Manuscripts
Notebooks of Katharine and Edmund Esdaile
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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.
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Photographs of Arundell Esdaile and Katharine Esdaile
Manuscripts
4 photographs and a contact sheet of images of Arundell Esdaile; a pencil portrait by Una Paulet, 1938; and one photograph of Katharine Esdaile at fifty-nine, dated 1940
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Katharine Esdaile papers
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business papers, family papers and photographs, research files and research notebooks, and miscellaneous published and unpublished materials.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. 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 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. Personal and Professional Papers Boxes 1-3 contain Esdaile's personal and professional papers and include autobiographical writings, business documents related to Esdaile's publications, miscellaneous family photographs and ephemera, and reports, clippings documents reflecting Esdaile's preservation activities, chiefly during World War II. Family papers Boxes 4-7 contain family papers and consist chiefly of writings and correspondence by Esdaile's son Edmund Esdaile, including his own works on art and sculpture. In addition there are some papers of Esdaile's husband Arundell Esdaile and their son Martin Esdaile, and published essays by William Esdaile, presumably Arundell's father. Correspondence Boxes 8-15 contain over 3,000 pieces of correspondence chiefly to Katharine Esdaile from fellow enthusiasts of English sculpture, friends and family, publishers, and scholars, including 275 letters from historian Rupert Gunnis. While much of the correspondence to Esdaile concerns her research, the letters also offer information about her social and family life, World War II, and the arts and her work. There are only about 50 outgoing letters from Esdaile. Writings Boxes 16-29, 85, and 92-101 contain Esdaile's published and unpublished writing, chiefly about sculpture. Boxes 25-29 contain published versions of Esdaile's writing chiefly comprised of clippings and, to a lesser extent, full issues of periodicals (such as The Architect, Burlington Magazine and Country Life) containing her articles. Notebooks of Katharine and Edmund Esdaile Boxes 31-45 contain research notebooks kept by Katharine and Edmund Esdaile chiefly to make notes on British sculptures they viewed on trips throughout England. The notebooks often contain pencil drawings and brief notes or transcriptions, and they vary in their degree of legibility. Research material: printed booklets Boxes 46-68 contain more than 600 booklets, brochures, and pamphlets chiefly consisting of church visitor guides, travel brochures, and local histories provided to tourists. Research material: photographs, slides, illustrations, etc. Boxes 69-84 contain black-and-white photographs of sculptures and churches taken or collected by Esdaile, as well as some lantern slides and two casts of Epiphanius Evesham's signature. The photographs chiefly depict sculpture in British churches, ranging from large churches like Westminster Abbey to small rural parishes. The photographs are arranged in two separate series: by sculptor or by location, though there is overlap between the two series. While many locations are depicted, there are usually only a few images per location. Research material: miscellaneous printed publications and manuscript documents Finally, boxes 85-91 contain miscellaneous printed publications and manuscript documents (not by Esdaile) collected as research material.
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From Esdaile, Edmund
Manuscripts
15 pieces consisting of 1922: letter to Katharine and Arundell Esdaile "c/o of Aunt Sophie" and postcard to Edmund Esdaile from Katharine Esdaile 1924: letters from Lancing College (School) to Katharine Esdaile; weekly letters home (October–December); and 1 letter of 19 April from St. Savior's Vicalage, London – staying with "Auntie May" and noting sculptors
mssEsdaile
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From Esdaile, Edmund
Manuscripts
19 weekly letters to Katharine Esdaile from Pembroke College, Oxford – relations with Katharine Esdaile became strained over money and lack of acknowledgement of Edmund Esdaile's contributions to research.
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Notebook #74
Manuscripts
Small notebook of Katharine Esdaile; largely pencil entries & mainly notes.
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