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Berta Ruck archive
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Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, July 1940-June 1941, containing journal entries and comments on the progress of the war. Press cuttings relating to contemporary events, other ephemera and seventy-three letters, postcards and telegrams, May 1940-March 1941, mostly to the author, have been pasted in.
The correspondents include Michael Joseph, 12 July 1940 (f. 2), Harold Nicolson, 3 June 1940 (f. 2 verso), Helen Rees ('Jane Oliver'), 16 August 1940 (f. 10 verso), Robert Owen Morris, 19 August 1940 (f. 12 verso), Maurice Bowra, December 1940-February 1941 (ff. 26, 66 verso), Tony Thorne, August-September 1940 (ff. 32 verso, 35), Dolf Wyllarde, 27 November 1940 (f. 34 verso), Peter Wykeham-Barnes, [December 1940] (f. 35 verso), Alys Meirion, October-December 1940 (ff. 36 verso, 45 verso), Angela Thirkell, 8 November 1940 (f. 45), Edith Heal, 18 December 1940 (f. 47), Marda Vanne, November-December 1940 (ff. 50 verso-51), Bradwell T. Turner, 12 May 1940 (f. 53 verso), and Alec Waugh, 8 January 1941 (f. 54a-b). A photograph of Ruck is on f. 5 verso and there are pen drawings by her on ff. 10, 23. Press cuttings include political cartoons by David Low, from the Evening Standard (ff. 2 verso, 29 verso, 30 verso, 33 verso, 41, 46, 64 verso-65), and items relating to the deaths of John Llewelyn Rees (ff. 8 verso, 11, 68) and Amy Johnson (ff. 51 verso, 63 verso). Programmes for Christmas events in Aberdyfi and Tywyn, December 1940, are on ff. 38 verso and 48.

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, August 1932-May 1933, containing journal entries, impressions of her stay in Vienna, October-November 1932 (ff. 12-54) and notes for fiction, short stories and articles. Some forty-four personal and family letters, cards and telegrams; press cuttings referring to her and to contemporary events; photographs; theatre, concert and film programmes (mostly German); and other ephemera, 1929-1930, 1932-1933, have been pasted in or are loose in the volume.
The correspondents include her husband Oliver Onions, November 1932 (ff. 42 verso, 84), Alec Waugh, [September] 1932 (f. 10 verso), Ivan Phillipowsky, [December 1932] (f. 64), Ménie Muriel FitzGerald (née Dowie), [1933] (ff. 72-73), and John van Druten, 27 October 1932 (ff. 85-86); a letter from Amy Mollison [i.e. Amy Johnson] to the Secretary of the London Airplane Club, 21 November 1932, is also included (f. 91). There are references to Maurice Bowra, whom she befriended in Vienna (ff. 22 verso, 24, 32, 37-38 verso) and Eric Maschwitz (ff. 52, 56, 66 verso, 75 verso, 84 verso), and references throughout to aviation and the exploits of famous aviators of her acquaintance. There are pen and ink drawings by Ruck on ff. 37 verso and 57.

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, Aberdyfi, May 1945-December 1946, containing journal entries including comments on the end of the Second World War and its aftermath and notes for fiction, especially the novel Surprise Engagement (London, 1946) (here called 'They are engaged', ff. 27-73 passim). Some one hundred and forty-six letters, cards and telegrams, mostly from family and friends, January 1945-September 1946, cuttings and other ephemera have been pasted in.
The correspondents include Tony Thorne, January 1945-March 1946 (ff. 4 verso, 12 verso, 17a, 26 verso, 44, 56 verso, 65 verso, 73verso-74 verso, 75 verso, 79 verso), Miriam L. Rothschild, 4 January 1945 (f. 6), Ronald Staples, May-June 1945 (ff. 6, 10 verso), J[oseph] P[eter] T[horp], 6 June 1945 (f. 10 verso), Alec Waugh, July 1945-April [1946] (ff. 22, 75 verso, 80), Vicki Baum, 20 August 1945 (f. 24 verso), Bernard Darwin, 28 August 1945 (f. 26a), Oliver Onions, September-December 1945 (ff. 34, 35, 59 verso), A. E. Chesterton, 26 October 1945 (f. 41), Nancy Rodd [ie. Mitford], 12 January 1946 (f. 43 verso), Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, [11 November 1945] (f. 52 recto-verso), Marda Vanne, 11 November 1945 (f. 53), Osbert Sitwell, November-December 1945 (ff. 54 verso, 58 verso), Maurice Bowra, 22 December [1945] (f. 60 verso), Hermon Ould, 11 March 1946 (f. 74), Esmond Knight, [1946] (f. 75 verso), Ivor Brown, 20 August 1946 (f. 83 verso), Ambrose Heal, 16 September 1946 (f. 87), and C. A. Lejeune, 24 May [1946] (f. 89 verso). The volume contains references to the deaths of her friends Ménie Muriel FitzGerald (f. 1) and Edith Heal (f. 87), and conditions in London after VE Day (ff. 7, 8); also verse (f. 46) and an ink sketch (f. 51 verso) by Ruck. Pasted into the volume are 1945 General Election leaflets for Merioneth (ff. 17, 20 verso, 22), and photographs of Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies and Marda Vanne (f. 86).

