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Major Collections

Smaller Collections

The smaller collections are ones which contain just a small number of Schreiner letters, often part of a much bigger collection. In addition, a number of new small collections of Schreiner letters which came to attention after publication of the Olive Schreiner Letters Online will be found via the 'New Letters' tab on the Home Page.

Aletta: The Aletta Jacobs collection is extensive and available on microfilm at the Aletta IIVA archive in Amsterdam. Schreiner’s letters to Aletta Jacob are a small part of the collection. There is a finding aid. See http://www.alettajacobs.org/atria/Aletta_Jacobs/English/Jacobs_archives

Alfred Gillet Trust Archive: Olive Schreiner’s single letter to Alice Clark is part of the private collection of the Clark family, well-known shoemakers. See http://www.clarks.co.uk/HistoryandHeritage_Inthebeginning

Auckland Libraries: Olive Schreiner’s single letter to Sir George Grey is part of the George Grey Collection. Its excellent website provides full information on a helpfully organised set of pages, with the letters component organised in three sections (New Zealand, Maori, International). See http://www.georgegrey.org.nz

Bodleian Libraries Special Collections: Schreiner’s few remaining letters to Frank (or Harriet) Colenso, to Alfred Milner and to Cecil Rhodes are part of the large and well-documented Colenso papers and Milner and Rhodes collections in the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. The website for Special Collections is a mine of information, and detailed finding aids can be accessed online. For the Special Collections generally, see http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/libraries/collections

Bristol Unwin: The Jane Cobden Unwin Papers are composed of letters and other materials dating from between 1880 and 1939 relating mainly to Jane Cobden Unwin’s involvement in the Society for Promoting the Return of Women as County Councillors, and the Aborigines’ Protection Society. The collection also contains a number of letters to her husband, the publisher T. Fisher Unwin, including one by Schreiner. There is a detailed finding aid. See http://www.bristol.ac.uk/is/library/collections/specialcollections

Carlisle Marshall: The Catherine Marshall papers at the Cumbria Records Office in Carlisle are a very large collection across Marshall’s many political activities, friendships and family connections. The collection holds only one Schreiner item, a signed invitation to a lunch held by the British Dominions Women’s Suffrage Union. There is a finding aid which overviews the collection. See http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/archives/archivecentres/cac.asp

Colby Lee: There is an extensive collection of Vernon Lee material at Colby College, which is part of its Special Collections. There is one Schreiner letter in the collection. There is a finding aid for the collection as a whole. See http://www.colby.edu/academics_cs/library/special/collections/collections.cfm

Delaware Lasner: The Mark Samuels Lasner collection of a small number of Schreiner letters is part of Special Collections at the University of Delaware. See http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec

Free State Archives Depot: The Steyn collection contains the extensive official and private papers of the last president of the Orange Free State, Martinus Theunis Steyn, and his wife Rachel Isabella (Tibbie) Steyn. It includes many letters from Emily Hobhouse to Mrs Steyn, and among are a handful of letters from Olive Schreiner to Emily Hobhouse; these are handwritten copies made by Hobhouse. There is a detailed finding aid for the Steyn collection. The Renier Collection is also a huge one, and results from the collections activities of Renier himself, and again there is a finding aid. The Wessels collection is small and there is no finding aid. The Free State Archives Depot website is part of the National Archives of South Africa, and this is difficult to use and not very helpful in accessing information, as its search facilities do not cover the large majority of its manuscript holdings. Accessing such information really requires visiting or a detailed email inquiry. A list of holdings is available at the Information Desk and online in the archive. See http://www.national.archives.gov.za

Greene Family: A sub-set of Schreiner’s letters to Alice Greene is held in the private collection of the Greene family heirs, (while others are in the University of Cape Town collections). See John Barham (ed, 2007) Alice Greene, Teacher and Campaigner: South African Correspondence 1887-1902 Leicester: Matador, and (ed, 2010) The Mother and the Maiden Aunt: Letters of Eva and Alice Greene 1909-1912 Leicester: Matador.

Hobhouse Trust: The Hobhouse Trust, Canada, is a private family collection in the possession of its custodian Jennifer Hobhouse Balme, the great-niece and biographer of Emily Hobhouse.

Humpherys Bedborough: The letter from Schreiner to George Bedborough is part of the private Legitimation League Collection owned by Professor Anne Humpherys.

