Dunstan Thompson papers

The collection consists of manuscripts by Dunstan Thompson, including book reviews, diaries, essays, plays, poems, and short stories, and correspondence (both to and from Thompson), photographs, drawings and ephemera. Correspondents represented in the collection include: Harry Brown, Cyril Connolly, Paul Dehn, T.S. Eliot, Edith Sitwell, Osbert Sitwell, Stephen Spender, Philip Trower, Howard R. Turner, and Oscar Williams. Business correspondents include: William Abrahams, Margot Johnson, John Lehmann, Simon and Schuster and William Morris Agency.

The papers consist of the following series:

1. Manuscripts (Boxes 1-4) are arranged alphabetically by author and title. The manuscripts include book reviews, diaries, essays, plays, and short stories by Dunstan Thompson; his poems, both published and unpublished, are cataloged separately, beginning in Box 3. This series also includes manuscripts by other authors, most notably: Harry Brown, Paul Dehn, Coman Leavenworth, Stephen Spender, Ruthven Todd, and Philip Trower.

2. Correspondence (Boxes 5-8) is arranged alphabetically by author. This series includes personal letters, letters related to Dunstan Thompson's Catholic faith and his writing. There is a large group of letters between Thompson and his mother, Virginia Leita Thompson, beginning in 1945.

Thompson's business correspondence has been cataloged separately in Box 8; these are letters to and from literary agents, editors, publishers and literary publications, including William Abrahams, Margot Johnson, John Lehmann, Atlantic Monthly Press, David Higham Associates, Simon and Schuster, William Morris Agency, Horizon, and the New Yorker.

This series also includes letters written to Philip Trower, beginning in 1975, with the death of Dunstan Thompson, and then later, in response to Trower's request for information and remembrances of Thompson for the memoir Trower was writing.

Also included in this series are letters from notable people including Harry Brown, Cyril Connolly, Paul Dehn, T.S. Eliot, Edith Sitwell, Osbert Sitwell, Stephen Spender, Philip Trower, Howard R. Turner, and Oscar Williams.

3. Photographs & Prints (Box 9) are arranged alphabetically by subject then sub-arranged chronologically. These include family photographs, a small number of photographs of friends, as well as photographs of various homes, and locations important to Thompson. There are also photographs and negatives from his trip to the Middle East in 1946-1947, and from his trip to Rome in 1950.

4. Drawings & Prints (Box 10) are arranged alphabetically by artist. Included in this series are original pencil drawings and sketches by Dunstan Thompson, but the majority are photographs or prints of paintings and drawings, by the artists Gene Derwood, John Hurst, Alfonso Ossorio, and Philip Trower.

5. Ephemera; Addenda (Boxes 10-12) is arranged by subject, then alphabetically by author and title. This series includes personal and family material for the Thompson family, printed material related to Dunstan Thompson's writing, and articles about him and others. The addenda includes a sketch by Thompson; biographical notes about Thompson by Philip Trower; photographs related to the life and work of Thompson.