Collection inventory

Special Collections home page
printer friendly version

Frederika MacDonald Letters

A description of the item at Syracuse University

Overview of the Collection

Creator: Macdonald, Frederika.
Title: Frederika MacDonald Letters
Inclusive Dates: 1913
Quantity: 1 folder (SC)
Abstract: Letters from the author and literary biographer to Marion H. Spielmann, in December 1913; regarding the Charlotte Bronte / Constantin Heger letters which had been published six months previously (July 1913).
Language: English
Repository: Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries
222 Waverly Avenue
Syracuse, NY 13244-2010
https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center

Biographical History

Frederika Macdonald was a literary biographer and the author of several works on the French Enlightenment, as well as biographies of Charlotte Bronte and Jean Jacques Rousseau and at least one novel. In 1859 Macdonald had been a pupil at the Pensionnat Heger, where Charlotte Bronte had been first a student and then a teacher, which gave Macdonald a personal acquaintance with both Madame and Monsieur Heger and inspired her with a particular interest in Charlotte. When Charlotte's love letters to Monsieur Heger, previously believed to have been destroyed, were published in 1913, Macdonald was the first biographer to use excerpts from them, in her The Secret of Charlotte Bronte.

Return to top

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Frederika Macdonald Letters consists of two letters from MacDonald to Mr. Marion H. Spielmann, Victorian art critic and scholar, on the subject of the then-recently published Charlotte Bronte / Constantin Heger letters. Spielmann had written the translation and accompanying text for the letters' publication in The Times, 29 Jul 1913. One of Macdonald's letters reads, in part, "[O]ne recognizes in Charlotte a "Romantic" -- whose purpose is to paint her own emotions & by expressing them to alleviate & tranquillise them..."

Return to top

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Return to top

Related Material

The general (circulating) collection has a copy of Macdonald's The Secret of Charlotte Bronte. Please refer to the Classic Catalog to locate this item.

Return to top

Subject Headings

Persons

Brontë, Charlotte, 1816-1855 -- Correspondence.
Macdonald, Frederika.
Spielmann, M. H. (Marion Harry), 1858-1948.

Subjects

Novelists, English -- 18th century -- Correspondence.

Genres and Forms

Correspondence.

Occupations

Authors.
Biographers.

Return to top

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Frederika Macdonald Letters,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Unspecified, 1970.

Finding Aid Information

Created by: MRC
Date: 28 Jun 2010
Revision history:

Return to top

Inventory

Correspondence
SC 514 Spielmann, M.H. 1913

Return to top