Manuscripts

Clippings related to war damage of monuments and town planning

Description: 6 clippings including letter to The Times of February 26, 1941, establishing Council of National Buildings Record and subsequent articles recording losses through bombing and war damage and later legislation on the Town and Country Planning Bill.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Date: 1941-1945
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.

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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"The Denmam Monument at Egham" by Katharine A. Esdaile

Manuscripts

Consists of full October 18, 1946 issue of Country Life.

mssEsdaile

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Westminster Abbey Monuments

Manuscripts

Consists of: Introduction (to book/pamphlet on Abbey), together with letter on The Guardian letterhead advocating an article on the Abbey to commemorate an exhibition of Abbey sculpture. "Monuments in Westminster Abbey ... prepared by Mrs. Arundell Esdaile" (Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings) (2 typescript versions; one is annotated and missing front page) "Re: Westminster Abbey Mons" (manuscript fragment, with additional fragments related to monuments) 1931 letter to Editor of The Times by Katharine Esdaile on Abbey monuments and subsequent correspondence. 1940-41 Correspondence from Lord Esher and another correspondent to Katharine Esdaile about problems of preservation during World War II bombings

mssEsdaile

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Sussex: "The Monuments of Sussex" (manuscript, incomplete), "Sussex Monuments" (manuscript), and an alphabetical list of towns and their monuments (manuscript)

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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Articles

Manuscripts

Pages of editorials and articles from The Architect, including unattributed articles probably by Esdaile. Articles consist of: "Houses and Their Contents" (Editorial) (February 16, 1923) "Cibber's Fountain in Soho Square" (Editorial) (March 9, 1923) "Blame The Architect" (Editorial) (March 16, 1923) "The Exhibition of British Primitives at Burlington House" (Article) (October 19, 1923) "The Country Churchyard" (Editorial) (October 26, 1923) "A Greek Bas-Relief" (Article) (November 16, 1923) "The Sepulchral Use of Brick" (Article) (November 30, 1923)

mssEsdaile

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Roubiliac, Louis Francois (monuments) (61 images and 1 clipping)

Manuscripts

mssEsdaile

Clippings related to war damage of monuments and town planning

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Documents of restoration and preservation organizations

"The Denmam Monument at Egham" by Katharine A. Esdaile

Westminster Abbey Monuments

Sussex: "The Monuments of Sussex" (manuscript, incomplete), "Sussex Monuments" (manuscript), and an alphabetical list of towns and their monuments (manuscript)

Articles

Roubiliac, Louis Francois (monuments) (61 images and 1 clipping)