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Frances Hodgson Burnett Letter

 Collection
Identifier: MS-1867

  • Staff Only

In this letter, Frances Hodgson Burnett informs Mr. Jones that she expects to find the two manuscripts that he has mailed with her son Vivian (whose business address they were forwarded to) when she returns to New York from Washington, D.C. She mentions being very interested in Vivian's Children's Magazine, which she helps him to edit without sitting in an editorial chair in an office. Burnett ends by expressing her hope that she and Mr. Jones can meet when he visits New York a few weeks hence.

Dates

  • 1908 April 1

Conditions Governing Access

Collections are stored offsite and must be requested in advance. See www.special.lib.utk.edu for detailed information. Collections must be requested through a registered Special Collections research account.

Conditions Governing Use

The UT Libraries claims only physical ownership of most material in the collections. Persons wishing to broadcast or publish this material must assume all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants on www.special.lib.utk.edu for detailed information. Collections must be requested through a registered Special Collections research account.

Extent

0.1 Linear Feet (1 folder)

Abstract

In this letter, Frances Hodgson Burnett informs Mr. Jones that she expects to find the two manuscripts that he has mailed with her son Vivian (whose business address they were forwarded to) when she returns to New York from Washington, D.C. She mentions being very interested in Vivian's Children's Magazine, which she helps him to edit without sitting in an editorial chair in an office. Burnett ends by expressing her hope that she and Mr. Jones can meet when he visits New York a few weeks hence.

Biographical/Historical Note

Frances Eliza Hodgson was born to Edwin and Eliza (Boond) Hodgson in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, England on November 24, 1845. Her father died in 1854 and her mother struggled to maintain her late husband's business until 1865, when her brother persuaded her to emigrate to Knoxville, Tennessee where he had established a prosperous dry goods store. Their first few years in America proved difficult, and Frances Hodgson began selling her short stories to earn money in 1868. Her output slowed in 1873, when she married ophthalmologist Swan Moses Burnett. The couple had two sons, Lionel (1874-1890) and Vivian (1876-1937), and moved to Washington, D.C. in 1877. Frances Burnett frequently ignored her family obligations in order travel and associate with such literary personalities as Henry James and Israel Zangwill. The marriage ended in 1898, and Burnett remarried Steven Townsend in 1900. They divorced the following year. In order to support her increasingly lavish lifestyle, Frances Burnett wrote innumerable short stories and over twenty novels, including The Lass o' Lowrie's (1877), Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886), The Little Princess (1905), and The Secret Garden (1910). She settled in Long Island, New York in 1909 and divided her later years between New York and Bermuda, dying in Long Island on October 29, 1924.

Arrangement

This collection consists of a single folder.

Acquisition Note

Special Collections purchased this letter in October of 1990.

Related Archival Materials

Interested researchers may also wish to consult:

  1. MS.0945: Frances Hodgson Burnett Letter
  2. MS.2263: Frances Hodgson Burnett Letter, 1893 February 25
  3. MS.2264: Frances Hodgson Burnett Letter, 1919 December 10
  4. MS.2265: Frances Hodgson Burnett Note, undated

Repository Details

Part of the Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives, University of Tennessee, Knoxville Repository

Contact:
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Knoxville TN 37996 USA
865-974-4480