Collection: Frederick Stoever Dickson collection regarding Henry Fielding (original) (raw)

Collection

Call Number: GEN MSS 511

Scope and Contents

The Frederick Stoever Dickson Collection regarding Henry Fielding consists of correspondence, writings and subject files documenting research and scholarship on Henry Fielding (1707-54). The collection spans the years 1733-1937, with the bulk of the material dating from 1900-1920.

The collection is housed in 24 boxes and organized into two series: Frederick Stoever Dickson Papers and Material from Other Sources. Boxes 23-24 contain Oversize material and Restricted Fragile Papers respectively.

Series I, Frederick Stoever Dickson Papers , is organized into three subseries: Correspondence, Writings and Subject Files.

The Correspondence subseries, housed in boxes 1-2, consists predominantly of letters to Dickson from publishers, bookdealers, journal editors, libraries and Fielding scholars. Prominent scholars represented are Wilbur L. Cross, John Paul de Castro, Austin Dobson, Gerard Edward Jensen, Alfred William Pollard and John Edwin Wells. The letters from Cross, a Yale professor, discuss the donation of Dickson's Fielding collection to the Yale University Library and, in general, Fielding research. Letters from Dickson to Cross are located in Series II, Material from Other Sources. Dickson's gift to Yale is also well documented in correspondence from University Librarian Andrew Keogh.

The Writings subseries, housed in boxes 3-7, is organized into eight subseries: Articles and Essays, Biographical Material, Notes, Open Letters, Presentations, Reviews, Writings of Others Related to Fielding and Writings of Others not Related to Fielding. Previously unprocessed material has been incorporated into both the Writings and Subject Files subseries. In the Writings there are draft and printed versions of works by Dickson and a considerable amount of periodical literature by the Fielding scholars with whom Dickson corresponded in the first two decades of the 20th century, as well as from English sources dating from the mid to late 19th century. In addition to those already mentioned, there is work by Thomas Keightley, Sir Walter Scott and William Makepeace Thackeray. The bulk of the secondary literature consists of clippings. Reprints and offprints are noted in the folder description.

The Subject Files, housed in boxes 8-21, consist of research material on Fielding and, more broadly, 18th-19th century English literature. The Subject Files are arranged by type of material and include bibliographic material, clippings and maps.

The Bibliographic material consists of index cards and clippings of citations for titles housed in 3 1/2" by 6" envelopes. The organization of these files, established either by Dickson or earlier processing, has been preserved and includes sections for Books, Miscellanies, Art, Works of Others, Periodicals, the Catalogue of the Law Library of Henry Fielding, the Catalogue of the Miscellaneous Library of Henry Fielding, and a Card Catalog for Fielding.

Books, which contains citations for several of Fielding's novels and The Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon, is housed in boxes 8-9 and arranged first by title and then chronologically for each work. The Miscellanies section contains citations for other works by Fielding, such as plays, letters, manuscripts, journals and collections. Miscellanies, housed in boxes 9-12, is arranged under the following categories: Works by Fielding, Works Possibly by Fielding, Works Erroneously Attributed to Fielding, Letters and Manuscripts, Theater Editions and Works. Art, housed in box 12, is a small section of citations for artwork and illustrations in works by Fielding, largely his novels, arranged alphabetically by the artist's name. Works of Others, housed in boxes 12-17, is arranged alphabetically by author or title. Periodicals, housed in boxes 18-19 and arranged alphabetically by title, contains citations for journal literature by and about Fielding, including Champion, The Covent-Garden Journal, The True Patriot, and The Jacobite's Journal. The two catalog listings, Catalogue of the Law Library of Henry Fielding and Catalogue of the Miscellaneous Library of Henry Fielding, appear to be listings of books owned by Fielding in his lifetime. They are both housed in box 19 and arranged alphabetically by author. The Card Catalog, housed in box 20, also provides citations for works by and about Fielding, with emphasis on Fielding's novels.

The remaining Fielding materials are housed in box 21. Clippings provide biographical information on Fielding, as well as bibliographical information on Fielding and Fielding scholarship. There is discussion of the Fielding name and ancestry, publicity for commemorative events, auction sales and publications, and reviews of editions and theatrical productions. Here, too, the general organization provided either by Dickson or earlier processing has been preserved. For the most part, clippings are organized by journal title when three or more clippings are present. Clippings are arranged chronologically within folders.

Fieldingiana includes, among other small items, a facsimile copy of Henry and Charlotte Fielding's signatures and a list of "Framed Fielding pictures" in the Fielding collection.

Maps contains printed maps identified as illustrating publications of Tom Jones. Most maps are from The London Magazine and represent areas in England. The maps are arranged by title.

