| Description | Papers of and relating to George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair), 1875-[1997], comprising manuscripts and typescripts, 1917-1959 (Ref: A); literary notebooks, 1939-[1949] (Ref: B); Spanish Civil War material, 1936-1939 (Ref: C); general notebooks, 1943-[1950] (Ref: D); political diaries, 1938-1942 (Ref: E); domestic diaries, 1938-1948 (Ref: F); letters from Orwell, 1911-1949 (Ref: G); letters to Orwell, 1928-1950 (Ref: H); associated material, 1935-1949 (Ref: I); personalia, 1903-1971 (Ref: J); Eileen Blair papers [1920s]-1967 (Ref: K); family papers, 1875-1968 (Ref: L); posthumous material, 1950-1972 (Ref: M); proofs, 1932-1953 (Ref: N); radio scripts, 1943-1957 (Ref: O); adaptation scripts and screenplays of Orwell's work, 1952-1986 (Ref: P); documentary scripts, 1946-1983, of recorded interviews about Orwell (Ref: Q); audio-visual cassettes, 1983-[1997], about Orwell and his work (Ref: R); Sonia Orwell papers, 1937-1977 (Ref: S); photographs, 1893-1984 (Ref: T). |
| AdminHistory | Born in Motihari, Bengal, India, 25 June 1903; educated at Eton, 1917-1921; served in Burma in the Indian Imperial Police, 1922-1928; lived for several years in poverty, as a dish-washer in Paris, France, and as a tramp in England, 1928-1931; school teacher at the Hawthorns, Middlesex, 1932-1933; part-time assistant in a Hampstead bookshop, London, 1934-1935; wrote books and novels, 1933-1949; married Eileen Maud O'Shaughnessy (died 1945), 1936; reviewer of novels for the 'New English Weekly', until 1940; visited areas of mass unemployment in Lancashire and Yorkshire, 1936; wounded in Spain fighting for the Republicans, 1937; member of the Home Guard during World War Two; worked for the British Broadcasting Corporation Eastern Service, 1940-1943; Literary Editor of 'Tribune', 1943-1945; war correspondent for the 'Observer', 1945; regular contributor to the 'Manchester Evening News', 1943-1946; suffered from tuberculosis, often in hospital, 1947-1950; married Sonia Mary Brownell, 1949; died, 21 January 1950. Publications: 'Down and out in Paris and London' (Victor Gollancz, London, 1933); 'Burmese days' (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1934); 'The road to Wigan pier' (Victor Gollancz, London, 1937); 'Homage to Catalonia' (Secker & Warburg, London, 1938); 'Coming up for air' (Victor Gollancz, London, 1939); 'The lion and the unicorn' (Secker & Warburg, London, 1941); 'Animal farm' (Secker & Warburg, London, 1945); 'Critical essays' (Secker & Warburg, London, 1946); 'The English people' (Collins, London, 1947); 'Nineteen eighty-four' (Secker & Warburg, London, 1949); 'Shooting an elephant, and other essays' (Secker & Warburg, London, 1950). |