Susanna Beever Letters, 1876-1913, bulk 1889-1893

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Summary

Creators:
Beever, Susanna, -1893.
Abstract:
This collection includes letters from Susanna Beever (-1893), a friend of English artist John Ruskin. The letters, which chiefly date from 1889 to 1893, are mainly about Susanna Beever's friends, good works, and garden but the letters also have several references to Ruskin.
Extent:
84 items in 2 boxes
Language:
English.

Background

Scope and content:

The papers consist of the following series:

1. Manuscripts & Correspondence (Boxes 1-2). There are only two manuscripts, which are interfiled with the correspondence. The correspondence series is mainly letters from Susanna Beever, written in the last few years of her life, to William and Rosa Tuckwell. There are also several letters to and from Albert Fleming, fellow resident of the Lake District, and friend of John Ruskin. The letters are mainly about Susanna Beever's friends, good works, and garden but the letters also have several references to John Ruskin.

2. Ephemera (Box 2) consisting of reproductions of two drawings, a poem, and the original binding from the disbound volume of Beever letters.

Biographical / historical:

Susanna Beever (1805-1893) was born November 27, 1805 in the north of England. She lived almost her entire life in the Lake District town of Coniston, in a cottage called the Thwaite. The Beever family became known for being authorities on local botany and, as well, Susanna Beever was interested in poetry, drawing, and painting; in 1870 she published:A Book of Reference to Remarkable Passages in Shakespeare. She met John Ruskin in 1873 and they became close friends, writing each other almost every day about their shared interests in nature, art and a love for animals; and in 1887, Albert Fleming edited and published a selection of these letters. They remained close friends in spite of Ruskin's health problems until Susanna Beever's death, at the age of 88, in Oct. 1893. Close friends in death as they were in life, John Ruskin and Susanna Beever are buried near each other in Coniston, Cumbria, England.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Stephen Weissman on October 21, 1994 (acquisition number 1721).
Processing information:

1. The items in this collection were originally bound together in one volume but it was decided to disbind the volume and catalog each item separately. The original binding has been retained and is stored in Ephemera Box 2(47); at the time the items were disbound page numbers were penciled onto the upper right hand corner of each item.

2. Susanna Beever was well known for the beautiful garden of her cottage, the Thwaite, and filled her letters with descriptions of flowers, plants, birds and animals that inhabited her world. The descriptions are so pervasive it was decided not to give each letter separate subject headings but rather catalog the entire collection under several appropriate subject headings. These subject headings are listed individually in this report under "Indexing: Subjects."

3. At the time these letters were written, the Thwaite, Susanna Beever's cottage, stood in the county of Lancashire but in 1974, when the county boundaries were redrawn, the cottage became part of the county of Cumbria. It was decided to catalog the letters as being from Cumbria in order to conform with current, standard cataloging procedures.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged in the following order:

  • 1. Manuscripts and Correspondence (Boxes 1-2) arranged alphabetically by author
  • 2. Ephemera (Box 2) arranged alphabetically by author and title

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
reference@huntington.org
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