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The 19th century : a history

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    III. 19th century manuscript catalog

    Manuscripts

    This collection consists of two parts: the records of the Benedictine abbey of St. Martin at Battle, Sussex, dating before 1538, and the papers from 1538 onward, chiefly of the Browne family (1538-1721), Viscounts Montague, who purchased the Battle Abbey properties following the monastery's dissolution, and then the Webster family (1721-1857). The collection is particularly rich in monastic and estate accounts, court records, and deeds for lands possessed by Battle Abbey in Sussex, Berkshire, Essex, Surrey, and Kent. The records prior to 1538 consist of a complete monastic archive, the product of one integrated religious institution. Document types include obedientiary and estate and manorial accounts; court rolls and other court records; deeds and charters; rentals and surveys, with related papers; and miscellaneous papers. The papers created after the dissolution of the monastery consist of two major sub-collections, corresponding to Browne and Webster family papers, as well as of Cheke, Jorden, and Whistler. The bulk of this post-Dissolution material pertain to the Webster family, and deals with legal, financial, and estate matters; there is little correspondence.

    mssBA

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    Portraits (through early 19th century)

    Manuscripts

    This collection contains research files of English art historian R. B. Beckett, chiefly consisting of study photographs and clippings collected from the late 1940s to early 1960s documenting the works of John Constable and other English artists including William Blake, Thomas Gainsborough, Thomas Rowlandson, J. M. W. Turner, and Richard Wilson. In addition there are also images and clippings related to English portraiture, as well as sporting and comic images. The artist research files contain study art photographs and clippings, with some occasional correspondence and notes and manuscripts by Beckett. Six artists (Blake, Constable, Gainsborough, Rowlandson, Turner, and Wilson) are distinguished as their own subseries, and their files typically contain study photographs, article clippings, some scattered manuscripts and correspondence, and exhibition catalogues. The largest of these are the John Constable files (Boxes 3-9), which includes seven boxes of study images. Other art images in the collection are arranged either in the "Artists (various)" subseries (Box 13) or in the "Portrait artists" subseries (Boxes 14-15). While some of the images are professional photographs acquired from museums, most of the images are clippings from British magazines such as The Connoisseur and Burlington. Most of the images are not annotated or only contain brief handwritten identifications typically of the artist, painting title, date, dimensions, etc. Overall there are very few manuscripts by Beckett in the collection. Exceptions consist of a sketchbook from the late 1920s containing pencil sketches of landscapes by Beckett and a few documents. The correspondence is chiefly from galleries, museums, and publishers related to Beckett's research and publications.

    mssBeckett