Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- c1933-1972 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
3 boxes
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Cyril Ernest Wright was born in 1907 and was educated at George Watson's College, Edinburgh. He received an MA in English Language and Literature with first class Honours in 1929 from Edinburgh University. At Clare College, Cambridge he received first class Honours in Archaeological and Anthropological Tripos in 1931 and in 1936 he was awarded a PhD. for his thesis on The Cultivation of Saga during the Dark Ages. His career was spent in the Department of Manuscripts at the British Museum where he became assistant keeper in 1933. After being seconded to the Telegraphic Censorship and Home Office during the War, Wright returned to the British Museum to take up the post of Deputy Keeper of manuscripts in 1955. He was Senior Deputy Keeper from 1961 to his retirement in 1972. Wright was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1941 and served on several of the Society's committees including the Croft Lyons Committee from 1957 until his death. He was a member of the British Records Association from 1940 to 1970. He contributed to 30 publications during his career on subjects such as Icelandic, Anglo-Saxon, and Middle English literature, on palaeography and on heraldry; and the history of collectors and libraries, from the dispersal of the monastic libraries to the collections of the eighteenth century. He died in 1980.
Repository
Archival history
GB 0096 MS 893 c1933-1972 Collection (fonds) 3 boxes Wright , Cyril Ernest , 1907-1980 , palaeographer and bibliographer
Cyril Ernest Wright was born in 1907 and was educated at George Watson's College, Edinburgh. He received an MA in English Language and Literature with first class Honours in 1929 from Edinburgh University. At Clare College, Cambridge he received first class Honours in Archaeological and Anthropological Tripos in 1931 and in 1936 he was awarded a PhD. for his thesis on The Cultivation of Saga during the Dark Ages. His career was spent in the Department of Manuscripts at the British Museum where he became assistant keeper in 1933. After being seconded to the Telegraphic Censorship and Home Office during the War, Wright returned to the British Museum to take up the post of Deputy Keeper of manuscripts in 1955. He was Senior Deputy Keeper from 1961 to his retirement in 1972. Wright was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1941 and served on several of the Society's committees including the Croft Lyons Committee from 1957 until his death. He was a member of the British Records Association from 1940 to 1970. He contributed to 30 publications during his career on subjects such as Icelandic, Anglo-Saxon, and Middle English literature, on palaeography and on heraldry; and the history of collectors and libraries, from the dispersal of the monastic libraries to the collections of the eighteenth century. He died in 1980.
Photographs, accompanied by notes and correspondence of manuscripts, collected by Cyril Ernest Wright c1933-1972. The first section of the collection contains papers, plates, photocopies, photographs, translations and notebooks containing notes of certain Middle English manuscripts held in The British Library, Oxford Bodleian Library, Durham Cathedral and Cambridge University Library. There are also some items of correspondence concerning Middle English Manuscripts (1948-1977). The second section contains photographs taken from Italian Renaissance manuscripts, notebooks of notes concerning manuscripts in various Dutch, Italian and English libraries and museums. Section 3 contains photographs of manuscripts, plates and proofs for Fontes Harleiani: a Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum. In the final section of the collection is a list of Harley Manuscripts in the Department of Manuscripts at the British Library.
Access to the items in the collection is unrestricted for the purpose of private study and personal research within the controlled environment and restrictions of the Library's Palaeography Room. Access to archive collections may be restricted under the Freedom of Information Act. Please contact the University Archivist for details.
Copies may be made, subject to the condition of the original. Copying must be undertaken by the Palaeography Room staff, who will need a minimum of 24 hours to process requests.
Mainly English
M.J.Grant, The C.E.Wright Papers in the University of London Library: a handlist, University of London Library (1982)
Edinburgh University Library holds notebooks; Cambridge University Library contains correspondence and notes from lectures by H M Chadwick (Ref: Add 8281-2); the British Library holds papers (Ref: Add MS 61948).
1999-10-06 Keith Austin, 2000-05-22 Sarah Aitchison British Library Cambridge University Library Documents Durham Cathedral Historical methods History Information sources Manuscripts Palaeography University of Oxford , Bodleian Library x Oxford University , Bodleian Library Wright , Cyril Ernest , 1907-1980 , palaeographer and bibliographer
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Photographs, accompanied by notes and correspondence of manuscripts, collected by Cyril Ernest Wright c1933-1972. The first section of the collection contains papers, plates, photocopies, photographs, translations and notebooks containing notes of certain Middle English manuscripts held in The British Library, Oxford Bodleian Library, Durham Cathedral and Cambridge University Library. There are also some items of correspondence concerning Middle English Manuscripts (1948-1977). The second section contains photographs taken from Italian Renaissance manuscripts, notebooks of notes concerning manuscripts in various Dutch, Italian and English libraries and museums. Section 3 contains photographs of manuscripts, plates and proofs for Fontes Harleiani: a Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum. In the final section of the collection is a list of Harley Manuscripts in the Department of Manuscripts at the British Library.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Access to the items in the collection is unrestricted for the purpose of private study and personal research within the controlled environment and restrictions of the Library's Palaeography Room. Access to archive collections may be restricted under the Freedom of Information Act. Please contact the University Archivist for details.
Conditions governing reproduction
Copies may be made, subject to the condition of the original. Copying must be undertaken by the Palaeography Room staff, who will need a minimum of 24 hours to process requests.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
- Latin
Language and script notes
Mainly English
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
M.J.Grant, The C.E.Wright Papers in the University of London Library: a handlist, University of London Library (1982)
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Edinburgh University Library holds notebooks; Cambridge University Library contains correspondence and notes from lectures by H M Chadwick (Ref: Add 8281-2); the British Library holds papers (Ref: Add MS 61948).
Publication note
Notes area
Note
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
- English