Manuscripts

Notebook #86

Description: Written by Katharine Esdaile in pencil, seems to be notes of classes in civil defence taken in April/May 1939, immediately prior to the start of World War II in September 1939. Nothing on churches or places visited.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Date: 1939
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.

Notebooks of Katharine and Edmund Esdaile

Manuscripts

This series contains notebooks primarily used by Katharine Esdaile and Edmund Esdaile to document British sculptures during trips. The notebooks often contain pencil drawings and brief notes or transcriptions, and they vary in their degree of legibility. In additional, Notebook #38 contains a commonplace book kept by Katharine Esdaile in the late 1890s and Notebook #86 contains notes of classes in civil defense against mustard gas attacks, taken by Katharine Esdaile in April/May 1939. Thus far, no index has been found of the churches Katharine Esdaile visited, and there are also no lists of content in volumes written by Esdaile. Some workbooks are evidently written by Edmund Esdaile and these do have lists of contents. But how Katharine Esdaile traced relevant church entries later remains unclear. From the final volumes, she clearly was building up notes on sculptors, but how she kept records or knew where to find all the notes is also unclear. Titles and notebook numbers are chiefly based on typed labels affixed to the volumes.

mssEsdaile

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Notebook #29

Manuscripts

Begun by Arundell Esdaile, 11/4/07; dated by Katharine Esdaile 1939. Arundell Esdaile's entries mainly in pen; Katharine Esdaile in pencil. Arundell Esdaile's entries not listed below. Places visited by Katharine Esdaile: - Woodford (Oct 25, 1939), Charles I (at 41 Harley St. (under C), Goudhurst (under G), Rowenden (?) (under H), Bettersder (?), book reverses Standen, Bishops Stortford (May 26, 1932), Thersted, Saffron Walden, Aspenden. Notebook is labeled: Arundell Esdaile "Books to Read" alphabetized; used by K.A.E. for mons. by place and sculptors.

mssEsdaile

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Notebook #95

Manuscripts

(Address Book with both covers missing.) Seems to be a detailed alphabetical list of sculptors, artists, personalities, royalty, and from letter D onward, people of note who filed their wills in Canterbury, including lengthy note on Peter Esdaile's will and other Esdaile family members.

mssEsdaile

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Notebook #93

Manuscripts

Notes and record of places/churches visited by Esdaile. Notes about Roubiliac's times; quotation (in French) from "Les Protestants a' Lyon au XVII siecle"; notes on Roubiliac's work: places visited: Tarposley, Cheshire (?) Canterbury; Iver (page 23); Conway: St. Margaret's Wr (Westminster?); notes (page 41); "Curious Models"; Langley Marsh; BLANK PAGES; BOOK REVERSES.

mssEsdaile

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Notebooks Nos. 86-94

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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Notebook #24

Manuscripts

An index (incomplete) of places visited with reference points. Code not understood, but it could be a useful index to the workbooks; possibly compiled by Edmund Esdaile or another hand. Covers letters I- Z.

mssEsdaile

Notebook #86

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