| Description | Mostly contains articles about Richmal Crompton and Richmal Crompton's William and Jimmy stories.
Some of the articles are cuttings (dated 1954-2008), and some of the articles are photocopies (with the originals dated 1922-2009 and the photocopies made c1977-c2009). Also included are some full magazines that contain articles about Richmal Crompton and her William stories (magazines dated 1977-c2007).
Some of the articles are annotated, with annotations made c1983-c2009.
Some of the articles are accompanied by covering letters sent to [members of the Just William Society?] from [other members of the Just William Society?]; the covering letters are dated 1996-2006.
Also included are photocopies of the following published stories by Richmal Crompton (photocopies all made in c1970s-c2009):
- "One Crowded Hour" by R C Lamburn [Richmal Crompton Lamburn, also known as Richmal Crompton] [this is not a William story, but is the forerunner of the William stories], published in "Woman at Home" in c1918 (this photocopy is annotated). Also included is an annotated photocopy of one page from a [later?] publication of the same story (with different illustrations); this [later?] version of the story was published in the early-20th Century.
- The first William story, "Rice Mould", published in "The Home Magazine" in c1919 (this photocopy is annotated).
- "William Below Stairs", published in "The World's Best Stories for Boys and Girls" in the c1920s.
- "The Road Over the Hill" [this is not a William story], published in "John O'London's Weekly" in 1924.
- "Jimmy and the Red Indians" [this is not a William story], published in "The Star", 1 April 1950.
Also included are the following articles that don't appear to relate to Richmal Crompton or her work:
- A photocopy of an article about Anthony Buckeridge's Jennings stories titled "Another Happy Ending for Jennings" by Stephen Pile; article published in "The Daily Telegraph", 4 October 1994; photocopy made in c1994.
- A photocopy of an obituary for children's literature researcher and book collector, Bill Lofts; obituary published in the "Times", 19 July 1997; photocopy made in c1997.
- A photocopy of an article about Anthony Buckeridge's Jennings stories titled "Gosh, Fish-Hooks, Jennings is 50" by Anne Horner; article published in "TES", 26 December 1997; photocopy made in c1997.
- A press cutting from ["The Independent"], 26 December 2006, containing an article about Enid Blyton's books titled "The Fatal Childhood Addiction to Enid Blyton" by Philip Hensher.
- A press cutting from ["The Times"?], 6 June 2007, containing an article about attitudes to raising children titled "Children Who Have Everything, Except Freedom to Play Outside" by Rosemary Bennett.
- A photocopy of an article about cricketer David Steele titled "Battle of the Batsmen" by Chris Betteley; article published in "Best of British", February 2009. [It is not known how this article relates to Richmal Crompton or children's literature.]
Also included are the following documents:
- Colour photocopies of two front covers of "The Happy Mag.", published in c1920s and c1940, (the c1940 cover lists the story "William Takes Charge" as being published in the issue) [neither cover appears to contain any illustrations from William stories]; photocopies made in the c1970s-c2009.
- A note about the ownership of some William books [owned by the author John King?]; note written in the c1970s-c2009.
- Correspondence between William Hudson (a fan and collector of the William stories) and others including [members of The Just William Society?] and publishers, discussing the collecting of William stories and discussing the book "William: A Bibliography" by WOG Lofts [Bill Lofts] and Derek Adley. Some of the correspondence is made up of original letters, dated 1996; but most of the correspondence is made up of photocopies, with the original letters dated 1975-c1980s and the photocopies made in the c1980s-c1990s.
- A leaflet advertising a "Friends of Thomas the Tank Engine 10 Day Extravaganza" run by the Great Central Railway, Loughborough, Leicestershire, on 22-31 August 1998. The front of the leaflet includes an illustration [by Thomas Henry] from a William story. Included is a covering letter sent with the leaflet to David [Schutte?] from Ashley McCrery; covering letter dated 1998.
- Information about Richmal Crompton's family and ancestors. this includes: photocopies of birth, death and marriage certificates for Richmal Crompton's relatives (for births, deaths and marriages dated 1839-1983; the certificates were created in 2006 and the photocopies were made in c2006); printouts of information about Richmal Crompton's relatives from the websites Ancestry.com, Ancestry.co.uk and FreeBMD.rootsweb.com (webpages accessed in c2006 and printouts made in c2006); and a printout of a typed family tree for Richmal Crompton's extended family (family tree created in c2006 and printout made in c2006).
- Part of a printout of a discussion page from the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia.org, containing a discussion between users of the website about the rules regarding the adding of their own content to the website; this discussion particularly relates to articles on the website about Jewish people in Richmal Crompton's William stories. The discussion was held in 2006, and the printout was created in 2008.
- A colour photocopy of the front and back covers of the book "Mary Carries On: Reflections on Some Favourite Girls' Stories" by Mary Cadogan; book published by Girls Gone By in c2008; photocopy made in c2008.
- A leaflet advertising a meeting of the Just William Society at Roehampton University [now known as the University of Roehampton] on 13 June 2009, (the leaflet includes a voucher for a free drink [at the University]); leaflet created in 2009. |
| Related Material | Further documents relating to the Just William Society and "William Days" can be found in RC 135, RC 146, RC 171, RC 172, RC 173, RC 174, RC 175, RC 176, RC 177, RC 178, RC 179, RC 201, RC 214, RC 215, RC 216, RC 217, RC 219, RC 220, RC 232, RC 258, RC 282, RC 342, RC 354, RC 360 and RC 374.
Further articles about Richmal Crompton and her creations can be found in RC 17, RC 18, RC 29, RC 86, RC 87, RC 88, RC 89, RC 90, RC 109, RC 110, RC 111, RC 117, RC 143, RC 182, RC 186, RC 201, RC 202, RC 203, RC 204, RC 205, RC 206, RC 207, RC 208, RC 209, RC 210, RC 211, RC 213, RC 216, RC 217, RC 212, RC 224, RC 225, RC 226, RC 227, RC 253, RC 264, RC test 11, RC test 12, RC 315, RC 319, RC 324, RC 347, RC 361, RC 370 and RC 375.
Further published William stories can be found in PUBLISHED BOOKS, RC 30, RC 100, RC 141, RC 148, RC 212, RC 226 and RC 364.
Further published non-William stories can be found in PUBLISHED BOOKS, RC 99, RC 100, RC 137, RC 148 and RC 209.
Further letters from fans can be found in RC 15, RC 16, RC 21, RC 35, RC 37, RC 82, RC 83, RC 84, RC 85, RC 106, RC 107, RC 108, RC 129, RC 141, RC 200, RC 201, RC 217, RC 216, RC 219, RC 220, RC 232, RC 233, RC 330 and RC 352.
Further correspondence from publishers can be found in RC 7, RC 40, RC 81, RC 112, RC 119, RC test 1, RC test 2, RC test 3, RC test 4, RC 120, RC 124, RC 128, RC 133, RC 137, RC 138, RC 139, RC 140, RC 141, RC 142, RC 146, RC 147, RC 155, RC 156, RC 159, RC 163, RC 166, RC 167, RC 208, RC 212, RC 213, RC 214, RC 216, RC 217, RC 346, RC 350, RC 351, RC 356 and RC 360.
Another family tree for Richmal Crompton's family can be found in RC 2 and RC 314.
Further copies of birth, marriage and death certificates for members of Richmal Crompton's family can be found in RC 3.
Further documents relating to "William: A Bibliography" can be found in RC 271 and RC 337. |