| Level | Fonds |
| Finding Number (Click this to view full catalogue structure) | JG(II) |
| Title | Galsworthy Papers |
| Extent | 27 boxes and 1 outsized framed item |
| Date | 1867-1969 |
| Description | The Galsworthy collection contains manuscripts by John Galsworthy, correspondence to and from and his wife Ada Galsworthy, and other family members; printed materials including exhibition catalogues; sales catalogues of Bury House, Sussex; documents regarding John Galsworthy's Nobel Prize; poems; Galsworthy genealogy records; and library and museum reports listing Galsworthy items. The collection also contains Galsworthy's personalia and images for 'Manaton Edition'; correspondence to and from John Galsworthy senior and Blanche Galsworthy (nee Bartleet); financial documents; Ada Galsworthy's correspondence, poems, prose, diaries and musical scores; and papers relating to the Galsworthy Estate.
The collection also contains papers relating to Georg, Valda, Rudolf, Viola, and Lillian Sauter, including several boxes of Galsworthy and Sauter family photographs. Also included are playscripts, programmes, and theatre photographs; newscuttings, and memorial cards. There is also a cabin plan of RMS Titanic which may be of interest to researchers, although the exact connection to the Galsworthy family to this item is unknown. |
| Arrangement | The items within JG(II) were arranged and listed by in 1977-1978 by Ben Benedikz, librarian, based on a brief handlist received from the executors of Mr R. H. Sauter. The papers were arranged by theme, people and document type. A paper handlist of the Galsworthy documents was produced in 1978 and widely distributed. In 2016 this paper handlist was typed into the cataloguing software 'CALM' to make it available via our online archive catalogue, and the descriptions enhanced. Although the listing and arrangement does not quite conform to modern day cataloguing standards, the arrangement of the sections and the reference numbers have been kept as they were assigned originally by Ben Benedikz in the 1970s as they have been widely referenced by researchers. |
| Copyright | Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Director of Special Collections (email: special-collections@contacts.bham.ac.uk).
The copyright for items created by Rudolf Sauter is held by Mr Alan Meyer at Horsey Lightly Fynn (formerly Halsey Lightly & Hemsley) at Devon House, 12-15 Dartmouth Street, London, SW1H 9BL. Mr. Meyer is one of the Trustees of the John Galsworthy Will Trust and is the Executor of Rudolf Sauter's Estate. |
| Language | English |
| Finding Aids | A catalogue of this collection is available on the online archive catalogue. Click on the Finding Number to display the summary contents list of the catalogue and to view the full catalogue, or view the catalogue as a PDF file by clicking in the document field below. A paper copy is also available in the Cadbury Research Library: Special Collections Department. |
| Document | JG(II).pdf |
| Access Status | Open |
| Administrative History | John Galsworthy, 1867-1933, playwright and novelist; educated at Harrow and New College, Oxford; called to bar (Lincoln's Inn), 1890. Galsworthy published early novels under pseudonym John Sinjohn; The Man of Property, 1906; began the Forsyte Saga sequence (published collectively in 1922) in which he wrote with an exact and not unsympathetic observation of Victorian upper-class commercial society, continuing the story of its supersession by a more easy-going generation in the trilogy A Modern Comedy, 1929. His remarkably successful plays including The Silver Box, 1906, Justice, 1910; and The Skin Game, 1920, state a theme with great simplicity of construction and dialogue; Nobel Prize for Literature, 1932.
Reference: The Concise Dictionary of National Biography Part II 1901-1950 (Oxford, 1967). |
| Acquisition | The first deposit of Galsworthy material referenced 'JG' was deposited in 1962 by John Galsworthy's nephew Mr Rudolf Sauter and the Trustees of the Galsworthy estate. Most of this collection was sold at auction in 1979 at the request of the depositor and purchased by Forbes Magazine. However, several items at this time went to the University of Birmingham's Research and Cultural Collection department. One item though from this first deposit remained at the Cadbury Research Library, and this has now been added to the second catalogue of Galsworthy material, former reference JG/1938, new reference JG(II)/30.
The second deposit of Galsworthy material which this catalogue relates to, was bequeathed by Rudolf Sauter in 1977. It has the collection reference number JG(II).
Three other items bequeathed by Rudolf Sauter in 1977 were added to the original JG catalogue rather than the JG(II) catalogue. It is unknown why. These three items were not sold at auction and have now been added to the JG(II) catalogue as JG(II)/31/1-2; and JG(II)/3/19. |
| Related Material | Cadbury Research Library also holds the ‘John Galsworthy Letters Additional’ collection, reference: JGLAdd.
A script of 'The Forsyte Saga', broadcast by the BBC in 1967, is held in the book collection at the Cadbury Research Library. It is in 26 parts, classmark: f PR6013.a5f67.
The Cadbury Research Library also hold numerous books by Galsworthy. See our book catalogue for further information. |
| Associated Materials | A substantial part of the initial deposit was sold by Sotheby in 1979 at the direction of the Galsworthy Trust. The papers are now housed at Forbes Magazine, Forbes Building, 60 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011. The manuscript of Galsworthy's famous novel The Forsythe Saga was donated to the library of the British Museum (now called The British Library) by Galsworthy himself during his lifetime. |