19 items

Agency History/Biographical note:
Bloomsbury group is a name given to a group of about two dozen British writers and artists who met in the Bloomsbury area of London between 1907 and 1930 to discuss aesthetic and philosophical issues. Represented in this collection are:
Lytton Strachey, critic and essayist, was born in 1880 in London to Lieutenant-General Richard and Jane Maria Strachey. He studied history at Liverpool University, then spent four years at Trinity College, Cambridge. His first book, "Landmarks in French literature," was published in 1912. He published many other books until his death on January 21, 1932 in Hungerford, England.
Vanessa Bell, artist and illustrator, was born in 1879 to Leslie Stephen and Julia Jackson. She attended Sir Arthur Cope's School of Art from 1896-1901, when she gained admission to the Royal Academy Schools. In 1905 she founded the Friday Club, a meeting place for artists. Here she met Clive Bell, whom she married in 1907. She illustrated dust jackets for her sister Virginia Woolf's books. She died on April 7, 1961, in Charleston, England.
Roger Eliot Fry, artist, was born in 1866 to Sir Edward and Lady Mariabella Fry. Between 1891 and 1894 he studied art on the continent. For the next two years he lectured and painted. From 1900 on, Fry wrote many articles and reviews. He worked as the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for five years. He founded the Omega Workshops in 1913, and worked closely with Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. He died in London on September 9, 1934.
E. M. (Edward Morgan) Forster, author, was born on January 1, 1879 to Edward Morgan Llewellyn and Alice Clara Forster. After leaving King's College, Cambridge, Forster travelled through Greece and Italy. He published his first novel in 1905, entitled "Where Angels Fear to Tread." He wrote many other novels and short stories. Forster died on June 7, 1970 at Coventry, England.
Duncan Grant, artist, was born in 1885 in Scotland. He lived primarily in Burma until 1893 when he began preparatory school in England. In 1902 and 1903 he visited Italy, and he spent 1906-7 in Paris studying under Jaques Emile Blanche. In 1918 he had a daughter with Vanessa Bell. In 1941, he received his most important commission, decorating the interior of the church at Upper Berwick in Sussex. He died at Aldermaston, England on May 8, 1978.

Scope and Content:
Letters by five members of the Bloomsbury Group; menu (9 Jan. 1959) of luncheon for Forster's birthday held at King's College Cambridge; and photograph (1961) of Strachey's Berkshire residence.

Cite as: Brownell Collections of Bloomsbury Authors, Mount Holyoke College, Archives and Special Collections, South Hadley, Massachusetts

Access Restrictions: Unrestricted

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