British Library acquires Elizabeth Barrett Browning letters and John Galsworthy archive

The British Library has acquired a series of letters from poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning and the archive of author and playwright John Galsworthy for almost £300,000. 

Barrett Browning (1806-1861) was one of a small number of prominent female writers in Victorian Britain. The collection of 131 letters are dated after the publication of Poems (1844), for which Barrett Browning first became well-known. The letters are predominantly written from Barrett Browning to her sister Henrietta Surtees Cook. 

Galsworthy (1867-1933) is best known for The Forsyte Saga (1906-21), a series of novels depicting the lives and values of the English upper-middle classes. He was the first President of PEN International (1921-32) and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932.  

The British Library has acquired more than 60 boxes and folders of original correspondence and papers, including book drafts, correspondence and annotated copies of his printed works. They include 245 letters from the novelist Joseph Conrad, a close friend of Galsworthy, as well as letters from Winston Churchill, Eleanor Roosevelt, and well-known literary contemporaries including Thomas Hardy, Katherine Mansfield and Edith Wharton. 

Dr William Frame, head of modern archives and manuscripts at the British Library, said: “Our role is to develop, preserve and provide access to the national collection, for today’s users and far into the future, and we are incredibly grateful to the National Heritage Memorial Fund, British Library Collections Trust and Friends of the National Libraries for their generous support.” 

Sir Chris Bryant, minister of state for creative industries, arts and tourism, said: “As the world’s leading institution on the written word, I feel there can be no better place to showcase the writing of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and John Galsworthy to the public than the British Library."

The acquisitions were made with funding from National Heritage Memorial Fund, British Library Collections Trust and Friends of the National Libraries. The National Heritage Memorial Fund awarded £150,000 towards the acquisition of the Galsworthy archive and £245,550 towards the acquisition of the Barrett Browning letters.  

The acquisitions will be available for research on completion of cataloguing. A selection of the archives will be digitised and made available online.