Sheila Ray Enid Blyton papers

Material relating to the life and career of Enid Blyton collected by Sheila Ray, author of 'The Blyton Phenomenon' (Andre Deutsch, 1982) and former librarian and Senior Lecturer in librarianship. Sheila Ray also authored Enid Blyton's entry in 'The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography' (1994). The collection contains correspondence from various organisations and individuals, including Enid Blyton's daughters, Gillian Baverstock and Imogen Smallwood; material relating to conferences and scholarly articles about Blyton; press cuttings; material relating to Sheila Ray's contribution to television and radio programmes about Blyton; and miscellaneous ephemera.

These papers were collected by Sheila Ray over the course of many years, reflecting her personal interest in Blyton's work and related professional activity, including books and articles written by Ray on Enid Blyton.

Material is arranged into series and files as follows:

- SR/01 Correspondence

- SR/02 Conference material and essays

- SR/03 Press cuttings

- SR/04 Television and radio programmes

- SR/05 Miscellanous ephemera

Accessible to all researchers, by appointment only.

Seven Stories, National Centre for Children's Books, was established as a registered charity and company limited by guarantee in 1996, with the aims of preserving, maintaining and adding to a growing and accessible collection of archival material, artwork and printed books relating to modern British children's literature. The collection is intended to form part of the national heritage in an archive and library of present and future historical interest for the public benefit. (See Memorandum of Association)

The papers were donated to Seven Stories by Sheila Ray in 2011.