Colección GB 2108 KUAS50 - Murdoch, Iris (1919-1999): Letters to Barbara Dorf

Área de identidad

Código de referencia

GB 2108 KUAS50

Título

Murdoch, Iris (1919-1999): Letters to Barbara Dorf

Fecha(s)

  • 1960s-1990s (Creación)

Nivel de descripción

Colección

Volumen y soporte

1 folder

Área de contexto

Nombre del productor

Historia biográfica

Dame Jean Iris Murdoch was born on 15 July 1919 in Dublin; later moving with her family to Brook Green, Hammersmith. Murdoch was educated at Froebel Demonstration School at Colet Gardens; Badminton School, Bristol from 1932 and Somerville College Oxford; winning scholarships to both Badminton and Somerville College.

At Oxford, Murdoch was influenced by the classicist, Eduard Fraenkel, and her philosophy tutor Donald MacKinnon and soon joined the Communist Party. Murdoch gained a first in Classics in 1942 and was employed as assistant principal in the Treasury, 1942-1944; later joining the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, working in London, Brussels and Austria. Murdoch returned to London in 1946, winning a place at Vassar College and a Commonwealth Scholarship, however as she had declared herself a communist on her application for an American visa her application was denied. Murdoch studied at Newnham College, Cambridge, 1947-1948 and won a philosophy tutorship at St Anne's, Oxford, where she stayed until 1963, she later worked as a lecturer at Royal College of Art for four years.

Murdoch's first book Sartre: Romantic Rationalist was published in 1953 by Bowes and Bowes in a series titled 'Studies in Modern Thought' and her first novel Under the net was accepted for publication. She went on to write many books including The Bell, 1958, which achieved great commercial success and The Red and the Green, 1965, concerning the Easter rising, reflecting her Irish background. Murdoch was appointed DBE in 1987 and presented with an honorary degree from Kingston University in 1993. In 1997 Murdoch was diagnosed as suffering with Alzheimer's disease and died in Oxford on 8 February 1999.

Publications include: Existentialists and Mystics: Writings on Literature and Philosophy, 1997; A Fairly Honourable Defeat, 1970 and Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals, 1992.

Barbara Dorf studied at the Slade School of Art. She has exhibited in a large number of prominent London galleries and mixed shows, and in Paris and Belgrade. She is also a lecturer and an art historian. Her paintings were much admired by EH Gombrich and Iris Murdoch.

Institución archivística

Historia archivística

GB 2108 KUAS50 1960s-1990s collection 1 folder Murdoch , Dame , Jean Iris , 1919-1999 , author x Murdoch , Iris

Dame Jean Iris Murdoch was born on 15 July 1919 in Dublin; later moving with her family to Brook Green, Hammersmith. Murdoch was educated at Froebel Demonstration School at Colet Gardens; Badminton School, Bristol from 1932 and Somerville College Oxford; winning scholarships to both Badminton and Somerville College.

At Oxford, Murdoch was influenced by the classicist, Eduard Fraenkel, and her philosophy tutor Donald MacKinnon and soon joined the Communist Party. Murdoch gained a first in Classics in 1942 and was employed as assistant principal in the Treasury, 1942-1944; later joining the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, working in London, Brussels and Austria. Murdoch returned to London in 1946, winning a place at Vassar College and a Commonwealth Scholarship, however as she had declared herself a communist on her application for an American visa her application was denied. Murdoch studied at Newnham College, Cambridge, 1947-1948 and won a philosophy tutorship at St Anne's, Oxford, where she stayed until 1963, she later worked as a lecturer at Royal College of Art for four years.

Murdoch's first book Sartre: Romantic Rationalist was published in 1953 by Bowes and Bowes in a series titled 'Studies in Modern Thought' and her first novel Under the net was accepted for publication. She went on to write many books including The Bell, 1958, which achieved great commercial success and The Red and the Green, 1965, concerning the Easter rising, reflecting her Irish background. Murdoch was appointed DBE in 1987 and presented with an honorary degree from Kingston University in 1993. In 1997 Murdoch was diagnosed as suffering with Alzheimer's disease and died in Oxford on 8 February 1999.

Publications include: Existentialists and Mystics: Writings on Literature and Philosophy, 1997; A Fairly Honourable Defeat, 1970 and Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals, 1992.

Barbara Dorf studied at the Slade School of Art. She has exhibited in a large number of prominent London galleries and mixed shows, and in Paris and Belgrade. She is also a lecturer and an art historian. Her paintings were much admired by EH Gombrich and Iris Murdoch.

Acquired in 2008.

Papers of Iris Murdoch, 1960s-1990s, comprising informal letters to her friend Barbara Dorf spanning a thirty-year friendship. The collection also contains letters from John Bayley to Dorf, written presumably when Murdoch was too ill to do so herself or following her death, thanking Dorf for being a special friend to Iris; a letter from Dorf to Dr Rowe at Kingston University discussing the Iris Murdoch collection and providing biographical information concerning Murdoch. The collection also includes a photocopy of an oil painting of Iris Murdoch by Barbara Dorf.

Arranged in original order.

Open. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment.

Contact archive for information concerning reproduction at archives@kingston.ac.uk.

English

No additional finding aids currently exist.

KUAS37, KUAS35, KUAS12, KUAS8, KUAS11, KUAS28, KUAS7, KUAS9, KUAS10, KUAS39.

Sources: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online.
Entry compiled by Samantha Velumyl, AIM25 cataloguer.

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

May 2008. Biographies Dorf , Barbara , fl , artist English literature European literature Kingston University Literary forms and genres Literature Murdoch , Dame , Jean Iris , 1919-1999 , author x Murdoch , Iris National literatures Prose

Origen del ingreso o transferencia

Acquired in 2008.

Área de contenido y estructura

Alcance y contenido

Papers of Iris Murdoch, 1960s-1990s, comprising informal letters to her friend Barbara Dorf spanning a thirty-year friendship. The collection also contains letters from John Bayley to Dorf, written presumably when Murdoch was too ill to do so herself or following her death, thanking Dorf for being a special friend to Iris; a letter from Dorf to Dr Rowe at Kingston University discussing the Iris Murdoch collection and providing biographical information concerning Murdoch. The collection also includes a photocopy of an oil painting of Iris Murdoch by Barbara Dorf.

Valorización, destrucción y programación

Acumulaciones

Sistema de arreglo

Arranged in original order.

Área de condiciones de acceso y uso

Condiciones de acceso

Open. Please contact the archivist to make an appointment.

Condiciones

Contact archive for information concerning reproduction at archives@kingston.ac.uk.

Idioma del material

  • inglés

Escritura del material

  • latín

Notas sobre las lenguas y escrituras

English

Características físicas y requisitos técnicos

KUAS37, KUAS35, KUAS12, KUAS8, KUAS11, KUAS28, KUAS7, KUAS9, KUAS10, KUAS39.

Instrumentos de descripción

No additional finding aids currently exist.

Área de materiales relacionados

Existencia y localización de originales

Existencia y localización de copias

Unidades de descripción relacionadas

Descripciones relacionadas

Área de notas

Identificador/es alternativo(os)

Puntos de acceso

Puntos de acceso por lugar

Puntos de acceso por autoridad

Tipo de puntos de acceso

Área de control de la descripción

Identificador de la descripción

Identificador de la institución

Kingston University

Reglas y/o convenciones usadas

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Estado de elaboración

Nivel de detalle

Fechas de creación revisión eliminación

Idioma(s)

  • inglés

Escritura(s)

    Fuentes

    Área de Ingreso