Marie Elsie Clews., 04/17/1953-01/20/1954

File — Box: 3, Folder: 17

Identifier: 49279

Collection-level Scope and Content Note

From the Collection:

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.

Dates

04/17/1953-01/20/1954

Collection-level Access Restrictions

Most manuscripts collections at the Georgetown University Booth Family Center for Special Collections are open to researchers; however, restrictions may apply to some collections. Collections stored off site require a minimum of three days for retrieval. For use of all manuscripts collections, researchers are advised to contact the Booth Family Center for Special Collections in advance of any visit.

Extent

From the Collection: 40.25 Linear Feet (80 boxes and 1 oversized folder )

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Additional Description

Container Summary

Contains 4 ALS, 3 ACS from Marie Elsie Clews (Mrs. Henry Clews) to Shane Leslie. ALS 4/17/1953: "Shane -- Here is a message from the past. You may not remember when one day many many years ago, you strode over the hills to Brede Place, Sussex, with a red bandana (sic) kerchief package balanced on hour head. Your shirt was wide open at the neck, your head thrown back & you were singing from pure joy at the top of your lungs. We, sitting on the lawn in the late afternoon with long shadows slanting through the trees, drinking tea, heard the song a long way off. "Hark, " I said, "What is that wild cry I hear?" - "Oh," said Mrs. Frewen, "that's just Shane, he's coming to spend the night." "Shane or Peer Gynt," I mused, "for he must be the will o' the wisp in person." And so you have been - I think - always..."