Alfred R. Orage Archive
Details
Type of record: Archive
Title: Alfred R. Orage Archive
Classmark: BC MS 20c Orage
Creator(s): Orage, A R (1873-1934)()
Date(s): 1881-1997
Language: English
Size and medium: 12 boxes and 8.5 shelves of books and periodicals; diagrams, manuscript notebooks, pamphlets, photographs, leather wallet, artworks, press cuttings, poster, manuscript papers, typescript papers
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/7315
Collection group(s): English Literature
Description
The collection includes notebooks, press cuttings and articles. There are various letters to and from A. R. Orage and Jessie Orage (née Dwight). These are from before and after their marriage in 1927 and include letters from friends and business correspondents. The subjects include the launch of the 'New English Weekly' and the death of A. R. Orage. The collection includes miscellaneous family papers, notes of lectures given by Orage (c.1931), 'New Age', vols 1-49, 1907-1931 (wanting vol. 32); 'New English Weekly' vols 1-35, 1932-1949; books and periodical parts.
Biography or history
Alfred Richard Orage was born at Dacre, near Bradford in 1873, but following the death of his father, the family moved to Fenstanton in Huntingdonshire.
Orage became a pupil teacher at the village school and then attended a teachers' training college at Culham, Oxfordshire. In 1893 he took a post as an elementary school teacher in Leeds and began to develop wider interests, particularly in literature and socialism. Orage co-founded the Leeds Art Club in 1900.
As a freelance journalist, Orage moved to London in 1906. With the financial backing of George Bernard Shaw and others he bought a weekly review magazine, the 'New Age', which he edited until 1922. Around this time Orage attended lectures by the mystic and philosopher George Gurdjieff.
In 1923 Orage began to work on behalf of Gurdjieff and subsequently went to America. Here he lead study groups on Gurdjieff's teachings. Orage's first wife Jean (née Walker) granted him a divorce in 1927 and he married Jessie Richards Dwight. Jessie was the co-owner of the Sunwise Turn bookshop and the daughter of a dealer in building supplies from Albany.
The Orages returned to England in 1930. In London Orage became involved with politics. He supported the growing social credit movement. In 1932 the Orages founded the 'New English Weekly' a journal devoted to reviewing public affairs, literature and the arts. Orage edited this until his death in 1934.
Provenance
The majority of the collection was deposited by a family member in June 2001. A substantial accrual was received from the Orage family in 2017. Items BC MS 20c Orage/8/1-3 were deposited by a donor in Australia in 2006 and item BC MS 20c Orage/8/4 was deposited by a donor in the U.S.A. in 2006.
System of arrangement
The retrievable unit for this collection is file level.
Access and usage
Access
This collection is subject to various access conditions. Please see individual catalogue descriptions for further details on access.