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Descriptive Summary |
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| Title | George Bernard Shaw Papers | |
| Identification: | MSS001 | |
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George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950) was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays. Nearly all his writings address prevailing social problems, but have a vein of comedy which makes their stark themes more palatable. Shaw examined education, marriage, religion, government, health care, and class privilege.
He was most angered by what he perceived as the exploitation of the working class. An ardent socialist, Shaw wrote many brochures and speeches for the Fabian Society. He became an accomplished orator in the furtherance of its causes, which included gaining equal rights for men and women, alleviating abuses of the working class, rescinding private ownership of productive land, and promoting healthy lifestyles. For a short time he was active in local politics, serving on the London County Council.
In 1898, Shaw married Charlotte Payne-Townshend, a fellow Fabian, whom he survived. They settled in Ayot St Lawrence in a house now called Shaw's Corner. Shaw died there, aged 94, from chronic problems exacerbated by injuries he incurred by falling from a ladder.
He is the only person to have been awarded both a Nobel Prize in Literature (1925) and an Oscar (1938), for his contributions to literature and for his work on the film Pygmalion (adaptation of his play of the same name), respectively.
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The collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts and memorabilia relating to George Bernard Shaw. Correspondence, 1901 - 1928, includes 30 letters and cards to John Drinkwater. Also, autograph manuscript of speech, portraits of Shaw, and various personal artifacts.
68 items
3 boxes
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Open.
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Users of the collections must read and abide by the Rules for the use of manuscript collection materials.
Users of the collections who wish to use items from this collection, in whole or in part, in any form of publication (as defined in the form) must sign and submit to the Washington University Department of Special Collections a hard copy of the Notification of intent publish manuscript collection materials form.
All publication not covered by fair use restricted to those who have permission of the copyright holder.
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Accessions 1554 and 1603: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harold C. Ackert
Accessions 1464: Gift of Professor and Mrs. Herbert Spiegelberg
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Series I. Correspondence, |
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1/1 | I.1 Shaw Correspondence With John Drinkwater, (30 items) | ||||||||||||
| Shaw's letter and cards to Drinkwater (British playwright and director of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre) span from 1912: Nov. 2 to 1926: Dec. 31, and are concerned primarily with various pieces of theatre information: permission to produce plays, suggestions and comments on performers and performances, comments on manuscripts by Drinkwater. The correspondence consists of 11 letters, 18 cards and 1 enclosed letter. | |||||||||||||
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1/2 | I.2 Miscellaneous Shaw Correspondence, (21 items) | ||||||||||||
| Shaw correspondence from 1901 - 1928 | |||||||||||||
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| DeCasseres, Benjamin, | |||||||||||||
| upbraids Shaw, 1928: June 21 | |||||||||||||
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| Spiegelberg, Herbert, | |||||||||||||
| TLS with env, 1949: November 29 | |||||||||||||
| Accession 1464 | |||||||||||||
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| Shaw, George Bernard, | |||||||||||||
| To Carrol, Kathleen Fawcus, | |||||||||||||
| [card] advice on living, 1909: May 18 | |||||||||||||
| To Charrington, Charles, | |||||||||||||
| [card] publishing, money, 1902: May 21 | |||||||||||||
| To Fry, Roger, | |||||||||||||
| [card] refuses to undertake project requested of him, 1912: Feb. 11 | |||||||||||||
| To ?, Hugo, | |||||||||||||
| [ALS], 1909: March 15 | |||||||||||||
| To Jewett, Henry, | |||||||||||||
| censorship, changing of names in a play, 1919: Nov. 5 | |||||||||||||
| permission to produce play, 1921: June 27 | |||||||||||||
| Norman, C H., | |||||||||||||
| [card] regarding military inanity, 1922: April 21 | |||||||||||||
| To Renfron, H S., | |||||||||||||
| [note added to Renfron letter] refuses permission to republish parts of Shaw work, but notes that much would be done if anthology was respectable, 1919: Feb. 5 | |||||||||||||
