a limited edition; 18 Oct 1928 by Harcourt, Brace, and Company in a trade edition). Printers annotations throughout.
"The Patron and the Crocus": holograph, 1924 Feb 26-Mar 15
See also: The Common Reader, Box 3, folder 174.
Reading notes on Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence: holograph, [1931]
Reading notes on novels by Anthony Trollope, Thomas Peacock, Honore de Balzac, Leo Tolstoy, and Samuel Richardson: holograph, 1926
With Hogarth Press envelope. Includes Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, Clarissa Harlowe by Richardson, Crotchet Castle by Peacock, Eugenie Gradet by Balzac, and The Warden by Trollope.
"Reviewing," typescript, corrected, [1939]
Gift of Ann Safford Mandel, with "The Searchlight."
Roger Fry: holograph notes, [1938]
The Roger Fry Memorial Exhibition: [1935]
Address given by Virginia Woolf.
"The Searchlight": [1939]
Gift of Ann Safford Mandel.
"The Searchlight," [1941]
To the Lighthouse.
To the Lighthouse: 1927.
Stamped: FIRST PROOF, R. &R. CLARK, LTD., EDINBURGH, 1927 JAN 13-FEB 12. Includes two sets of corrected proofs for pages 273-322. Corrected by Virginia Woolf for the American edition (published 5 May 1927 by Harcourt, Brace, and Company). Printer's annotations throughout.
1917. Prospectus for Two Stories (No. 1)
See: box 1, folder 66.
1921. Advertisement for The Note-Books of Anton Tchekhov together with Reminiscences of Tchehkov by Maxim Gorky. (No. 14)
1921. Advertisement for The Note-Books of Anton Tchekhov (No. 14) and previous publications
1921. Advertisement for Stories of the East by Leonard Woolf (No. 16)
1921. Advertisement for Monday or Tuesday by Virginia Woolf (No. 17)
1924 Nov 11 Hogarth Press invoice.
See: box 2, folder 118
1927. [Lopokova, Lydia] Interpretations. (No. 128.1)
Gift of Elizabeth Power Richardson.
1929. Hogarth Press. Virginia Woolf New Uniform Edition.
Catalogue of The Voyage Out, Jacob's Room, Mrs. Dalloway, and The Common Reader. Gift of Elizabeth Power Richardson.
1930. Hogarth Press. Two New Novels.
Catalogue of Dawn on Mont Blanc by Wilfred Benson (No. 216) and Occupied Territory by Alice Ritchie (No. 233). Gift of Elizabeth Power Richardson.
1932. Hogarth Press. Autumn List.
1932. Hogarth Press. Complete Catalogue of Works in Print.
1932. Hogarth Press. The Works of Virginia Woolf.
1939. Advertisement for Hogarth Sixpenny Pamphlets (Nos. 445, 459, 443, 442).
Aldington, Richard to Virginia Woolf, 1926 Jan 23
See: box 2, folder 123.
Bennett, Arnold, "Books & Persons": holograph, [1926 Dec?]
From Hugh Walpole's library. Essay about three books by Virginia Woolf: The Common Reader, Mrs. Dalloway, and Jacob's Room.
Brace, Donald C. to Crosby Gaige, 1925 Jul 14
See: box 3, folder 171
Ritchie, Anne Thackeray to Mr. Darwin, [1904]
Bound with TLS, Laurence Gomme to Frances Hooper, 1952 Sep 2, and chronology of Anne Thackeray Ritchie. Binding stamped: Anne Ritchie's original letter about Leslie Stephen.
Strachey, James. Holograph notes and preface to Letters: Virginia Woolf &Lytton Strachey.
See: box 1, folders 1-2.
Strachey, Lytton, to James Strachey, 1909 Mar 9
See: box 1, folder 32.
Woolf, Leonard to Lytton Strachey, 1912 Jun 6
See: box 1, folder 45.
Woolf, Leonard to Lytton Strachey, 1918 May 24
See: box 1, folder 77
Woolf, Leonard to Lytton Strachey, [1918 Jun 11]
See: box 1, folder 78.
George Beresford, Virginia Stephen, 1902 (modern print).
Gift of Blanche Cooney.
Virginia Woolf at Garsington, 1923?
Bloomsbury Iconography B19.
Purchased 1988.
Virginia Woolf, circa 1927.
Gift of Esther Dunn, 1977.