Elizabeth Mary Russell, Countess Russell Papers, 1890-1962

Collection context

Summary

Creators:
Von Arnim, Elizabeth, 1866-1941.
Abstract:
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.
Extent:
1,787 pieces + ephemera in 40 boxes.
Language:
English.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of manuscripts, journals (scattered years between 1896-1941), journal typescripts, ephemera, and correspondence by Countess Russell. 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).

1. Manuscripts (Boxes 1-3), are arranged alphabetically by author and title. The manuscripts cover a wide span of Elizabeth Russell’s writing career beginning with plays she wrote in 1905 to amuse her children and including a prose piece she wrote in 1940 about traveling with a dog. Included in this series are: articles, book reviews, essays, plays, short stories, and travel accounts. The series also includes manuscripts by other authors, most notably, Augustine Birrell, Mathilde Blind, E.M. Forster, Geoffrey Kerr, Katherine Mansfield, and Amélie Rives.

2. Journals (Boxes 4-8), are arranged chronologically. The journals cover the years 1896-1899, 1901-1902, 1904, 1910, 1912-1916, 1918-1941. The journal volumes vary in length from just a few pages to several hundred pages; also, several of the volumes are only partially filled.

3. Journal Typescripts (Boxes 9-12), are arranged chronologically. The typescripts were typed at the request of Elizabeth von Arnim Butterworth in preparation for the biography of her mother, Countess Elizabeth Russell, Elizabeth of the German Garden, which she published in 1958 (written under the pseudonym, Leslie De Charms). The typescripts provide valuable assistance in reading the journals, especially when Elizabeth Russell’s handwriting is difficult to decipher. Evidently, an original copy and at least two carbon copies were made at that time and the majority of the typescripts in the collection are carbon copies; the typescripts also contain many autograph notes made by Elizabeth von Arnim Butterworth.

4. Correspondence (Boxes 13-39), is arranged alphabetically by author. This series consists mainly of personal letters written by Elizabeth Russell, including letters to her daughters, Elizabeth von Arnim Butterworth (687 letters), Eva von Arnim-Schlagenthin (22 letters), Beatrix von Hirschberg (41 letters). This group includes letters to other family members and friends, including letters written to Marie Luise Backe (61 letters), Henry Herron Beauchamp (12 letters), Alexander Stewart Frere (237 letters), Katherine Mansfield (42 letters, copies and autograph), Maud Ritchie (87 letters), and Hugh Walpole (112 letters).

This series also includes letters written by Sir Sydney Beauchamp, Sir Max Beerbohm, Poultney Bigelow, Augustine Birrell, E.M. Forster, Rudyard Kipling, Odette Kuen, Vernon Lee (Violet Paget), Lady Constance Malleson, Katherine Mansfield, George Moore, John Middleton Murry, Bertrand Russell, John Francis Stanley Russell, 2nd Earl, George Santayana, Ethel Smyth, and H.G. Wells.

5. Ephemera (Box 40), is arranged alphabetically by title. The ephemera consists mainly of articles by and about Elizabeth Russell, articles about John Francis Stanley Russell, 2nd Earl, miscellaneous receipts, cards, and notes, and a large scrapbook of reviews of books by Elizabeth Russell (1898-1905).

Strengths of the collection:

This collection has several strong subject points for the purpose of research. Elizabeth Russell’s journals, together with her personal letters, provide an almost complete portrait of her life, including her literary triumphs, love affairs, and personal tragedies. In her journals and letters she describes the life of the leisured upper class ladies (of whom she was one) and gentlemen in the years between the world wars in England and on the Continent.

Though Elizabeth Russell was born in Australia she always considered herself thoroughly English and thus her writing provides a unique view of the many places she lived and visited, especially of Germany and the German people. 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.

The collection does have areas of weakness; there is a lack of manuscript material for Elizabeth Russell’s works, especially of material from the writing of her many published novels. We also know, from published accounts, Elizabeth Russell requested her daughter to destroy letters and material which were deemed to be of an embarrassing nature, thus an unknown amount of love letters and personal papers were burned in 1958.

Biographical / historical:

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.

She married Count Henning von Arnim-Schlagenthin in 1891 and lived for 20 years on his estate, Nassenheide, near the German/Polish border; together they had five children (four girls and one boy). After Count von Arnim-Schlagenthin’s death in 1910, Elizabeth married John Francis Stanley Russell, 2nd Earl, in 1916, but the marriage was not a success and they permanently separated in 1919; Elizabeth remained Countess Russell until her death in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1941.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Mrs. Corwin Butterworth (Elizabeth von Arnim Butterworth), May 8, 1967.
Processing information:

1. The collection was acquired in 1967, at that time it was decided to semi-catalog the collection and a three page Summary Report was produced for the Mary Annette (Beauchamp) Russell, Countess Russell, Collection. In 2002, because of the high volume of use the collection receives, it was decided to re-catalog the collection in a single item cataloging format; also, in order to better comply with current cataloging conventions the collection was renamed the Elizabeth Mary Russell, Countess Russell, Papers (1890-1962). A list containing the former box contents from the original Summary Report is reproduced in the Appendix of this Finding Aid.

2. At the time the collection was acquired the majority of the letters and manuscripts were taped into the Journal Typescripts; when the collection was originally semi-cataloged many letters and some manuscripts were removed from the typescripts by the Huntington Conservation Department. During the re-cataloging process it was decided to remove all letters and manuscripts from the Journal Typescripts and catalog those in Manuscripts and Correspondence.

Arrangement:

Organized in the following manner:

  • 1. Manuscripts (Boxes 1-3)
  • 2. Journals (Boxes 4-8)
  • 3. Journal Typescripts (Boxes 9-12)
  • 4. Correspondence (Boxes 13-39)
  • 5. Ephemera (Box 40)

Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191