Walter Shewring to Gina Thompson., 11/24/1986-11/24/1986

This collection consists of 15 letters, 13 of which were written by Walter Shewring, sent to Gina Thompson (Colby) between 1986 and 1990. The collection is contained in 15 folders and 1 box which is 0.25 linear feet in size. As an American student studying at Oxford University, Gina Thompson met and befriended the classics scholar Shewring in 1986. At the time, Shewring was doing private research in the Bodleian, and Thompson was taking a cultural course from Oxford with a group of students from North Carolina. Shewring and the students all stayed at Benet Hall while at Oxford. Upon meeting, Shewring and Thompson established a rapport and became friends. The two corresponded with one another consistently during the period from 1986 until Shewring's death in 1990. In this collection of correspondence to Miss Thompson, Shewring discusses a wide variety of topics, including the state of affairs at Oxford University, travel, English literature classes and texts, Ampleforth College, friends, a book of poems he was publishing, and Miss Thompson's studies and career. Shewring wrote a letter of recommendation for Gina in 1988, and that letter is included in this collection. Also contained are two letters from Bernard Vazquez, Shewring's colleague at Ampleforth College, to Gina Thompson describing Shewring's failing health and death in 1990. The Georgetown University Library Special Collections Division also holds the Walter Shewring Papers, a small collection of letters, manuscripts, and essays written by Shewring. That particular collection includes an autograph manuscript of Shewring's well-renowned translation of Homer's "Odyssey," published in 1980 by the Oxford University Press, along with correspondence by noted individuals, such as Eric Gill and David Jones.

ABBREVIATIONS: ACS - Autograph Card Signed ALS - Autograph Letter Singed