Earl of Birkenhead, Frederick Winston Furneaux Smith., 08/09/1951-07/18/1969

This collection essentially comprises the life and letters of Sir Shane Leslie whose boundless energy and wide-ranging interests took him all over Britain, the United States and Canada, bringing him in touch with people in many fields including the arts, economics, education, literature, politics and religion. Sir Shane's personal papers also reflect his deep concern and interest in Irish culture and politics, particularly the question of Irish independence through Home Rule.

The correspondence series of the collection reads like a who's who particularly from 1900 through 1971. Famous names include Angela Antrim, Margot Asquith, Nancy Astor, William Maxwell Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, Hilaire Belloc, Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, J.E.C. Bodley, Brendan Bracken, G.K. Chesterton, Winston Churchill (cousin), Sydney Cockerell, Bourke Cockran, George Curzon, Charles Dilke, Alfred Douglas, Mrs. Fitzherbert, Francois Aidan Gasquet, Rupert Hart-Davis, Vyvyan Holland, John Maynard Keynes, William Somerset Maugham, Alice, Francis and Viola Meynell, Horace Plunkett, George Bernard Shaw, Clare Sheridan (wife of Wilfrid Sheridan, great-great grandson of Richard Brinsley Sheridan), Cecil Arthur Spring-Rice, Mark Sykes, Evelyn Waugh, William Butler Yeats.

The collection includes a signed black and white photograph inscribed by Leo Tolstoy to Shane Leslie, during the latter's visit to the great Russian author in Moscow in 1907. Sir Shane's manuscripts are also included in great abundance in the collection, including those for his autobiography, “Long Shadows.” The typescripts and drafts of a biography planned by Iris Leslie are also included in this series. Other notable series include Sir Shane's journals and appointment books; scrapbooks, particularly those concerning his visit to the U.S. 1957-1958; and editions of Sir Shane's own works that include tipped-in items such as correspondence relating to the work, notes by Sir Shane, and press cuttings.