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Finding Aid for the Robert Baldwin Ross Collection 1890-1918
MS Ross and MS Wilde
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Title: Robert Baldwin Ross Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1888-1951
Collection number: MS Ross and MS Wilde
Creator: Ross, Robert Baldwin 1869-1918
Extent:
4 boxes (1.5 linear feet)
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
Los Angeles, California 90095-1490
Abstract: Correspondence, court papers, and other miscellaneous documents related to Robert Baldwin Ross.
Physical location: Clark Library
Language of Material: Collection materials in English
Collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, UCLA. All requests for permission to publish
or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Clark Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf
of the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, UCLA as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
[Identification of item], Robert Baldwin Ross Collection, MS Ross, [or Oscar Wilde and his Literary Circle Collection, MS.
Wilde, as appropriate], William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
William Andrews Clark, Jr. acquired the nucleus of the Clark Library's Oscar Wilde collection from Dulau and Company, London,
in 1929. Most of the Dulau material had been in the possession of Robert B. Ross (Oscar Wilde's literary executor), Christopher
S. Millard (a.k.a. Stuart Mason, the Wilde bibliographer), and Vyvyan B. Holland (Wilde's only surviving son). Since 1929,
the Clark Library has steadily purchased important new material and in the year 2000, the collection was estimated to contain
over 65,000 items.
This finding aid was compiled by Jamie Henricks in April, 2010.
Much of this material is also described in the finding aids for the
Oscar
Wilde and His Literary Circle Collection: Correspondence
,
Oscar Wilde and his Literary Circle Collection: Wildeiana, 1858-1998, undated. , and
Oscar Wilde and his Literary Circle Collection: Manuscripts and Miscellaneous Materials, 1819-1995.
Robert Baldwin Ross was born in Tours, France in 1869. He was brought up in London, studied at Cambridge, then moved to Edinburgh
as an apprentice journalist. He met Oscar Wilde in 1886 and remained his friend while Wilde was imprisoned from 1895-1897.
Ross stayed in touch with Wilde and was present when Wilde died in November 1900. Ross was made Wilde's literary executor
and later published a 14 volume set of his collected works. After Wilde's death, he became an art gallery director and art
critic. He was involved in court cases with Lord Alfred Douglas and others between 1913 and 1915. He died in London in 1918
and asked to be cremated, his ashes placed in Oscar Wilde's tomb at the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
This finding aid describes the Clark Library's collection of material created by and related to Robert Baldwin Ross, and includes
letters, court documents, a draft of a petition to the Queen, and other miscellaneous items.
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 arranged in four series: correspondence to and from Ross, manuscripts, and miscellaneous items. Correspondence
is arranged alphabetically by recipient, then chronologically by date when available. Manuscripts are arranged alphabetically
by title. Miscellaneous items are arranged thematically.
The collection is organized into the following series:
- Series 1. Correspondence from Ross to Acquaintences, 1890-1918
- Series 2. Correspondence from Acquaintences to Ross, 1888-1914
- Series 3. Manuscripts, 1900-1913
- Series 4. Miscellaneous, 1896-1951
The Clark Library holds collections relating to or created by contemporaries of Robert Ross, including Oscar Wilde and their
circle of friends. The information in this finding aid was taken from other finding aids held by the Clark Library:
Oscar Wilde and his Literary Circle Collection: Manuscripts and Miscellaneous Materials, 1819-1995. MS. Wilde.
(Some photos of Oscar Wilde in the Wildeiana Collection were taken by Ross.)
The following terms have been used to index the description of this
collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Wilde, Oscar, 1854-1900
Letters--United
States--20th century.