Harley Granville-Barker collection

The collection comprises of correspondence with the Antarctic explorer Apsley Cherry-Garrard.

Harley Granville Granville-Barker was born in London in 1877. At the age of fourteen, he began his professional career in the theatre as an actor and by 1904, had been appointed manager of the Royal Court Theatre in London, introducing the public to the plays of George Bernard Shaw, Henrik Ibsen and Maurice Maeterlinck. His productions of Shakespeare were revolutionary for their use of naturally spoken dialogue. He also directed several of his own plays, including The Voysey Inheritance, Waste, and The Madras House. During the First World War, he served in the Red Cross in France before undertaking military intelligence work. From 1923 until 1946, he wrote prefaces to the plays of Shakespeare, interpreting the plays from the perspective of the director. In 1930, Granville-Barker was appointed to the Clark Lectureship at Trinity College, Cambridge and in 1937, was appointed lecturer at Oxford University. During the Second World War, he travelled to the United States, where he was a visiting professor at Yale and Harvard universities. He died in Paris in 1946.

The collection is arranged chronologically.

By appointment.

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The term holograph is used when the item is wholly in the handwriting of the author. The term autograph is used when the author has signed the item.

Descriptions compiled by N. Boneham, Assistant Archivist with assistance from R. Stancombe and reference to The Dictionary of National Biography 1941-1950, with an index covering the years 1901-1950 in one alphabetical series, (1959) Oxford University Press, London and Robert Keith Headland Antarctic Chronology, unpublished corrected revision of Chronological list of Antarctic expeditions and related historical events,(1 December 2001) Cambridge University Press (1989) ISBN 0521309034

Clive Holland Manuscripts in the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, England - a catalogue. Garland Publishing New York and London (1982) ISBN 0824093941.

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