Accession GA52 - Bertram R. Davis collection.

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Bertram R. Davis collection.

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SCA82-GA52

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Physical description

1.81 m of textual records.
16 photographs : b&w and col. ; 17 x 12 cm or smaller

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Name of creator

Biographical history

Bertram Rolland Davis was born in Bristol in 1897. Financial and familial situations prevented him from attending University, and after high school he began to work for the cable company established by his father, where he would stay for forty years. When not working he spent his free time as an amateur scholar with an interest in the Romantics and their links to Bristol. In particular, his interests tended towards former Poet Laureate Robert Southey and boy poet Thomas Chatterton. He corresponded with many of the leading Romantic scholars and critics of the twentieth century including Raymond D. Havens, E.H.W. Meyerstein, Maurice H. Fitzgerald, and Earl Leslie Griggs, and others. Davis also played an active role in preserving the history of Bristol and its famous residents.
To support his research, Davis purchased as many documents relating to the Romantics as he could afford. He amassed a collection of forty-five manuscript groups comprised of original documents by Southey, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and their contemporaries as well as an extensive library relating to his academic interests. His library is known as the Bertram R. Davis “Robert Southey” collection.
After Davis’ death, his personal library, manuscript groups, correspondence, and research files were acquired by the University of Waterloo.
(Bertram R. Davis / Kenneth Curry.)
(Catalogue of the Bertram R. Davis "Robert Southey" Collection / compiled by Jane Britton. -- Waterloo: University of Waterloo Library, 1990.)

Custodial history

Scope and content

Collection consists of materials created and accumulated by Bertram R. Davis on the history of Bristol and the romantics. Includes correspondence between 164 correspondents, 45 manuscript groups, research notes, photographs, clippings, articles, offprints, excerpts, and other ephemera. Also included is a file of correspondence from Bertram donated by Kenneth Curry and a file of correspondence relating to portraits of Southey donated by Dr. Warren U. Ober.

Arranged in six series as follows:
1. Manuscripts Held in Trust
2. Chattertonian Manuscript;
3. Correspondence;
4. Articles, Offprints, etc.;
5. Bertram R. Davis Research Files;
6. Visual Materials.

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Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

Acquired in 1973 from Mrs. Doris Davis. Files 75a and 75b donated in 1986 by Kenneth Curry. File 171 donated in 2012 by Dr. Warren U. Ober.

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  • English
  • French
  • Portuguese

Script of material

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English, some French and some Portuguese.

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Description by Jessica Blackwell, Winter 2013.

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