Elizabeth Jane Howard papers

The collection consists of Elizabeth Jane Howard's manuscripts, correspondence, photographs and ephemera. The manuscripts cover the entire span of her writing career and include her major novels, as well as articles, essays, plays, short stories, book reviews, and interviews. In some cases there are multiple drafts of a work, enabling a researcher to trace Howard's creative process. The correspondence includes personal letters and letters related to Howard's work. The collection holds over 800 photographs and seven boxes of printed ephemera.

Notable people in the collection include, among others: Robert Aickman, Kingsley Amis, Martin Amis, Jill Balcon, John Betjeman, Cyril Connolly, Cecil Day Lewis, Daniel Day-Lewis, Louis De Bernières, Robert Fitzroy Foster, Selina Hastings, Laurie Lee, Robert Newton Linscott, Hilary Mantel, John Julius Norwich, Peter Scott, Stephen Spender, Elizabeth Taylor (novelist), and Leonard Woolf.

Scope and Content Note -- Part I

The papers in Part I consist of the following series:

1. Manuscripts (Boxes 1-21), are arranged alphabetically by author and title. The manuscripts cover a wide span of Elizabeth Jane Howard's literary career, with examples of some of her earliest writing and of articles written as recently as the early 1990s. In some cases there are both manuscript and typewritten versions, as well as initial notes, for a play or novel, which enables a researcher to trace the creative process of writing a work through several stages.

Included in this series are: articles, essays, interviews, short stories, plays, book reviews, and novels (in both manuscript and typewritten versions) written by Elizabeth Jane Howard. The series also includes manuscripts by other authors, most notably, Kingsley Amis and Cecil Day Lewis.

2. Correspondence (Boxes 22-57), are arranged alphabetically by author. This series includes personal letters and letters related to Elizabeth Jane Howard's writing. Many of the personal letters were written during the Second World War and discuss life in England during the war. A large number of business letters pertain to the Cheltenham Literary Festival and details relating to the running of the Festival; notable authors in this group of letters are Kingsley Amis, Robert Frost, Agatha Christie, Cecil Day Lewis, John Betjeman, Laurie Lee, Rosamond Lehmann, Iris Murdoch, J.B. Priestley, Siegfried Sassoon, Stephen Spender, Angus Wilson, and Leonard Woolf.

Another group of letters are replies to an appeal by Elizabeth Jane Howard to notable British artists, for financial support for Cecil Day Lewis, during his final illness. These letters are subject indexed under the C.D.L. Fund. There is also a large group of letters that were written in response to an article which Elizabeth Jane Howard wrote upon the death of Cecil Day Lewis in 1972, including one letter written by Rosamond Lehmann (EJH 1203), who is highly critical of the article and Elizabeth Jane Howard's memories of the past and Cecil Day Lewis.

3. Oversize Manuscripts and Correspondence (Boxes 58-60), are arranged alphabetically by author. These items were removed from boxes 1-57 so the call numbers are not consecutive. Place holder cards were left in Boxes 1-57 to indicate when an item was removed to an oversize box.

4. Ephemera (Boxes 61-63, Extra Oversize Boxes 64-65), are arranged alphabetically by author and title. The ephemera consists mainly of printed copies of newspaper and magazine articles written by Elizabeth Jane Howard or written about her life and work. There are also several publications dealing with the fortieth anniversary of the Second World War. The Extra Oversize ephemera consists mainly of printed first proofs for articles and book reviews by Elizabeth Jane Howard, many with autograph corrections.

Scope and Content Note -- Material Previously Restricted

The papers consist of the following series:

1. Manuscripts and Correspondence (Boxes 66-73), arranged alphabetically by author and title. Includes poems by Kingsley Amis and Cecil Day Lewis; the correspondence includes, among others, letters by Kingsley Amis, Cyril Connolly, Cecil Day Lewis, Elizabeth Jane Howard, and Peter Scott. Note: Elspeth Huxley borrowed the Elizabeth Jane Howard and Peter Scott correspondence for a biography on Peter Scott; her autograph notations (mainly dates) appear throughout the letters and envelopes.

2. Oversize Manuscripts and Correspondence (Box 74), arranged alphabetically by author and title; these items were removed from boxes 66-73.

Scope and Content Note -- Part II

The papers in Part II consist of the following series:

1. Manuscripts (Boxes 75-83), are arranged alphabetically by author and title. The manuscripts include typescripts for the third and fourth books of the Cazalet Chronicle, Confusion (1993) and Casting Off (1995), as well as the typescript for Ms. Howard's novel, Falling (1999); also included in this series are research notes for all three novels.

2. Correspondence (Boxes 84-94), are arranged alphabetically by author. This series includes personal letters, as well as business letters. Many of the letters are from family, friends, and fans congratulating Elizabeth Jane Howard on the publication of various books and discussing their reactions to the books. A significant number of letters, written in May/June 2000, are congratulating Howard upon being awarded the Commander Order of the British Empire (C.B.E.).

There are several interesting letters pertaining to Elizabeth Jane Howard's writing in this series. In a letter from Howard to Robert Aickman (EJH 2762), she critiques his writing as well as her own; pointing out they both share and suffer from "a disinclination to attach ourselves to contemporary life" in their writing. There is also a letter from the British writer, Hilary Mantel, to Elizabeth Jane Howard (EJH 2871), describing, in detail, what is good about Howard's writing and why its "luminous quality" has "haunted" her own writing. A third letter, from the actor Paul Scofield to Howard (EJH 2988), explains why he is turning down her offer to play the character of "the Brig" in the television adaptation of the Cazalet Chronicle even though he admires the books and her writing.

