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Berta Ruck archive
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Miscellaneous papers

Miscellaneous papers of Berta Ruck, 1902-[early 1970s], including autograph and typescript drafts of verse, [1920s]-[1930s], many in multiple copies (ff. 1-123); lecture notes, [c. 1935]-[c. 1945] (ff. 124-224); a short story, 'April Folly', [c. 1935], apparently related to her novel Half Past Kissing Time (London, 1936) (ff. 225-248); and some thirteen letters to the author in English and German, [1903x1904]-1971 (ff. 264-283).
The correspondents include Clement Scott, [1903x1904] (f. 264), Marda Vanne, 9 October 1936 (f. 280), Harold Nicolson, 14 June 1962 (f. 281, on the death of his wife, Vita Sackville-West), and Quentin Bell, September 1971 (ff. 282-283, concerning his biography of Virginia Woolf); there are also three letters, 1929, from 'Harry', her Austrian lover (ff. 265-272, mostly in German). Also included are two leaves from Ruck's journal, June 1930 (ff. 249-250); reminiscences, [early 1970s], of Lydia Lopokova (ff. 251-259) with a photograph of her, [?1920s] (f. 260); press cuttings of an article by Ruck, September 1936 (f. 261), and of two articles relating to Virginia Woolf, 1972 (ff. 262-263); W. R. Oliver's school report at Shrewsbury School, 1929 (f. 284); programme for 'My Lady Molly' at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, 1902 (ff. 285-286); and page proofs for Chapter 8 of A Smile for the Past (London, 1935) (ff. 287-292).

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, December 1934-July 1935, containing journal entries and notes for fiction and for her autobiography. Some thirty-seven letters and cards, November 1934-July 1935, as well as press cuttings, photographs, theatre programmes and other ephemera, have been pasted into the volume.
The correspondents include Gwen [Ffrangcon-Davies], [November 1934] (f. 1a verso), Marda Vanne, 24 November 1934 (f. 1g verso), Hermon Ould, [22] December 1934 (f. 13 verso), Alec Waugh, December 1934-[1935] (ff. 16 verso, 28 verso), Vita [Sackville West], 6 January 1935 (f. 20 verso), and A. A. Ruck, 6-16 June 1935 (f. 34 verso, 37). The volume includes accounts of a visit to the 'Flower Medium' (ff. 6 verso, 12-13 verso), a description of Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies and Marda Vanne's cottage in Essex (f. 21), and a brief description of meeting Amy [Johnson] and her husband (f. 44). Ink sketches by Ruck are on ff. 9, 22 verso-23; photographs of her and of family members are on ff. 16 and 34. Cuttings pasted into the volume include her short story 'Selling Rodney' (f. 26) and the obituary for her uncle, Major-General Sir R. M. Ruck, from The Times, 19 March 1935 (f. 27 verso). A call sheet, 28 March 1935, for the film Car of Dreams (1935) is on f. 31.