IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0103 MS OGDEN 72
Held at: University College London
Title: Halliwell Papers
Date(s): c1856-1868
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: 1 volume
Name of creator(s): Phillipps | James Orchard Halliwell- | 1820-1889 | Shakespearean scholar, archivist and antiquary | formerly James Orchard Halliwell
Halliwell | family
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
James Orchard Halliwell: born, 1820; educated privately; Trinity College Cambridge, 1837; removed to Jesus College, 1838; Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, 1839; Fellow of the Royal Society, 1839; member of the Astronomical Society and of European and American antiquarian societies; catalogued manuscripts in the Royal Society library; founder and first secretary of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society; left Cambridge without a degree; printed a catalogue of his collection of manuscripts, but financial pressure forced him to sell, 1840; concentrated his studies on Shakespeare; with the antiquary Thomas Wright published ten numbers of The Archaeologist and Journal of Antiquarian Science, 1841-1842; catalogued manuscripts at the Chetham Library, Manchester, 1841-1842; married the daughter of the antiquary Sir Thomas Phillipps, 1842; Phillipps ceased contact with the couple, whose financial circumstances were difficult; manuscripts from his collection purchased c1843 by the British Museum were found to have belonged to Trinity College Cambridge, 1844; Halliwell was readmitted to the Museum, 1846; involvement in lawsuits caused repeated financial losses; often constrained to auction his collections; arranged records at Stratford, 1862; initiated the movement for purchasing properties on the site of Shakespeare's residence, 1863; joint secretary of the committee to celebrate the tercentenary of Shakespeare's birth, 1863-1864; the death of his father-in-law gave his wife possession of estates in Worcestershire, and Halliwell could indulge his passion for collecting, 1867; abandoned critical study and devoted himself to studying Shakespeare's life, 1870-1889; following his wife's accident in 1872, assumed the additional surname Phillipps, and took over management of her property, improving and then selling the estates; purchased property near Brighton for a house, 1877-1878; married again, 1879; honorary LLD, Edinburgh University, 1883; died, 1889; donated books and manuscripts to many libraries during his life, and bequeathed papers to Edinburgh University Library. Publications: numerous publications from 1838 until his death, comprising commentaries and editions of various medieval and later texts, including some for the Camden Society, the Percy Society, and the Shakespeare Society; catalogues of his own and other collections of books and manuscripts; histories of various institutions and places, notably Stratford-upon-Avon; lexicographical works; and many publications on Shakespeare, including his Life of William Shakespeare first published in 1848, and editions of his plays.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Album, c1856-1868, consisting of papers connected with the Shakespeare Fund, papers by James Orchard Halliwell, and manuscript letters and drawings mainly by members of James Orchard Halliwell's family, comprising 43 printed items, eight original manuscript letters, and 27 other items, mainly childish drawings.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Conditions governing access:
Open.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Normal copyright restrictions apply.
Physical characteristics:
Mounted on guardsheets and bound together. Small folio volume.
Finding aids:
Handlist at University College London Special Collections.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
Part of the library of Charles Kay Ogden (1889-1957), linguistic psychologist, founder of the Orthological Institute and originator of the language system Basic English, whose interests in language systems are reflected in the subject matter of his collection, which comprised individual manuscripts and manuscript collections dating from the 14th to the 20th century.
Immediate source of acquisition:
Part of the C K Ogden Library purchased by University College London in 1953 with a grant from the Nuffield Foundation.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
University College London Special Collections also holds a catalogue of books by James Orchard Halliwell [1930s] (Ref: MS OGDEN 71); miscellaneous letters and inscriptions, 1840, 1881-1882, 1885 and undated, by Halliwell in printed works (Ref: OGDEN HAL, OGDEN SHA, OGDEN WRI).
Correspondence and papers of James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps are held at the British Library, Manuscript Collections; Edinburgh University Library, Special Collections; University of London (Library - Senate House); Oxford University, Bodleian Library, Special Collections and Western Manuscripts; Cambridge University, Trinity College Library; Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine; Royal Geographical Society; Chethams Library; Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Records Office; Cumbria Record Office and Local Studies Library, Whitehaven; West Yorkshire Archive Service, Leeds; National Library of Wales, Department of Manuscripts and Records; and, in the USA, University of Michigan Library, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections; California State Library, Sutro Branch; Library of Congress, Manuscript Division; Harvard University, Houghton Library.
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Archivist's note: Sources: Dictionary of National Biography; National Register of Archives. Compiled by Rachel Kemsley as part of the RSLP AIM25 project.
Date(s) of descriptions: Aug 2001