Manuscripts

Georgian Group: miscellaneous papers

Description: Includes meeting minutes related to a survey of Georgian London, ca. 1938, and a July 1948 meeting; two early 1940s newspaper clippings; and a manuscript list of published reviews through June 1957.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Date: Approximately 1938-1957
Call number: mssEsdaile
Creator: Esdaile, Katharine Ada (1881-1950)(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Purchased by the Huntington Library in 1962. The collection was initially accessioned into the Huntington Art Reference Library in 1962. Sometime afterwards, the printed books and pamphlets were removed, separately catalogued, and shelved with the main body of the Art Reference Books, and the photographs were removed to the Photo Study Collection. In 2005, the Art Reference Library collection was merged into the main collection of the Huntington Library and the decision was made to re-integrate the printed material and photographs of the Esdaile collection into the papers.

The Georgian Group: annual reports

Manuscripts

This collection contains the papers of English art historian Katharine Ada Esdaile (1881-1950), with the bulk of the materials relating to her research and writings on British monumental sculpture, sculptors, and church monuments from the medieval period to 19th century. Material types include personal writings, diaries, correspondence, business papers, family papers and photographs, research files and research notebooks, and miscellaneous published and unpublished materials. Notably the collection includes more than 600 chiefly pre-World War II visitor booklets and pamphlets produced locally by British churches and approximately 3500 photographs taken or collected by Esdaile of sculpture, often funerary monuments in English churches, ranging from large churches like Westminster Abbey to small rural parishes. This collection provides a resource for viewpoints on monumental sculpture in the early 20th century (for instance as represented in book reviews by Esdaile) and for information about Esdaile's experience as a woman art historian in the early 20th century. Given the broadness of Esdaile's scope, from medieval to 19th century British monumental sculpture, the collection is less useful for specific information about monuments or sculptors. In addition, many of Esdaile's attributions in her notes appear to have been based primarily on her own instincts and do not have citations. Many of Esdaile's notes are handwritten on small scraps of paper or are fragments, sometimes making the information difficult to parse. The collection is chiefly Esdaile's files, but the dates on some items (such as post-1950 booklets) indicate the collection was added to and used after her death, presumably by her son Edmund Esdaile, who also made notes on items in the collection and appears to have done the preliminary organization of the papers after Esdaile's death.

mssEsdaile

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Georgian Group: leaflets 1-4

Manuscripts

Leaflets from 1945, with 1947 subscription renewal notice and 1951 clipping.

mssEsdaile

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Documents of restoration and preservation organizations

Manuscripts

Notes and agendas, with manuscript listing of London churches and extent of wartime damage of committees including the London Diocesan Advisory Committee, the Georgian Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings, and the War Memorials Advisory Council. Also includes two copies of a speech about the "Town and Country Planning Bill" by E.H. Keeling in the House of Commons, July 11, 1944.

mssEsdaile

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Miscellaneous articles and pages

Manuscripts

Clippings of unattributed reviews and articles from The Saturday Review, some with annotations, that may have been written or simply collected by Esdaile consisting of: pp. 9-10 (January 3, 1920); pp. 101-104 (January 31, 1920); pp. 135-136 (February 7, 1920); pp. 205-206 (February 28, 1920); pp. 245-248 (March 13, 1920); pp. 281-282 (March 20, 1920); pp. 323-326 (April 3, 1920); pp. 435-436 (May 8, 1920); pp. 447-450 (May 15, 1920); pp. 493-494 (May 29, 1920); pp. 29-32 (July 10, 1920); pp. 75-76 (July 24, 1920); pp. 95-98 (July 31, 1920); pp. 275-276 (October 2, 1920); pp. 5-6 (January 1, 1921); pp. 25-26 (January 8, 1921); pp. 73-74 (January 22, 1921); pp. 109-110 (February 5, 1921); pp. 297-298 (April 9, 1921); pp. 361-362 (April 30, 1921); pp. 417-418 (May 21, 1921); pp. 517-520 (June 25, 1921); pp. 137-140 (July 30, 1921).

mssEsdaile

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Miscellaneous articles and pages

Manuscripts

Clippings of unattributed reviews and articles from The Saturday Review, some with annotations, that may have been written or simply collected by Esdaile consisting of: pp. 29-32 (January 11, 1919); pp. 151-152 and pp. 159-160 (February 15, 1919); pp. 221-224 (March 8, 1919); pp. 521-524 (May 31, 1919); pp. 599-600 (June 21, 1919); pp. 5-8 (July 5, 1919); pp. 67-68 (July 19, 1919); pp. 77-78 (July 26, 1919); pp. 105-106 (August 2, 1919); pp. 133-134 (August 9, 1919); pp. 263-264 (September 20, 1919); pp. 291-292 (September 27, 1919); pp. 309-310 (October 4, 1919); pp. 341-344 (October 11, 1919); pp. 359-360 (October 18, 1919); pp. 383-384 (October 25, 1919); pp. 457-460 (November 15, 1919); pp. 489-492 (November 22, 1919); pp. 557-560 (December 13, 1919); pp. 607-608 (December 27, 1919).

mssEsdaile

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Articles

Manuscripts

Pages of editorials and articles from The Architect, including unattributed articles probably by Esdaile. Includes the entire issue for July 1, 1921. Articles consist of: "Old Montagu House" (Editorial) (January 28, 1921) "How Not to Decorate" (Editorial) (May 13, 1921) "No. 20 St. James's Square" (Article) (June 24, 1921) "Studies of the English Sculptors from Pierce to Chantrey: I. Introductory" (Article) (July 1, 1921, full issue) "Royal Archaeological Institute – II. Summer Meeting at Gloucester" (Article) (August 26, 1921)

mssEsdaile

Georgian Group: miscellaneous papers

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The Georgian Group: annual reports

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