Cyfres C1. - General letters to J. H. Davies,

The correspondence, 1885-1926, is very varied and reflects closely many facets of Welsh public, cultural and intellectual life during this period. There are a large number of invitations to J. H. Davies to attend various meetings, events and occasions and to deliver public lectures in Wales and beyond. He is often invited to subscribe to books and journals and to contribute to a large number of charities and worthy causes. -- After Davies's appointment as Registrar of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, in 1905, a large number of the letters relate to the college: its development, expansion, departments, academic staff, the convention of public lectures etc. A number of letters also concern the establishment and the early development of the National Library of Wales: its location at Aberystwyth, its building appeal fund, and the grant of a royal charter. -- Many of the letters are from academics, both historians and literary scholars, who write to J. H. Davies concerning their researches and writings. Welsh manuscripts and printed works feature prominently in the letters. There is a particular interest in his work on the Welsh ballads and his researches on Morgan Llwyd and Lewis Morris. -- Some letters concern the Calvinistic Methodist connexion and others the Church in Wales, especially the deliberations of the contentious Welsh Church Commission, set up in 1906, of which J. H. Davies was a member. There are also a few letters devoted to legal matters, particularly the running of the Cwrt Mawr estate. Several also concern local events and developments in the Tregaron-Llangeitho locality. A few of the correspondents are engaged in local history and family history research.