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Royal Holloway, University of London

PURDIE, Professor Edna (1894-1968)

IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0505 PP4

Held at: Royal Holloway, University of London

Title: PURDIE, Professor Edna (1894-1968)

Date(s): [1890]-1968

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 5 boxes or 0.05m3

Name of creator(s): Purdie | Edna | 1894-1968 | Professor of German

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born 1894; educated privately and at Trinity College of Music and King's College London; research work on the literary ballad in English, Somerville College, Oxford University, 1916-1917; Lecturer in German, University of Liverpool, 1917-1921; Independent Lecturer in German and Teutonic Philology, University College of North Wales, Bangor, 1921-1933; served on the Court of the University of Wales, 1926-1929; Member of the Council, University College of North Wales, 1928; Professor of German Language and Literature, Bedford College, University of London, 1933-1962; Member of Senate of University of London, 1950-1962; President of the Music Society, Bedford College; Fellow of Trinity College of Music, 1951; Chairman of Committee of Management, Warburg Institute, University of London, 1945-1965; Chairman, 1950-1953, and Director, 1953-1956, Institute of Germanic Languages and Literature; Emeritus Professor, 1962; retired 1962; died 1968.

Publications: editor of Von deutscher art und kunst (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1924); editor of Herodes und Mariamne (Oxford, 1943); Poems. Selected and edited by Edna Purdie (Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1953); Friedrich Hebbel, etc (Oxford University Press, London, 1932); Studies in German literature of the eighteenth century: some aspects of literary affiliation (Athlone Press, London, 1965); The story of Judith in German and English literature (Honoré Champion, Paris, 1927); editor of Henry Handel Richardson: some personal impressions (Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1957); A history of German literature (Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London, 1959); editor of Essays and addresses in literature (Routledge and Sons, London, 1935); editor of Lessing's dramatic theory. Being an introduction to and commentary on his 'Hamburgische Dramaturgie' (Cambridge University Press, 1939).

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Files of correspondence, 1907-1968, notably from Elsie Butler; Henry Handel Richardson; Professor Lizzie Susan Stebbing, Professor of Philosophy, Bedford College; Mary Bosquanet; Mona MacDonald; Margaret E Atkinson; Professor James Gibson, Emeritus Professor of Logic and Philosophy, University College of North Wales; Dame Lillian Margery Penson, Professor of Modern History, Bedford College; Elizabeth Mary Middleton; Margaret Deanesly, Professor of History at (successively) Royal Holloway College and Bedford College; Phyllis Hartnoll; George Bing [rel to Prof Gertrud, Director of Warburg Institute?]; Professor Herbert Norman Howells, Emeritus Professor of Music, University of London; Dr Thomas Cecil Hunt, Consulting Physician at St Mary's Hospital Paddington; Hannah Margaret Mary Closs; JE Dobson; and Elizabeth Kydd. This section also contains correspondence relating to the Reichel Concert Trust, 1949-1966, Purdie's retirement, 1962, the decision to admit men to Bedford College, 1963-1964, and the death of Professor Dame Lillian Margery Penson, 1963-1967. Diaries, 1930-1953 and address book, 1962; testimonials, 1907-1933; newspaper cutting, 1914-1967; photographs of Purdie, her family and friends, [1890-1968]; papers relating to Purdie's memorial service, 1968; miscellaneous publications, 1939-1964, including a copy of German life and letters, vol XVI, 1963, a special edition presented to Purdie.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English with some German

System of arrangement:

Purdie's arrangement of the files by correspondent has been retained, though items within the files have been sorted into chronological order.

Conditions governing access:

Open to all registered users of the Royal Holloway, University of London Archives.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies may be supplied, subject to the condition of the original. Requests to publish original material should be directed to the College Archivist.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

Handlist available in the Royal Holloway, University of London Archives reading room.

Detailed catalogue

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

The papers were transferred from the Bedford College Archives when the College merged with Royal Holloway in 1985.

Immediate source of acquisition:

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

The Royal Holloway, University of London Archives hold papers relating to the Purdie Music Bequest Fund (BC AR321/2/9). The papers of Dorothy Reich (PP23) contain material relating to Purdie's revision of A history of German literature (Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London, 1959), correspondence with Olga Roncoroni and publishers relating to the editing and publication of Henry Handel Richardson: some personal impressions (Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1957), and a photograph of her as a child in fancy dress, 1905.

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Archivist's note: Compiled by Sarah Aitchison as part of the AIM25 project.