Collection context
Summary
- Creator:
- Partridge, Eric, 1894-1979 and Pearse, Archibald Ernest, 1896-?
- Abstract:
- The Pearse mss., 1916-1979, are the letters of Eric Honeywood Partridge, 1894-1979, author and lexicographer, late of Devonshire, England, to Archibald Ernest Pearse, 1896- , former teacher and customs officer of Brisbane, Australia.
- Extent:
- 1 Box (1 standard)
- Language:
- Materials are in English .
- Preferred citation:
[Item], Pearse mss., Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
Background
- Biographical / Historical:
Eric Partridge (1894-1979) was born February 6, 1894, in Poverty Bay, New Zealand, son of John Thomas (a farmer) and Ethel Annabella (Norris) Partridge. In 1907, the family moved to Brisbane, Australia where Partridge passed his school years graduating from the University of Queensland in 1921, after studying Classics, French and English. He received his B.Litt. (with first class honors) from Oxford University in 1923. Serving in the Australian infantry during World War I, he lived through the horror of the Gallipoli campaign in 1915. In 1925, Partridge married Agnes Dora Vye–Parmenter with whom he had one daughter, Rosemary Ethel Honeywood Mann. After teaching for two years as a university lecturer in Manchester and London, Partridge gave up a promising academic career to found the small London publishing house, Scholartis. The press was moderately successful until the Great Depression, when he was forced to take on work as a free–lance writer. He often commented that the Depression allowed him to discover his real love and talent for writing books.
Archibald Ernest Pearse, 1896-?, was a poet and WWI veteran as well as a former teacher and customs officer in Brisbane, Australia.
- Scope and Content:
Scattered letters span the period from 1916 to 1970 but the bulk cover the years from 1971 to 1979. Throughout the correspondence Partridge speaks primarily of his own writings with an occasional mention of health and family, comments on the progress of Pearse's novel, "The Man of the People," and refers at intervals to certain other writers: Harold Edward James Allridge, Noel Pemberton Billing, Roger James Cholmeley, Arthur Hoey Davis, George Stuart Gordon, Winston Mawdsley Graham, Geoffrey Edward West Household, Jack Lindsay, Oliver Joseph Simon, Charles Percy Snow, baron Snow, Oliver Stonor, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien.
Some of the letters bear notes appended by Pearse. Pearse's letters to Partridge may be found in the Partridge mss. The proof of one of Partridge's articles, Confessions of a Lone Lexicographer, is enclosed with the letter of November 25, 1975.
- Acquisition information:
- Purchase: 1980
- Arrangement:
The collection is arranged chronologically.
- Physical location:
- Lilly - Stacks
Indexed Terms
Access
- RESTRICTIONS:
-
This collection is open for research.
Many collections are housed offsite; retrieval requires advance notice. Please make an appointment a minimum of one week in advance of your visit.
- TERMS OF ACCESS:
-
Photography and digitization may be restricted for some collections. Copyright restrictions may apply. Before publishing, researchers are responsible for securing permission from all applicable rights holders, then filling out the Permission to Publish form.
- PREFERRED CITATION:
-
[Item], Pearse mss., Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.
- CAMPUS:
- Indiana University Bloomington
- LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
-
1200 East Seventh StreetBloomington, Indiana 47405-5500, USA
- CAMPUS:
- Indiana University Bloomington
- CONTACT:
-
(812) 855-2452liblilly@indiana.edu