Includes notebooks; press cuttings; articles; letters to Jessie Dwight (afterwards Orage), 1924-1926, with TS transcripts; correspondence relating to the launching of the New English Weekly ; correspondence and press-cuttings relating to the death of A. R. Orage; miscellaneous family papers; New Age , vols 1-49, 1907-1931 (wanting vol.32); New English Weekly vols 1-35, 1932-1949; books and periodical parts.
Alfred R. Orage Archive
This material is held atUniversity of Leeds Special Collections
- Reference
- GB 206 BC MS 20c Orage
- Dates of Creation
- 1881 - 1997
- Name of Creator
- Language of Material
- English
- Physical Description
- 12 boxes; 8.5 shelves of books and periodicals diagrams, manuscript notebooks, pamphlets, photographs, leather wallet, artworks, press cuttings, poster, manuscript papers, typescript papers
Scope and Content
Administrative / Biographical History
Alfred Orage was born at Dacre, near Bradford in 1873, but following the death of his father, the family moved to Fenstanton in Huntingdonshire. He became a pupil teacher at the village school and then attended a teachers' training college at Culham, Oxfordshire. In 1893 he became an elementary school teacher in Leeds and began to develop wider interests, particularly in literature and socialism, co-founding the Leeds Art Club in 1900. He moved to London in 1906 as a freelance journalist and bought (with the financial backing of George Bernard Shaw and others) a weekly review, the New Age , which he edited until 1922. In 1923 Orage began to work on behalf of George Gurdjieff and subsequently went to America, where in 1927 he married for a second time: Jessie Richards Dwight, daughter of a dealer in building supplies, from Albany. He returned to England in 1930 and in 1932 founded the New English Weekly , which he edited until his death in 1934.
Access Information
This collection is subject to various access conditions. Please see individual catalogue descriptions for further details on access.
Acquisition Information
The majority of the collection was deposited by a family member in June 2001. A substantial accrual was received from the Orage family in 2017. Items BC MS 20c Orage/8/1-3 were deposited by a donor in Australia in 2006 and item BC MS 20c Orage/8/4 was deposited by a donor in the U.S.A. in 2006.
Other Finding Aids
For a fuller survey of the archive see handlist 124
Conditions Governing Use
Material in this collection may remain in copyright but further details are unknown. Photocopies or digital images can only be supplied by the Library for research or private study. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain the copyright holder's permission to reproduce for any other purpose. Guidance is available for tracing copyright status and ownership