Margaret Strickland Papers
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Abstract
The Margaret Strickland Papers feature the original typescripts of the English writer's biographical works, novels, plays, short stories, and short non-fiction pieces. In addition, this collection includes correspondence, diaries, hand-assembled illustrated magazines, photographs, and scrapbooks, dating from the 1880s to early 1960s.
Biographical Note
Margaret Strickland (circa 1880 - 1970) was a prolific English writer of magazine stories and novels for adults and children. She was the author of the Michael Gerahty detective books for children, and appears to have been reasonably well known as a writer, as this collection documents interest in her work abroad. Margaret was married to Richard Hugh Worley, elder son of R.J. Worley of Essex, by Reverent A. Dawson Clark at St. Andrew's Westminster on October 19, 1908.
Margaret had two sisters, both noted for their ability in drawing animals and staid, country scenes. Agnes Strickland is still remembered for her botanical illustrations, and Diana Mary (later Mrs. Mallet Veale) moved to Rhodesia and became well known for her illustrations of native life. Margaret's grandfather Thomas Strickland was the youngest brother of Agnes, Jane and Elizabeth Strickland, and Catharine Parr Traill. Agnes was the best known of the family and is remembered for her monumental work, The Lives of the Queens of England (1840-1848). Several of Thomas' siblings, including Catharine and another brother, Samuel, immigrated to Canada, where Catherine wrote a number of books and novels, and Samuel founded the city of Lakeside.
Arrangement
Collection materials have been arranged into five series: I: Correspondence, II: Manuscripts, III: "Illustrated Amateur Magazine," IV: Diaries, Ephemera, Scrapbooks, and V: Photographs. Series II: Manuscripts represent the most substantial portion of the collection and house four different subseries: A: Biographical, B: Novels, C: Plays, and D: Short Fiction & Non-Fiction. Materials are arranged alphabetically by their provided title or subject category, and then chronologically if applicable. If a record is not physically dated, approximate ranges are provided.
Scope and Contents
The Margaret Strickland Papers document Strickland's professional and personal life, and include original typescripts of her biographical works, novels, plays, short stories, and short non-fiction pieces. These reveal a variety of interests; while she often published adult romance stories of the middle and upper classes that incorporate mystery or suspense, she also wrote the children's detective novel Michael Gerahty (1936), which garnered interest from the film industry. Her children's stories reflect her love of animals, often featuring animals with human characteristics.
Strickland's diaries, ephemera, and scrapbooks reveal her interest in crossword puzzles and gardening. This collection also includes photography of home life, friends, and family, including snapshots of architecture, domestic interior design, gardens, pocket portraits and postcards of loved ones, and group portraits featuring her husband Richard Hugh Worley's childhood and education at the University of Cambridge. In addition, Strickland's personal correspondence comprises over 146 letters (over 660 pages) from Strickland's sweetheart "Louis", as well as letters from her husband while he was on active service with the British Expeditionary Force and Kings Royal Rifle Corps during World War I.
Some of the most notable items in the collection are the twelve issues of "Illustrated Amateur Magazine," a small homemade publication Margaret created with her sisters Agnes, Diana Mary, and their friends in Bromley, Kent [now London], from 1897 - 1899. Despite their adolescent origins, these issues of "Illustrated Amateur Magazine" feature an especially acute knowledge of the publishing industry of the period, articles about current culture trends, and refined artwork in the form of original ink drawings and watercolor paintings.
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Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open to researchers. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date (if known); Margaret Strickland Papers; MSS 77; box number; folder number; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University Libraries.
Provenance
The collection was purchased from James Burmester in 1996.
Separated Material
There is no information about materials that are associated by provenance to the described materials that have been physically separated or removed.
About this Guide
Processing Information
The collection was reprocessed in 2015 to address preservation concerns. Box numbers were changed.
