| Description | Sir Oliver Lodge's personal and family correspondence. Arranged in alphabetical order by name of correspondent. The wide array of Lodge's correspondents included many members of his own family and close friends, as well as acquaintances and colleagues. Many were academics: including physicists, economists, philosophers, mathematicians, anthropologists and biologists. Others were individuals with social influence, including aristocrats, politicians, writers and members of the clergy. Lodge also often wrote to multiple members of the same family.
Correspondence regularly includes discussions concerning Lodge’s research into and publications about physics, philosophy, and 'psychical research'. Many letters comprise responses to Lodge’s publications, with correspondents offering their praise or critiques, and others seek Lodge’s advice about philosophical and scientific matters, or for his opinion on their own work. Letters also often contain requests for Lodge to attend or talk at meetings and events, including those of societies of which Lodge was a member (for example, the Society for Psychical Research and the Synthetic Society), and also local meetings, including church groups. As well as formal society and academic meetings, letters also contain many examples of arrangement of social and casual meetings between Lodge and his correspondents, including Lodge being invited to meet friends and acquaintances for meals, or to stay at their houses. Letters also often include personal details about illness, family events and holidays, as well as information about Lodge’s academic career and interests. |