Blunt manuscripts

The papers of Wilfrid Scawen Blunt

Box 1-61 1. Letters to Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (1st series)

Box 62 1A. Letters to Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (2nd series)

Box 63 2. Letters to Francis Scawen Blunt

Box 64 3. Letters to and from other members of the family (not from W.S.B.)

Box 64-66 4. Letters from Wilfrid Scawen Blunt

Box 67 5. English and Irish Politics

Box 67 6. Middle East and India

Box 68 7. Crabbet Stud

Box 68,69 8. Literary

Box 69 9. Miscellaneous

When received at the Record Office the Collection was in two parts. The main portion was (and is) a series of 61 box files of in-letters to Blunt, arranged in alphabetical order of correspondents. The mammoth task of sorting and cataloguing these had been done by Mrs P. Aldridge while the documents were at Newbuildings; and her list, with some additions and alterations forms the core of the present catalogue as section 1.

The remainder consisted of nine volumes of correspondence, press cuttings, etc., and 13 box files of miscellaneous papers. These volumes and papers have now been arranged to form the remaining nine sections of the catalogue. They were found to include a substantial series of in-letters to Blunt, which have been listed as section 1A. There is likely to be some overlap with the letters in section 1, as some correspondents appear in both; and at a future date the two series ought to be merged. For the moment, however, this serves the practical purpose of making all the letters accessible, providing that enquirers check for the correspondent's name in both lists. It is also possible that there may be overlap between section 1 and section 4. The latter consists mainly of drafts and copies of Blunts out-letters, and it is likely that the former will contain similar material.

Sections five to eight cover material relating to some of Blunts major interests and activities: literature, politics, the Middle East and the Crabbet Stud. Much of his correspondence, however, is also related to these subjects: and it is therefore essential for students working in these fields to look under the names of appropriate correspondents in sections 1, 1A and 4.

The letters in sections 1A to 4 are in some cases subdivided in an apparently arbitrary way: the same correspondent may be represented by two or three small bundles which sometimes overlap in dates or subject. These subdivisions preserve the grouping of the papers as they were received, and have been retained during the sorting and listing process. No reason has emerged, however, to make it desirable to retain the subdivisions permanently, and it is intended that they will be rationalised when the final version of the catalogue is made.

<p>This collection forms one part of Blunts' papers. Another large collection was deposited, under Blunt's will, in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. The material in these two portions is closely interrelated (letters from the same correspondents, for instance, will be found in both) and students should be prepared to make use of both.</p>

deposited by the Viscount Knebworth, in December 1980.