Elizabeth Mary Russell, Countess Russell Papers

The collection consists of manuscripts, journals (scattered years between 1896-1941), journal typescripts, ephemera, and correspondence by Countess Russell. There is also correspondence addressed to Countess Russell in the collection, and manuscripts by Mathilde Blind (Love's completeness : a poem), E.M. Forster (Nassenheide), Geoffrey Kerr (A scenario), and Katherine Mansfield (Poems).

1. Manuscripts (Boxes 1-3), are arranged alphabetically by author and title. The manuscripts cover a wide span of Elizabeth Russell's writing career beginning with plays she wrote in 1905 to amuse her children and including a prose piece she wrote in 1940 about traveling with a dog. Included in this series are: articles, book reviews, essays, plays, short stories, and travel accounts. The series also includes manuscripts by other authors, most notably, Augustine Birrell, Mathilde Blind, E.M. Forster, Geoffrey Kerr, Katherine Mansfield, and Amélie Rives.

2. Journals (Boxes 4-8), are arranged chronologically. The journals cover the years 1896-1899, 1901-1902, 1904, 1910, 1912-1916, 1918-1941. The journal volumes vary in length from just a few pages to several hundred pages; also, several of the volumes are only partially filled.

3. Journal Typescripts (Boxes 9-12), are arranged chronologically. The typescripts were typed at the request of Elizabeth von Arnim Butterworth in preparation for the biography of her mother, Countess Elizabeth Russell, Elizabeth of the German Garden, which she published in 1958 (written under the pseudonym, Leslie De Charms). The typescripts provide valuable assistance in reading the journals, especially when Elizabeth Russell's handwriting is difficult to decipher. Evidently, an original copy and at least two carbon copies were made at that time and the majority of the typescripts in the collection are carbon copies; the typescripts also contain many autograph notes made by Elizabeth von Arnim Butterworth.

4. Correspondence (Boxes 13-39), is arranged alphabetically by author. This series consists mainly of personal letters written by Elizabeth Russell, including letters to her daughters, Elizabeth von Arnim Butterworth (687 letters), Eva von Arnim-Schlagenthin (22 letters), Beatrix von Hirschberg (41 letters). This group includes letters to other family members and friends, including letters written to Marie Luise Backe (61 letters), Henry Herron Beauchamp (12 letters), Alexander Stewart Frere (237 letters), Katherine Mansfield (42 letters, copies and autograph), Maud Ritchie (87 letters), and Hugh Walpole (112 letters).

This series also includes letters written by Sir Sydney Beauchamp, Sir Max Beerbohm, Poultney Bigelow, Augustine Birrell, E.M. Forster, Rudyard Kipling, Odette Kuen, Vernon Lee (Violet Paget), Lady Constance Malleson, Katherine Mansfield, George Moore, John Middleton Murry, Bertrand Russell, John Francis Stanley Russell, 2nd Earl, George Santayana, Ethel Smyth, and H.G. Wells.

5. Ephemera (Box 40), is arranged alphabetically by title. The ephemera consists mainly of articles by and about Elizabeth Russell, articles about John Francis Stanley Russell, 2nd Earl, miscellaneous receipts, cards, and notes, and a large scrapbook of reviews of books by Elizabeth Russell (1898-1905).

Strengths of the collection:

This collection has several strong subject points for the purpose of research. Elizabeth Russell's journals, together with her personal letters, provide an almost complete portrait of her life, including her literary triumphs, love affairs, and personal tragedies. In her journals and letters she describes the life of the leisured upper class ladies (of whom she was one) and gentlemen in the years between the world wars in England and on the Continent.

Though Elizabeth Russell was born in Australia she always considered herself thoroughly English and thus her writing provides a unique view of the many places she lived and visited, especially of Germany and the German people. The collection also contains many letters and manuscripts which describe life during World War I and the beginning years of World War II in France, England and the United States; there are also many references to Adolf Hitler, the Nazis, the treatment of the Jewish people, and the Battle of Britain.

The collection does have areas of weakness; there is a lack of manuscript material for Elizabeth Russell's works, especially of material from the writing of her many published novels. We also know, from published accounts, Elizabeth Russell requested her daughter to destroy letters and material which were deemed to be of an embarrassing nature, thus an unknown amount of love letters and personal papers were burned in 1958.