Johannesburg Public Library: Morthland Cronwright: Schreiner’s single letter to Morthland Cronwright is part of the collections of the Johannesburg Public Library, and located it its Harold Strange Library of African Studies. See http://www.joburg.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=68&Itemid=9?option=com_content&task=view&id=68&Itemid=9

Library of Parliament Cape Town Hunt: Schreiner’s letters to Albert Hunt are part of the Special Collections of the Library of Parliament. This has the special purpose of facilitating the needs of MPs, Ministers and parliamentary staff. It also holds a wealth of special collections. Access requires a known topic, persistence and a full passport or related official ID information, but is welcoming, helpful and efficient thereafter. See http://www.parliament.gov.za/live/content.php?Item_ID=438

Library of Sommerville College, Oxford: The Vernon Lee (Violet Paget) collection is located in the Special Collections part of the Library of Somerville College, Oxford. Schreiner’s single letter to Vernon Lee is a tiny part of an extensive collection with an excellent finding aid. Special collections are administered separately from the main library and may be consulted by appointment with the Librarian. See http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/217/all/1/Library.aspx

Liverpool Bruce Glasier: Schreiner’s letters are part of the combined John and Katherine (St John Conway) Bruce Glasier collection held in special Collections at the University of Liverpool. The collections webpage is helpful and a detailed finding aid can be accessed from it. See http://www.liv.ac.uk/library/sca/colldescs/glasier.html

LSE Passfield: The extensive Passfield (Beatrice and Sidney Webb) collection is part of the Archives Collections held by the London School of Economics. There is one Schreiner letter within the collection. There is a finding aid for the collection. There is an extensive website with good search facilities. See http://www2.lse.ac.uk/library/archive/Home.aspx

Lytton Family Papers: Schreiner’s letters to Constance Lytton are part of the extensive family papers of the Lytton family and are held in the archives at Knebworth House. The family papers overall are fascinating and important ones. See http://www.knebworthhouse.com/index.html

Macfarlane-Muirhead Family: Schreiner’s letters to Robert Muirhead are part of Macfarlane-Muirhead family collection and can be accessed at the Muirhead Papers, Special Collections, University of Glagow Library. For Special Collections, go to http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/specialcollections/ and for the Robert Franklin Muirhead Collection, see http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/specialcollections/

McMaster Russell: Schreiner’s single letter to Bertram Russell is part of the extremely extensive Russell collection at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. The collection is superbly organised and has excellent online search facilities. See http://www.mcmaster.ca/russdocs/russell.htm and for Russell’s correspondence http://www.mcmaster.ca/russdocs/clbr.htm

Newspapers: A collection of letters sent to various newspapers

Ronald Levine: Ronald Levine Collection, Johannesburg: This is a privately-owned collection of Schreiner materials, including the letters accessible in the Olive Schreiner Letters Online and signed copies of Schreiner's books, among other items.

SCCS Edited Extracts: Four groups of edited extracts from Olive Schreiner's letters can be accessed from here, made by her estranged husband Cronwright-Schreiner as part of him preparing The Life... and The Letters of Olive Schreiner for publication. They are: extracted letters appearing in The Life, handwritted Extracts of Letters to SCCS, extracted letters in The Letters for which no originals are extant, and type scripted extracts of letters to W.T. Stead. They consist of some large but mainly small and sometimes very small extracts. Among them are just a few items in Olive Schreiner's own writing. The vast majority are in Cronwright-Schreiner's handwriting or in typescripts made and extensively edited and changed by him. Following this, he destroyed the original letters. Consequently, for the very large majority, no manuscript source now exists (where there are surviving manuscripts, they appear as part of Schreiner's letters in the relevant collections). These four sets of extracts are consequently the product of Cronwright-Schreiner's editorial practices and bear an unknown relationship to Schreiner's letters as she originally wrote them. However, in all cases where Cronwright-Schreiner's renditions can be compared with surviving original letters, his versions contain inaccuracies, omissions, or even bowdlerisations. Caution should therefore used in referring to any of the extracts, which have been made available for the sake of completeness.

Unknown: Letters whose whereabouts cannot now be traced.

War Museum of the Boer Republics Bloemfontein Autograph Collection: The War Museum is focused on the South African War 1899-1902; it holds an extensive collection of letters, diaries and other personal writings, although there are no finding aids available. See http://www.anglo-boer.co.za/

West Sussex Cobden Unwin: The Cobden Unwin collection held in the West Sussex County Records Office has one Olive Schreiner letter within it. These papers are part of the widen Cobden Papers, for which there is useful information online. See http://www.westsussex.gov.uk/leisure/record_office_and_archives/collections_and_research/private_collections_personal/cobden_archives_richard_cobde.aspx

Western Cape Archives: The Jeffreys collection holds three Schreiner letters is part of the manuscript holdings of the Western Cape Archives. The online website has some helpful general information, and emails are helpfully responded to but by staff who are not likely to know the details of particular collections, so really a visit is required See http://www.westerncape.gov.za/cape-archives

Women’s Library Autograph Collection: Schreiner’s letters to Alys Pearsall-Smith (later Russell) are archived as part of the ‘Literary Ladies’ sub-division of the Autograph Letter Collection strand of the Women’s Library archives. This sub-division contains letters to and from various literary women and covers the period between 1881 and 1959. There is a detailed finding aid. The Women’s Library also has good online search facilities. See http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/thewomenslibrary/ and for searches http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/thewomenslibrary/searchthecollections/