Ethel Wilson fonds
1880s-1980 (predominant 1940s-1970s)
1.9 m of textual records and 73 photographs
Ethel Wilson was born in 1888 at Port Elizabeth, South Africa, the daughter of Robert Bryant and Lila Malkin. When her mother died in 1890, she was taken to live in England in the care of her maternal grandparents and other family relations there. In 1898 her father died and at the age of ten she moved again, to join her grandmother in Vancouver, Canada. In Vancouver she received her education and obtained a teacher's certificate in 1907; subsequently she taught until 1920 at several Vancouver public schools. In 1921 she married Dr. Wallace Wilson. In the two decades preceding the publication of her first novel, Hetty Dorval, in 1947, Wilson wrote little: a few short stories and some poetry. From the late 1940s until around 1961 when her last published work Mrs. Golightly and Other Stories appeared, Wilson wrote considerably more. Four novels, The Innocent Traveller, The Equations of Love, Swamp Angel, and Love and Salt Water, were completed in this period, as well as a small number of short stories. Wilson was also active speaking to societies and high schools and writing review articles, and she maintained a large correspondence. In 1961 in recognition of her contribution to Canadian literature she was awarded a special medal by the Canada Council, and she was later also distinguished as an Officer of the Order of Canada.
The fonds consists of records related to Wilson's activities as a writer, speaker, and correspondent, as well as photographs and other material pertaining to her family. The records have been arranged in series, including manuscripts of novels, short stories, and poetry, articles, reviews, talks and speeches, correspondence, diaries, published material, subject files, reviews of writing by Wilson, contracts and copyright documents, photographs and miscellanea, as well as some correspondence of John Gray, general manager of Macmillan Company of Canada, Wilson's publisher.
Three immediate sources of acquisition for the records have been determined: material noted in the inventory housed in boxes 1 and 2 were donated by Ethel Wilson to the University of British Columbia Library; a second group of records identified as Addendum 1, housed in boxes 3 to 11, were deposited at the Library by John Gray; and a third group of records, Addendum 2 housed in boxes 12 to 15, were acquired by the Library in 1981 from the estate of Ethel Wilson.
Arragement of the records has generally followed the series order devised at UBC Library Special Collections by Craig Patterson in 1977, and Susan Nichols in 1982.
Title based on contents of fonds.
Novels
1940s-1950s
40 cm of textual records
Series consists of manuscript and typescript drafts of novels and fragments of novels, including Lilly's Story, Tuesday and Wednesday, The Innocent Traveller, Swamp Angel, The Vat and the Brew, and Love and Salt Water, arranged by novel in files of chapters or groups of chapters.
Title based on contents of series.
Short stories
1930s?-1960s
18 cm of textual records
Series consists of manuscript and typescript drafts of short stories, sometimes with versions, including two lengthy works "Beware the Jabberwocky" and "Herself When Young," four untitled fragments of stories, and one file of notes related to stories.
Title based on contents of series.
Poetry
1938
0.2 cm of textual records
Series consists of one poem, "Vienna, Spring 1938," and one poem of uncertain attribution, "The Chaos."
Title based on contents of series.
Articles and speeches
1945-1960s
16.5 cm of textual records
Series consists of manuscript and typescript articles and review articles, and texts of talks and speeches, arranged in files by title, some with second copies.
Title based on contents of series.
Correspondence
1947-1980
14.5 cm of textual records
Series consists of incoming and outgoing correspondence, arranged in two large groups: casual and personal, and financial and business.
Title based on contents of series.
Correspondence collected by UBC Library staff
1948-1967
1 cm of textual records
Subseries consists of correspondence of Ethel Wilson with Neal Harlow, Dorothy Jefferd, Doug Kaye, Basil Stuart-Stubbs, and Bill Watson collected by staff of the University of British Columbia Library, and deposited in the Library's Special Collections.
Title based on contents of series.
Diaries
1938-1942
1 cm of textual records
Series consists of a diary kept during a trip through Europe in 1938,and a datebook.
Title based on contents of series.
Published material
ca. 1920s-1967
13.5 cm of textual records
Series consists of published material of Ethel Wilson, which appeared in various journals and newspapers including the New Statesman, Canadian Forum, Saturday Night, and Habitat, and also an interview with Ronald Hambleton.
Title based on contents of series.
Subject files
1960-1972
11 cm of textual records
Series consists of files pertaining to various subjects including Matthew Bailie Begbie, Leon Koerner, St. Mary the Virgin Aldermanbury, and Wallace Wilson.
Title based on contents of series.
Reviews of writing by Ethel Wilson
1948-1973
9 cm of textual records
Series consists of reviews of Ethel Wilson's books and other published writings, kept as files arranged by reviewer or by title of work reviewed, and as a scrapbook of reviews of Hetty Dorval.
Title based on contents of series.
Contracts and copyright documents
1946-1964
3 cm of textual records
Series consists of contracts signed by Ethel Wilson with the publishers Macmillan Company of Canada and Houghton Mifflin Company, and with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, as well as copyright documents related to The Innocent Traveller, The Equations of Love, Mrs. Golightly and Other Stories, and Love and Salt Water.
Title based on contents of series.
Photographs
ca. 1880s-1970s
73 photographs
Series consists of photoprints and some photographic negatives arranged in files, as well as in a 'picture-tainer' and several small portrait folders, of subjects including Ethel Wilson, her husband Dr. Wallace Wilson, her family, and others.
Title based on contents of series.
Miscellanea
1888-1976
30 cm of textual records
Series consists of miscellaneous notes and notebooks, programmes, guestbooks, and other material assembled by Ethel Wilson, and miscellaneous material related to Ethel Wilson, Wallace Wilson, the Red Cross, literary concerns, and other matters.
Title based on contents of series.
Correspondence of John Gray regarding writing by Ethel Wilson
1952-1962
1 cm of textual records
Subseries consists of correspondence of John Gray with various persons regarding Ethel Wilson's books and writing, assembled and deposited by Gray at the UBC Library together with other material pertaining to Wilson.
Title based on contents of subseries.