Arnold Family Archive
Details
Type of record: Archive
Title: Arnold Family Archive
Classmark: BC MS 19c Arnold
Creator(s): Arnold Family()
Date(s): 1810-1894
Language: English
Size and medium: Approximately 300 letters held in 14 envelopes, 1 picture frame, 1 bound volume, and 2 folders in 1 portfolio and 3 boxes on 1 shelf, principally manuscript with some photocopies; together with 27 volumes of diaries, notebooks, and other works, partly held in 2 boxes.
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/7285
Description
Correspondence: Series I, Letters of Thomas Arnold: 107 letters to family members and friends. Series II, Letters of Mary Arnold: 45 letters to family members and friends. Series III, Miscellaneous family letters: 18 letters. Also, (a)-(d), a further 34 letters of Thomas Arnold, 5 of them photocopies, with other small fragments, (e) 19 letters of Jane Arnold (Mrs W. E. Forster) to family members, (f) an album of 14 letters from Matthew Arnold to Robert Browning and 2 letters from Mrs Arnold to Browning after Arnold's death, (g) portfolio of Mary Arnold's letters to her sister, (h) box containing a xerograph of Thomas Arnold junior's letters to family members from 1850-1896, (i) photocopies of other letters of Thomas Arnold, kept with the records of his conversations between 1825 and 1841. Diaries, notebooks and other papers: Contents include travel diaries, journals, poems, family records and pedigrees, and Mrs Arnold's records of Thomas Arnold's conversations.
Additional items listed Sep 2017:
- a photograph of Mary Arnold [Bc Ms 19c Arnold/1/30].
- letters [photocopies] from Mary Arnold to J.P. Gell and his father [BC MS 19c Arnold/2/a-d]
Biography or history
Thomas Arnold (1795-1842), who became headmaster of Rugby in December 1827, married Mary Penrose (1791-1873) in 1820. They had eleven children, of whom nine survived. Matthew Arnold, the poet and critic was the eldest son.
Provenance
The papers were originally in the Arnold home at Fox How, Westmorland, in the possession of Dr Arnold's youngest daughter, Miss Frances Arnold, who died in 1923. From her they descended to Mrs Florence O'Brien of Ballyalla, Co. Clare, who was a granddaughter of Dr Arnold (a daughter of his son William, whose children were subsequently adopted by their aunt Jane (Mrs W.E. Forster) and all assumed the name of Arnold-Forster). Mrs O'Brien bequeathed the papers to the late Miss Dorothy Ward, and thence they descended to her niece Mrs Moorman.
System of arrangement
The BC MS 19c Arnold catalogue is based on an historic inventory. The arrangement of material does not necessarily represent the original order of the archive and it is considered partly processed by an archivist. When making requests to consult, please be aware that there may be discrepancies between description and physical arrangement. The retrievable unit for this collection is file level.
Access and usage
Access
Access to this material is unrestricted.