Summary
Overview
1907-1961 (mostly 1909-1914)
Princeton University. Library. Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections
Manuscripts Division
One Washington Road
Princeton, New Jersey 08544 USA
Abstract
Dora Marsden was an English author, editor, and suffragette. The collection contains correspondence about Marsden’s books and periodicals, manuscripts sent to the periodicals, correspondence with other feminists, part of James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and correspondence with contemporary literary figures.
Description
Description
Consists of papers of Marsden, including correspondence relating to her books, The Definition of the Godhead,
The Mysteries of Christianity, and The Philosophy of the Time, and the three periodicals she edited, The Freewoman,
The New Freewoman, and The Egoist. Contained in the collection are manuscripts sent to the periodicals, although the bulk of this material appeared in The Freewoman. There is also correspondence between feminists, such as Harriet Shaw Weaver, Mary Gawthorpe, and Grace Jardine, and an exchange of letters among leading suffragists, including Emmeline and Cristabel Pankhurst of the Women's Social and Political Union.
In January of 1911, Marsden broke away from this group and founded The Freewoman to express her feminist views. When the publisher of The Freewoman went bankrupt, the editors reorganized their periodical to form The New Freewoman, continuing their feminist philosophy, but within six months of its publication, encouraged by Ezra Pound, the magazine became The Egoist and reflected a greater interest in literature and literary subjects. Included is a fragment of James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, which appeared in serial form in The Egoist.
A special section of the collection groups together correspondence of well-known literary contemporaries of Marsden, such as Rebecca West, H. G. Wells, Ezra Pound, D. H. Lawrence, Storm Jameson, and others. Many of Storm Jameson's letters in the correspondence relate to The Definition of the Godhead.
Collection Creator
Biography
Marsden was an English editor, author, and suffragette.
Access and Use
Access Restrictions
Collection is open for research use.
Use Restrictions
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. No further photoduplication of copies of material in the collection can be made when Princeton University Library does not own the original. Permission to publish material from the collection must be requested from the Associate University Librarian for Rare Books and Special Collections. The library has no information on the status of literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for determining any questions of copyright.
Preferred Citation
Dora Marsden Collection; 1907-1961 (mostly 1909-1914), Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.
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