We here at Special Collections and University Archives at The University of Tulsa McFarlin Library are pleased to announce that the Edith Nesbit archive has been fully reprocessed and is now better organized and more easily accessible to patrons.
Edith Nesbit was the quinessential British children’s author who wrote such classics as The Treasure-Seekers and Five Children and It. She lived at Well Hall in Eltham, Kent, with her husband Hubert Bland and their children, along with their housekeeper Alice Hoatson, who had two children with Hubert Bland. Nesbit led an unconventional, “Bohemian” life with a great deal of creativity and hospitality. The Blands opened their home to and were friends with many famous literary figures, such as George Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells. Many authors of children’s literature such as C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling have cited Nesbit as an inspiration for their own works.
Our collection comes from several acquisitions of papers from her two biographers: Doris Langley Moore, who wrote an early biography in 1933, and Julia Briggs, who was able to expand on the private lives of the Bland family members in 1987.
The Nesbit archive is divided into 5 series: correspondence, work product, biographical research and notes, photographs and illustrations, and artifacts.
If you are interested in viewing the newly revised finding aid and inventory for the Nesbit collection, it is available here. Patrons interested in viewing the collection or purchasing scans from the collection may contact our department at speccoll@utulsa.edu.
