Archive of Lady Marilyn Butler

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The collection comprises the following series:

papers of the Edgeworth and Butler families
academic papers of Marilyn Butler
personal papers of Marilyn Butler
papers of Christina Colvin.

Dates

Creation: 1770-2015

Extent

9.76 Linear metres (144 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Conditions Governing Access

Some material is closed.

Preferred Citation

Oxford, Bodleian Libraries [followed by shelfmark and folio or page reference, e.g. MS. 22414/1, item 1].

Please see our help page for further guidance on citing archives and manuscripts.

Full range of shelfmarks:

MSS. 22414/1-41, 42a-b, 43-106, 107a-b, 108-142

Collection ID (for staff)

CMD ID 22414, 22988, 22989, 23948

Additional Description

Abstract

Archive of Lady Marilyn Butler

Biographical / Historical

Marilyn Speers Butler, Lady Butler (1937-2014) was an academic and literary critic. Her published works include Maria Edgeworth: A Literary Biography (1972), Romantics, Rebels, and Reactionaries: English Romantic Literarture and its Background, 1760-1830 (1982) and Mapping Mythologies: Countercurrents in Eighteenth-Century British Poetry and Cultural History (2015). Between 1993 and 2004 she was rector of Exeter College, University of Oxford.

Her husband was the psephologist David Butler (1924-2022) and the couple had three children. Marilyn also collaborated with her sister-in-law, the historian Christina Colvin, on two volumes of Maria Edgeworth's letters.

For more information, see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The first tranche of papers was transferred to the Bodleian in April 1983. The second tranche was donated by David Butler in January 2011. Two final tranches were donated by Ed Butler in May 2023.

Related Materials

For more materials relating to the Edgeworth family, see MSS. Eng. lett. c. 696-747, d. 529-532; Eng. misc. a. 30, b. 432, c. 894-905, d. 1299-1307, e. 1459-1477, f. 859-862, g. 356; Eng. poet. c. 83, d. 255, e. 187-190; Facs. c. 98-99; Photogr. c. 6, g. 2-4. For albums of the Edgeworth and Fox families, see MSS. Eng. c. 6068-6070, d. 2915.