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, October 1929-May 1930, containing journal entries recording her social life, family life and work in Windsor and London, as well as an account of her excursion to Zurich, Vienna and Budapest, April 1930 (ff. 41-47), a detailed description of the plane journey from Croydon, via Le Bourget, to Zurich, 17 April (ff. 36 verso-40 verso), and a typescript draft of a satirical play entitled 'Guests on Sunday' (ff. 12, 13 verso-18 verso). Some forty letters, cards and telegrams from family, friends and fans, photographs, cuttings, programmes and other ephemera have been pasted in.
The correspondents include Sheila Kaye-Smith, 12 January [1930] (f. 19 verso), Evelyn Waugh, [?1930] (f. 24), A. M. Ludovici, 27 March 1930 (f. 29 verso), and Alec Waugh, April 1930 (ff. 50, 52 verso). The volume contains sketches and drawings (f. 13, inside back cover) and poetry (inside front cover, f. 1) by Ruck. There are two lines of mirror writing on f. 29.

Kaye-Smith, Sheila, 1887-1956

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, May-October 1936, containing journal entries recording her social and family life in Henley-on-Thames and London, and notes for fiction, in particular the novel Half-Past Kissing-Time (London, 1936) and various Christmas themed short stories. Some twenty-six letters and telegrams, mostly from family and friends, cuttings, programmes and other ephemera have been pasted in.
The correspondents include her father A. A. Ruck, June-October 1936 (ff. 14, 79 verso), sister Ursie [Ursula Griffith], July-August 1936 (ff. 47 verso, 56 verso, 60), and husband O[liver Onions], 16 September 1936 (f. 67), Noel Langley, 10 July 1936 (f. 29), Alec Waugh, [n.d.] (f. 60), Gertrude Lawrence, 14 September 1936 (f. 64 verso) and Rebecca [West], [n.d.] (f. 79). The volume contains references to Amy [Johnson] Mollison (ff. 1, 8 verso) and Norman Haire (ff. 37 verso, 43 verso, 44 verso) and includes ink sketches by Ruck (ff. 52, 68) and the seating plan and menu for H. G. Wells' 70th birthday party on 13 October 1936 (ff. 75 verso-76).

Ruck, A. A. (Arthur Ashley), 1847-1939

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, October 1967-June 1968, including letters from Rupert Croft-Cooke, February 1968, and Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, [n.d.].

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, July 1970-January 1971, including letters from Shirley Hazzard, July-September 1970.

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, January-August 1967, including letters from George Mackay Brown, March 1967, Heather Jenner, February 1966-March 1967; and Glyn Jones, May 1967.

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, October 1971-June 1972, including letters from Cyril Connolly, [n.d.], and Brocard Sewell, February 1972.

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, April-October 1971, including a letter from Anthony Swerling, June 1971.

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, August 1968-October 1969, including letters from Glyn Tegai Hughes, August 1968, and Nancy Mitford, December 1968; and notes relating to her novel Ancestral Voices (London, 1972).

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, July 1972-January 1973, including letters from Rupert Croft-Cooke, July 1972, Elaine Morgan, [n.d.], and Gwyn Thomas, December 1971; and sketches for 'The Wild Elopement' (see also NLW MS 23745D for 'The Reckless Elopement'), and 'The Wishful Thought'.

The Edge of the World

A photocopy, [20 cent., third ¼], of a children's story entitled 'The edge of the world', written and illustrated by Berta Ruck and presented to Oliver Onions in December 1907.

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, 1957-1960, including letters from Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, February 1958, September 1959 and [n.d.], Eleanor Graham, September 1957, Harold Nicolson, September 1958, Brocard Sewell, February-March 1960, and Sacheverell Sitwell, March 1958; two sketches, 1901, which Ruck drew for a School of Art scholarship; and printed extracts from tributes to Alice Helena Alexandra Williams ('Alys Meirion') following her death in 1957, including Berta Ruck's broadcast in 'Woman's Hour'.

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, 1966, including letters from Heather Jenner, October 1966, Professor Gwyn Jones, September 1966, Llywelyn Phillips, August-September 1966, Denise Robins and Sylvia Thorpe, November 1966, and Raleigh Trevelyan, February 1966.

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, 1951-1956, including letters from Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, May 1953, and Emlyn Williams, July 1955; notes for her novels Fantastic Holiday (London, 1953) and The Men in Her Life (London, 1954); and a copy of Dock Leaves, 3.9 (Winter 1952).

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, May 1960-April 1961, including letters from Emyr Humphreys, February 1961, Hesketh Pearson, October 1960, and Vita Sackville-West, March 1961.

Humphreys, Emyr

Notebook

Notebook of Berta Ruck, April 1962-July 1964, including letters from Lord Toby Aldington, August 1962, Ursula Bloom, October 1963, Barbara Cartland, [n.d.], Harold B. Hewitt, October 1963, Heather Jenner, November 1963, Dyfnallt Morgan, October 1963, and Harold Nicolson, December 1962; and a memorial service card of her brother Oliver Laurence Ruck, Llanidloes Parish Church.

Notebooks

Thirteen notebooks, 1951-1973, containing journal entries; letters and postcards, many from relatives, literary agents and the media (relating in particular to her broadcasts on Welsh regional BBC programmes); photographs; ideas for fiction; and press cuttings of book reviews.

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