Identity area
Reference code
Watson
Unique identifier
Title
Date(s)
- 1927 - 2016 (Creation)
Level of description
Fonds
Extent and medium
37 boxes; paper; photographs.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
George Grimes Watson was born in Brisbane, Australia, on 13 October 1927. He was educated at Brisbane Boys' College and the University of Queensland, where he graduated in 1948 with a degree in English. He secured a scholarship for a second degree and received an English degree from Trinity College, Oxford in 1950; he worked for the European Commission as an interpreter before becoming a lecturer in English at Cambridge in 1959 and a Fellow of St John's College in 1961. He remained at St John's until his death on 2 August 2013.
Watson edited 'The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature'. As well as producing wide-ranging literary and cultural criticism, he was involved in leftist politics, campaigning as a Liberal candidate in 1959 and 1979 and working as Editor for the Unservile State Group; his political writing often critiques socialism from a liberal perspective.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The collection primarily consists of correspondence, arranged into various series: the 'ex libris' correspondence is that which was interleaved in George Watson's personal library and has since been reordered, and other preexisting groups of correspondence – including that with 'prominent persons', or pertaining to 'The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature' or to books authored by Watson – have been ordered within separate series. Typescripts and offprints of Watson's writing, and that of others, also feature, as do newspaper cuttings, photocopies of research material, and a small number of photographs. Additionally, some documentation and ephemera relating to Watson's career at the University of Cambridge and St John's College are included.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Correspondence is arranged alphabetically by surname of correspondent, and offprints of others' work by surname of author; the series focusing on writing by George Watson is arranged chronologically.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Multiple rights-owners are represented in this collection.
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Preferred citation: St John's College Library, Papers of George Grimes Watson.