3. Ephemera (Box 94), is arranged alphabetically by author and title. The ephemera consists mainly of printed copies of newspaper and magazine articles about Elizabeth Jane Howard, Kingsley Amis, and Howard's novels. There is also an interesting printed biographical booklet (ca. 1972) which includes photographs of Howard, her family, and Amis, published for publicity purposes at the time of Odd Girl Out (folder 54).

Scope and Content Note -- Part III

The papers in Part III consist of the following series:

1. Manuscripts (Boxes 95-104), are arranged alphabetically by author and title. The manuscripts include previously unpublished poems by Kingsley Amis and Cecil Day Lewis, and an early draft of Maureen Duffy's novel Alchemy. This series also includes drafts of Elizabeth Jane Howard's novel, Love All, and her memoir, Slipstream, as well as various articles, essays, and poems.

2. Correspondence (Boxes 105-124), is arranged alphabetically by author. This series includes mainly personal letters from family and friends. There are a number of early letters, one from Peter Scott to Elizabeth Jane Howard, written during the war in October 1941, a series of letters, written 1948-1954, from Howard to Anthea and James Sutherland, and letters from John Betjeman and Cecil Day Lewis.

The majority of the personal letters were written from 1999 to 2009, and many contain congratulations upon the publication of Howard's memoir and the televising of The Cazalet Chronicle and Falling on British and American television. This series includes letters by Maeve Binchy, Louis De Bernières, Selina Hastings, Elspeth Huxley, Verity Lambert, Penelope Lively, Joanna Lumley, Hilary Mantel, John Julius Norwich, and Kristin Scott Thomas.

3. Ephemera (Box 124), is arranged by subject. This material includes printed copies of essays and articles by Elizabeth Jane Howard, artwork, commemorative booklets, menus and invitations. Also included, is a folder of printed material from Howard's investiture in 2000.

Scope and Content Note -- Part IV

The papers in Part IV consist of the following series:

1. Manuscripts (Boxes 125-138), are arranged alphabetically by author and title. The manuscripts include the novel All Change, the fifth and final volume of the Cazalet Chronicle, radio scripts for "The Cazalets," Percy, an unpublished novel, a revised edition of her memoir Slipstream and various articles, essays, poems and reviews. The series also includes manuscripts by, among others, Andrew Davies, Cecil Day Lewis, Selina Hastings and Hilary Mantel.

2. Correspondence (Boxes 139-156), is arranged alphabetically by author. This series includes personal letters, including a group of letters from Elizabeth Jane Howard to Roland Anthony Oliver written during the Second World War, and letters related to Howard's writing. A large group of letters pertain to Howard's involvement with the charity, Bulgarian Orphans Fund Ltd. Other notable authors in this series are Robert Aickman, Kingsley Amis, Julian Barnes, Sybille Bedford, Julian Lennox Berkeley, Louis De Bernières, Anton Felton, Robert Fitzroy Foster, Selina Hastings, Laurie Lee, Nick McDowell, Hilary Mantel and Kristin Scott Thomas.

3. Photographs (Boxes 157-159), are arranged chronologically (ca. 1925-2013). The photographs cover almost all of Howard's life, her career and her marriage to Kingsley Amis; notable photographers are Antony Armstrong-Jones (Earl of Snowdon) and Cecil Beaton. This series also includes family photos, as well as photos of Peter Scott, Robert Aickman, Jill Balcon, Cecil Day Lewis, Charlie Chaplin, Laurie Lee, Robert and Anthea Sutherland.

4. Volumes (Box 160), are arranged chronologically. The volumes include Elizabeth Jane Howard's 1942 wedding album with 17 B&W photographs, Visitor Books for Lemmons and Bridge House, and Howard's bound Reading List covering the years 2001-2013.

5. Literary Agent and Publishing Correspondence (Box 161), arranged alphabetically by name. This series includes business correspondence, contracts and printed material for Jonathan Clowes Ltd., and various publishers including, among others, BBC, Daily Express, Macmillan London/Pan Macmillan, Oxford University Press, The Times, Viking Press/Viking Penguin and Virago Press.

6. Computer Printed Manuscripts by Howard and Others; Bulgarian Orphans Fund Material (Boxes 162-166), arranged alphabetically by author and title. This material includes manuscripts produced on the computer and include Howard's novels All Change and "Percy," her memoir Slipstream and her gardening articles for Woman's Journal, as well as printed manuscripts, a dissertation, and a thesis by other authors. This series also includes correspondence and material related to the Bulgarian Orphans Fund Ltd., fund-raising luncheons.

7. Ephemera (Boxes 167-170), is arranged by author and title. This series includes printed articles by Elizabeth Jane Howard; also printed articles and interviews about Howard and her works. This series also includes printed material about, among others, Kingsley Amis, Sybille Bedford, Inland Waterways Association, Pat Kavanagh and Wayland Kennet. Box 169 contains audio cassettes, a VHS cassette, CDs, DVDs and thumb drives and Box 170 contains passports and daily diaries.