Subject strengths: General

Collection Profile:
The Manuscript Album contains letters, including some by people of local significance like Thomas Bewick, Richard Grainger, George Stephenson, George Otto Trevelyan, Robert Spence Watson and Joseph Swan and others written by such household names as A.E. Houseman, Horatio Nelson, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, William Wilberforce, Michael Faraday, William Ewart Gladstone, Thomas Carlyle, Walter Besant, Mary Shelley, Charles Babington, Garibaldi, Victor Hugo, Ellen Terry and Robert Southey.

Other letters include a request for an address to facilitate the delivery of a bear skin from David Walton (1859), an account of the pranks of the 'Borrowlow Bogle' from J. Arkle (1856), the refusal to grant Madame de Bury's request that an officer in the Indian Army be promoted by Richard Airey (1860), a description of his house in China by James Bruce Elgin (1860) and a discussion of French politics and her newly-married life in the country by Frances [i.e. Fanny] Burney (1792).

 

Collection Name and Collection Reference Code:

Collection Name: Manuscript Album

Archive Ref Code: GB186/MSA

Date Range of Material

1615 - 1959

Type of Material

Collection of letters and other archive documents, written by people of local and national significance

Size of Collection

0.5 Linear Metres of shelving 

How To Order Items From This Collection

Please use the finding aid below to search through a list of the individual items we have within this collection.

If you find an item you would like to consult in the Special Collections reading room, simply make a note of the reference number and title of the item(s) you are interested in (for example MSA/1/4 Letter from A. E. Housman to “Mr Wilson” in response to a previous letter from Mr Wilson).

You can then place your order by linking to our Request Form. 

Finding Aid

Archival catalogue available via Archives Hub

Unable to visit our Reading Room?

If you are unable to visit our reading room, we also have a virtual reading room service and a digitisation service archive and rare book collections.

Projects, Progress & Updates

Further material is added to the Manuscript Albums when Special Collections obtains stand-alone letters and finding aids are amended to reflect this.

Other Resources

Items from this collection have been included our Treasure of the Month features for September 2015, March 2016, January 2018 and July 2018.