| To Smith, A C., | |||||||||||||
| [card] Shaw's whereabouts, travel, 1901: April 6 | |||||||||||||
| To Strang, William, | |||||||||||||
| [card] regarding drawing of Shaw, 1906: July 14 | |||||||||||||
| To Titterton, W R., | |||||||||||||
| [card] refuses to write a piece for Titterton's paper, 1923: March 28 | |||||||||||||
| To Wise, William H. & Co., | |||||||||||||
| refuses to permit republication, plus newspaper clippings that Wise wished to reprint, with xerox of envelope. Original envelope tipped in Spec. HX 246 S 43 , 1928: May 10 1928 | |||||||||||||
| advises Wise to pay Author's League for copyrighted Shaw material to be included in anthology (without Shaw authorization), June 4 | |||||||||||||
| To Croll, Robert H., | |||||||||||||
| [card] response to Croll's earlier letter on McMahon's death and eulogy by Croll, 1941: Oct. 25 | |||||||||||||
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| ?, William of R. & R. Clark Limited, Publishers, | |||||||||||||
| advises Shaw on status of and autobiography and Odham's Complete Plays, 1948: May 28 | |||||||||||||
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Series II. Manuscripts, |
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| Untitled speech AMs, 6 lined pages. Appeal for financial contributions to the King Edward Memorial Hospital. Includes not declaring abhorrence of “charity business.”, | |||||||||||||
| Speech published by Washington University Libraries, 1981,under the title, “So He Took His Hat Round.” | |||||||||||||
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| Questionnaire from The World of Trade, Frankfort, Germany. Typed questionnaire with autograph Shaw responses. Questions concern Germany's position in post-World War I world. Includes envelope in which the questionnaire was returned. , (1920: Feb 1) | |||||||||||||
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| Draft of letter to editor of The New Statesman, Ts., moderate auto revision, signed, by Shaw. The letter takes issue with an article by “Lens”, which hails the effectiveness of typhoid vaccine and advocates its use. Original article by “Lens” (pseudonym for Caleb Williams Saleeby, 1878 -?, British physician and author), a regular columnist for The New Statesman, appeared in Nov. 18, 1916 issue. Shaw's response was published in that of Nov. 25, 1916., | |||||||||||||
| Photocopies of published versions of Lens article and Shaw's letter accompany this item. | |||||||||||||
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| One sheet of galley for Herbert Spiegeberg's book Case Socrates Resumed: Posterity Take the Stand [anthology] concerning Shaw., ca 1950 | |||||||||||||
| Located in oversize. | |||||||||||||
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Series III. Miscellany, |
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| Shaw signature, clipped from envelope, | |||||||||||||
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| Program for special meeting of Academy of Political Science in honor of George Bernard Shaw, at which Shaw gave an address. , 1933: April 11 | |||||||||||||
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| Advertisement for “Mary Stuart,” [play] by Friedrich Schiller, American Theatre of St. Louis, | |||||||||||||
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| Tear sheet from The New Leader, article " Where Darwin Is Taboo, The Bible in America" by G. Bernard Shaw. , 1925: July 10. | |||||||||||||
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| Printed post card containing an excerpt from the Copyright Act of 1911 concerning educational reprints and a printed note by Shaw., | |||||||||||||
| Accession 1464. | |||||||||||||
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Series IV. Artwork, |
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1/5 | Photo of Shaw, in frame, | ||||||||||||
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1/6 | Pencil drawing of Shaw by W. R. Black, | ||||||||||||
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1/7 | Engraving of Shaw by Stephan Mrozewski. Signed by artist and by Shaw. , 1935. | ||||||||||||
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Series V. Realia, |
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2/- | Stamp box used by Shaw at Whitehall Court. Includes key and note by B. Patch, Shaw's secretary, | ||||||||||||
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3/- | Silver desk tray for pencils. Includes key and note by B. Patch, Shaw's secretary, | ||||||||||||
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| Two paper knives, one from China. Includes note from B. Patch, Shaw's secretary, | |||||||||||||
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| Scissors used by Shaw at Whitehall Court. Includes note from B. Patch., | |||||||||||||
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