I just learned today that the papers of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson that had long been kept at Sissinghurst have been acquired by Yale. I’m not sure why I am so excited by that. I mean it’s not like I live anywhere near New Haven, Connecticut and can go paw through the papers just for fun in my copious amounts of spare time. But somehow it feels like a coup. How did Yale get the papers and not the British Library or Oxford?
I am hoping Yale will digitize at least some of the papers. But in their finding aid to Vita’s papers there is a copyright notice that indicates the rights still belong to her heirs. So perhaps that will stall any digitization efforts unless, presumably, the grandchildren give permission. Why they wouldn’t, I don’t know. So my fingers are crossed that one day I will get to virtually oggle Vita’s papers.
In other news, check out these sculptures carved from books. They are gorgeous and amazing.
And visit Pew Research for a quiz on what kind of library user you are. I am a Library Lover:
Library Lovers have strikingly positive views of public libraries compared with other groups, and with the U.S. population; they use libraries and library websites more than any other group, and most believe libraries are essential at the personal as well as the community level. This group’s members are disproportionately younger than the general population. It also includes many parents, students, and job seekers, and more respondents with higher levels of education.
But then that’s no surprise.
Our public library has such good programming in the summer. Last night Eleanor and I went to a question and answer session with a YA writer, Margaret Peterson Haddix, and she was charming, and a local greek restaurant had donated baklava and it was a delightful evening.
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Jeanne, oh that sounds like a wonderful evening! And so good of the restaurant to donate baklava. Yum!
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I’m apparently an Information Omnivore – although I’m not sure the classification works quite so well if you live in a different country.
As for how Yale got the papers – I suspect they paid more…
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I am another library lover I am glad (but not surprised) to say. I read some of Harold Nicolson’s diaries a long time ago and it had a strange fascination as a masterpiece of defensive ruling class snobbery feeling itself to be in decline. Those darned public libraries allowing bedints like me to have a peek!
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Ian, I am not surprised you are a library lover. I’ve not read any of Nicolson’s diaries but the class snobbery does not surprise me. Vita was a snob too, probably even more so since she came from aristocracy. Such were the times and no doubt there are still plenty of wealthy snobs in both the UK and the US.
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MarinaSofia, library lover or infovor, I think it transcends countries 🙂 Yes, I suspect you are right about Yale paying more, but I’d have thought a UK library would want to find the funds to keep the papers there. Guess not.
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Me, too, but then it is probably not a surprise that I am a library lover! Cool that Vita’s papers are going to Yale–I wonder if they have other materials from her work/collection? There must be some sort of association? I’ve never been sure how certain collections end up at certain libraries that seem so very far away from where an author lived.
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Danielle, heh, definitely not a surprise that you are a library lover! 🙂 Yes, Yale does have some papers of Vita already, ones related to her affair and called-off elopement with Violet Trefusis. They also claim her garden writings will fit in nicely with some other garden writings from other authors that they have.
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I never quite know how I feel about writers’ papers being bought up by universities. On the one hand I’m really glad that they are going to be preserved and on the other it seems somehow immoral that they should go to the highest bidder regardless of whether that is the most appropriate place. Still, I’m glad they are somewhere near you as they mater to you, and I hope you do find a way of getting to see them.
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Alex, I don;t know about immoral, but there is definitely something unsavory about it, sort of like the family trying to make money of the deceased. I have no qualms about it when the writer is still alive and makes the deal him/herself. I doubt I will ever find myself at Yale to see Vita’s papers, but it is nice to dream 🙂
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Stefanie, I read an amazing book about Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson. It’s called Portrait of a Marriage and really, it was riveting. It’s written by her and her son, Nigel Nicolson. Here is my review of it:
http://bookpuddle.blogspot.ca/2007/07/portrait-of-marriage.html
I highly recommend it. The thing is A+ fascinating.
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Cipriano, oh yes, I have that book and read it in the days before blogging. It’s weel written. They were quite the couple weren’t they?
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Yes, I read it too – decades before blogging. Would be interested to read it again, if I could ever find the time.
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I have mixed feelings about this acquisition. Up yes it’s good to have important documents preserved and I would rather they go to an institution than to a private collector. But it’s disappointing that the location for them comes down to a question of who has the deepest pockets.
Thanks for that library quiz link which says I am an info omnivore. They were so flattering to Describe me as “With a median age of 40, Information Omnivores are a bit younger than the U.S. population.” If only that were so…..
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BookerTalk, manuscript acquisition does have an unpleasant underbelly, doesn’t it? And good going, a great library user and suddenly younger, can’t complain about that! 🙂
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Yes, I have mixed feelings too. It’s interesting actually as Britain has a cultural heritage export law which puts some strong regulations on foreign acquisition of its culture. This was either not considered culturally important enough to be covered or it managed to get an export licence because no-one else wanted it? There was a furore a couple of years ago over American Kelly Clarkson buying Jane Austen’s turquoise ring. (Here’s one article on the issue: http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/20677)
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