| Description | Papers, 1937-1977, of Sonia Orwell. Her papers include letters received, 1937-1977 and undated, from over 160 correspondents, including Francis Bacon, William Coldstream, Cyril Connolly, Malcolm Muggeridge, Anthony Powell, Stephen Spender, Julia Strachey, and other prominent literary figures; some personal items, 1940-1975. Her correspondence relating to George Orwell, his estate, and his son Richard, 1950-1970, includes letters from Orwell's executor Sir Richard Rees, 1950-1955, letters from Orwell's sister Avril Dunn, 1950-1962, copies of letters from Dwight Macdonald re biography, 1956-1964, and correspondence with A M Heath & Co (Orwell's agents) and with publishers including Secker & Warburg (Orwell's UK publishers) and Harcourt Brace (Orwell's US publishers) about Orwell's publications, royalties, permissions and film rights, 1950-1963. |
| AdminHistory | Sonia Mary Brownell, born in 1918, was Cyril Connolly's editorial assistant at the magazine Horizon, where she met George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair) in 1945. They married in 1949, a few weeks before Orwell's death in January 1950. With David Astor and Richard Rees, she established the George Orwell Archive at University College London, opened in 1960. With Ian Angus, she edited 'The collected essays, journalism and letters of George Orwell' (4 volumes, Secker & Warburg, London, 1968). Between 1958 and 1965 she was married to Michael Pitt-Rivers. She died in London in 1980. |