Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Edith Russell fonds
General material designation
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
Level of description
Fonds
Reference code
RC0275
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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1767-1977 (Creation)
Physical description area
Physical description
3.8 m of textual records and graphic material.
Realia.
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Edith Finch was born to Edward Bronson Finch, a physician, and his wife, Delia, on 5 November 1900 in New York city. She was educated at Bryn Mawr college and St. Hilda's College, Oxford. Returning to Bryn Mawr, she was employed from time to time as an instructor of English literature, but she never became a permanent member of the faculty. She published biographies of Wilfred Scawen Blunt in 1938 and Carey Thomas, a president of Bryn Mawr, in 1947. She was a close friend of Lucy Martin Donnelly, English professor at Bryn Mawr, and a friend of both Bertrand Russell and his first wife Alys. She married Bertrand Russell in December 1952 and supported him in his many social activist causes. She died on 1 January 1978.
Custodial history
Scope and content
There have been two accruals. The contents of the first accrual mainly concerns Edith's life after her marriage to Russell while the second is about Edith's life before her marriage.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
The first accual (Rec. Acq. 967) was acquired on 24 June 1985. Most of the accrual arrived at McMaster University on 11 June 1986. The second accrual (Rec. Acq. 1685) was acquired on 31 November 2012. Both accruals were acquired from the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation. The second accrual contains materials that were supposed to form part of the first accrual but could not be located at that time.
Arrangement
The first accrual has been arranged in the following series: correspondence, books by Edith Russell, manuscripts by Edith Russell, manuscripts by others, personal documents, diaries, photographs, greeting cards, miscellaneous, Lucy Donnelly papers. The correspondence is arranged into the following sub-series: general, family, George Allen & Unwin Ltd., travel, large print books, financial/legal, domestic, Finch genealogy, press clippings, Bertrand Russell: his correspondence, death of Bertrand Russell. There are 38 photographs in the first accrual. The second accrual is arranged into the following series: correspondence; photographs; research materials, notebooks, artwork and printed materials. Both accruals contain Lucy Donnelly materials.
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
There are no access restrictions.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
First accrual: Online Finding Aid
Second accrual: Online Finding Aid
Associated materials
A will signed by Edith Finch on 4 May 1949 is in the Anton Felton fonds, Box 5.66, File 8.
Accruals
Further accruals are not expected.
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number area
Standard number
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Control area
Description record identifier
RC0275