James Lewis May Papers

Collection

Identifier: MS.1976.013

Staff Only

Scope and Content

This collection contains correspondence addressed to James Lewis May from various figures in the literary world and from those in the English Catholic community. His letters reflect his biographical and critical work on John Lane, Anatole France, Cardinal John Henry Newman and others, as well as his growing involvement with the Roman Catholic Church. Many letters are from French authors or concern his translation of works from the French. Also included here are letters written his daughter, Barbara Lewis May as well as some letters written between some of his correspondents, manuscript works by May and by some of his correspondents. The final series described in this finding aid also includes some May family papers dating back to 1814.

Dates

Creation: Majority of material found within Bulk, 1926-1940
Creation: 1814-1963

Access

Collection is open for research.

Restrictions on Use

The Clark Library owns the property rights to its collections but does not hold the copyright to these materials and therefore cannot grant or deny permission to use them. Researchers are responsible for determining the copyright status of any materials they may wish to use, investigating the owner of the copyright, and obtaining permission for their intended publication or other use. In all cases, you must cite the Clark Library as the source with the following credit line: The William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Biographical Note

James Lewis May was a prolific author, translator, and publisher of the first half of the twentieth century. In 1936, he published John Lane and the Nineties, and throughout the 1920s and 1930s, wrote other studies of writers such as Charles Lamb, George Eliot and Anatole France. In the 1930s, May converted to Roman Catholicism, and subsequently wrote a series of works on Cardinal John Henry Newman, Father George Tyrrell, and issues of interest to English Catholics.

Extent

3.0 Linear feet (1762 items)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The May papers include correspondence addressed to James Lewis May and his daughter, Barbara Lewis May, as well as manuscripts of works by May and his correspondents.

Organization

This collection is organized into the following series:

1. Letters to James Lewis May
2. Collections of Letters to James Lewis May
3. Letters to Barbara Lewis May
4. Miscellaneous letters
5. Manuscripts
6. May family papers

Physical Location

Clark Library

Provenance

Clark Library purchase, 1976.

Processing Note

This collection was originally processed as a separate series within the Oscar Wilde and His Literary Circle Collection, and as such, is physically housed and interfiled with the Wilde collection under call number "MS. Wilde," even though it is now described separately.

Many of the manuscript and print materials described within this finding aid have also been cataloged individually. Those individual records for print materials are available via the UCLA Library's online catalog, while the records for manuscript materials are accessible only through a physical card catalog located at the Clark.