Series II, Material from Other Sources , housed in box 22, is organized into two subseries, Correspondence and Writings. The correspondence is a gift from Wilbur L. Cross and his estate and the writings are a gift from Gerard Edward Jensen. The bulk of the letters in the Correspondence subseries are from Dickson to Cross and concern, among other subjects, the gift of Dickson's Fielding collection to the University and preparation of a Fielding bibliography. Letters span the years 1913-22. There is a small amount of third party correspondence between Cross and others in 1920-21 regarding an endowment fund for the maintenance of Fielding's tomb in Lisbon.

The Writings subseries consists of journal literature on Fielding dating from 1922-37.

Oversize material, housed in box 23, includes items from Series I. Restricted Fragile Papers are housed in box 24.

Dates

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The materials are open for research. Box 5: Restricted fragile material. Reference surrogates have been substituted in the main files. For further information consult the appropriate curator.

Conditions Governing Use

The Frederick Stoever Dickson Collection regarding Henry Fielding is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The Frederick Stoever Dickson Collection regarding Henry Fielding was acquired by gift from Frederick Stoever Dickson. Additional gifts have been made by Wilbur Lucius Cross and Gerard Edward Jensen.

Extent

12.2 Linear Feet (24 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/beinecke.dickson

Additional Description

Abstract

The Frederick Stoever Dickson Collection regarding Henry Fielding consists of correspondence, writings and subject files documenting research and scholarship on Henry Fielding. There are two series: Frederick Stoever Dickson Papers and Material from Other Sources.
The Frederick Stoever Dickson Papers consist of three subseries: Correspondence, Writings and Subject Files. Correspondence consists chiefly of letters to Dickson from publishers, bookdealers, journal editors, libraries and Fielding scholars. Writings includes draft and printed versions of work by Dickson and a considerable amount of periodical literature on Fielding. Subject Files contain research material, chiefly bibliographic clippings, on Fielding.
Material from Other Sources consists of two subseries: Correspondence and Writings. Correspondence contains letters from Dickson to Wilbur Lucius Cross and third-party correspondence between Cross and others. Writings consists of a small amount of periodical literature on Fielding.

FREDERICK STOEVER DICKSON (1850-1925)

Frederick Stoever Dickson was born June 24, 1850, in Utica, New York to Rev. Hugh Sheridan Dickson, a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary and a Presbyterian minister, and Sarah Margaret (Stoever) Dickson. Dickson attended Yale University with the Class of 1871, studied law in Philadelphia from 1871-74, was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1874, and practiced law in Philadelphia until 1898. He then pursued various management, banking and investment interests in Ohio and Pennsylvania from 1900-1913, during which time he was president of telephone companies in Cleveland, manager of the Cleveland office of the New York banking and brokerage firm of A. O. Brown & Company, and president of The Abrasive Company of Bricksburg, Philadelphia. He lived in New York City from 1913-24 and died December 1, 1925, in Philadelphia.

Dickson produced published and unpublished work on Henry Fielding, William Makepeace Thackeray and other subjects. He is the author of An Analysis of Blackstone's Commentaries (1874) and An Analysis of Kent's Commentaries (1876), on American law, And the Wilderness Blossomed (1901), a description of his summer home in Maine, Thackeray in the United States (1904), and contributions to Fielding literature in The Library, Yale Review, Notes and Queries and other journals. He also compiled indexes to Fielding's novels. Dickson collected work by and about both Fielding and Thackeray, and he donated his Fielding collection of approximately 2,000 volumes to the Yale University Library in 1913.

For additional biographical information on Frederick Stoever Dickson see the Yale University Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale College (1926). For a summary description of Dickson's Fielding collection see the Wilbur Lucius Cross essay in The Yale University Library Gazette (1927).

Processing Information

This collection has been reprocessed. The general organization of earlier processing has been preserved with three noteworthy exceptions. First, correspondence and writings from Wilbur L. Cross and Gerard Edward Jensen respectively have been moved to Material from Other Sources (Series II). Second, correspondence in the Frederick Stoever Dickson Papers (Series I) previously identified as 'Miscellaenous' has been fully processed. Third, partially processed writings and research material have been incorporated into the Series I Writings and Subject Files subseries. A small amount of Fielding manuscript material was cataloged separately in the printed collection and is stored separately. This material may be identified by searching the Yale Library catalog (Orbis) by call number for 'Fielding.'

Subjects

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title

Guide to the Frederick Stoever Dickson Collection Regarding Henry Fielding

Status

Under Revision

Author

by Beinecke Staff

Date

1993

Description rules

Beinecke Manuscript Unit Archival Processing Manual

Language of description note

Finding aid written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository

Location

121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511

Opening Hours

Access Information

The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.