Virginia Woolf papers
Scope and Contents
The Virginia Woolf Papers consist of 2.25 linear feet of material, dating from 1902 to 1956. Types of materials include correspondence, reading notes, drafts of essays and short stories, corrected page proofs of novels and collected essays, printed ephemera, and photographs. The bulk of the collection was assembled by Frances Hooper (1892-1986) and bequeathed to Smith College in 1986. A few additional manuscripts have been added through purchase and gift. The papers are arranged in six series.
Dates of Materials
- Creation: 1902-1956
Creator
- Woolf, Virginia, 1882-1941 (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for use without restriction beyond the standard terms and conditions of Smith College Special Collections.
Conditions Governing Use
Materials in this collection may be governed by copyright. For reproductions of materials that are governed by fair use as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission to cite or publish is required. Researchers are responsible for determining who may hold materials' copyrights and obtaining approval from them. Researchers do not need anything further from Smith College Special Collections to move forward with their use.
Biographical / Historical
- 1882
- 25 January: Born Adeline Virginia Stephen.
- 1895
- 5 May: Death of mother, Julia Stephen.
- 1899
- Virginia's brother, Thoby Stephen, attends Cambridge, where he meets members of the future Bloomsbury Group (Lytton Strachey, Leonard Woolf, Clive Bell).
- 1904
- 22 February: Death of father, Leslie Stephen. Travels in Italy. Moves to Gordon Square. 14 December: Virginia's first publication, an unsigned review, appears in the Guardian.
- 1905
- Travels in Spain and Portugal.
- 1906
- Travels in Greece. 20 November: Death of brother, Thoby Stephen.
- 1907
- 7 February: Marriage of Vanessa Stephen and Clive Bell. April: Moves to 29 Fitzroy Square.
- 1908
- 4 February: Nephew Julian Bell is born.
- 1909
- 17 February: Lytton Strachey proposes marriage to Virginia, and she accepts. The engagement is soon called off.
- 1910
- 19 August: Nephew Claudian [Quentin] Bell is born.
- 1912
- 10 August: Marries Leonard Woolf.
- 1913
- Suicide attempt.
- 1915
- March: The Voyage Out (originally entitled Melymbrosia) is published.
- 1917
- Formation of Hogarth Press.
- 1918
- May: Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians is published.
- 1919
- July: The Woolfs buy Monk's House. 20 October: Publication of Night and Day.
- 1921
- March: Publication of Monday or Tuesday.
- 1922
- October: Jacob's Room published. December: Meets Vita Sackville-West.
- 1924
- Moves to 52 Tavistock Square.
- 1925
- April: Publication of The Common Reader. May: Publication of Mrs. Dalloway
- 1927
- May: To the Lighthouse is published.
- 1928
- Awarded Femina Vie Heureuse prize. October: Publication of Orlando. At Cambridge reads two papers on which A Room of One's Own is based.
- 1929
- October: Publication of A Room of One's Own.
- 1930
- February: Meets Ethel Smyth.
- 1931
- October: Publication of The Waves.
- 1932
- January: Death of Lytton Strachey. July: Letter to a Young Poet is published.
- 1933
- Flush is published by Hogarth Press.
- 1934
- September: Death of Roger Fry.
- 1937
- March: Publication of The Years. July: Julian Bell dies in Spanish Civil War.
- 1938
- June: Publication of Three Guineas.
- 1939
- August: Virginia and Leonard move to 37 Mecklenburgh Square.
- 1940
- July: Publication of Roger Fry: A Biography.
- 1941
- 26 February: Between the Acts is completed. 28 March: Commits suicide.
Extent
3.271 linear feet (6 containers)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Influential English writer best remembered for her innovative stream-of-consciousness novels. Papers include correspondence, reading notes, drafts of essays and short stories, corrected page proofs of novels and collected essays, printed ephemera, and photographs.
Arrangement
This collection is organized into six series:
- I. Correspondence of Virginia Woolf and Lytton Strachey, 1906-1956
- II. Letters by Virginia Woolf, 1916-1939
- III. Manuscripts by Virginia Woolf, 1916-1941
- IV. Hogarth Press Ephemera, 1917-1939
- V. Manuscripts by Others, 1904-1926
- VI. Photographs, 1902-1927
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The bulk of the collection was assembled by Frances Hooper (1892-1986) and bequeathed to Smith College in 1986. A few additional manuscripts have been added through purchase and gift.
Existence and Location of Copies
Select material in this collection has been digitized and is available to Smith-affiliated users at Virginia Woolf papers on Compass. Please consult with Special Collections staff or email specialcollections@smith.edu to request access to digital copies if you are not a Smith-affiliated user.
Subject
- Bell, Quentin. (Person)
- Davidson, Angus. (Person)
- Mansfield, Katherine, 1888-1923. (Person)
- Strachey, Lytton, 1880-1932. (Person)
- Walpole, Hugh, 1884-1941 (Person)
- Woolf, Leonard, 1880-1969. (Person)
- Hogarth Press. (Organization)
- Woolf, Virginia, 1882-1941 (Person)
- Woolf, Virginia, 1882-1941 (Person)
- Woolf, Virginia, 1882-1941 (Person)
- Bloomsbury group (Organization)
- Sadik, Nafis (Person)
- Woolf, Virginia, 1882-1941 (Person)
Source
- Hooper, Frances M. (Frances Milliken), 1892-1986, collector (Collector, Person)
- Title
- Finding aid to the Virginia Woolf papers.
- Status
- Legacy Finding Aid (Updated)
- Author
- Compiled by Karen V. Kukil
- Date
- 2003
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Sponsor
- Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Revision Statements
- 07/26/2017: This resource was modified by the ArchivesSpace Preprocessor developed by the Harvard Library (https://github.com/harvard-library/archivesspace-preprocessor)
- 2005-09-23: manoscmr1 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02-5c.xsl (sy2003-10-15).
- 2020-06-17: Finding aid copyeditied and brought up to standard as part of Description QC project
Repository Details
Part of the Mortimer Rare Book Collection Repository
