Acc.12754 April 2007

Inventory

Acc.12754

Gael Turnbull

National Library of Scotland Manuscripts Division George IV Bridge Edinburgh EH1 1EW Tel: 0131-466 2812 Fax: 0131-466 2811 E-mail: [email protected]

© Trustees of the National Library of Scotland

Letters, 1940-1953, 1998, of Gael Turnbull (1928-2004) to his parents, sister and other family members, with some related papers.

Gael Turnbull was born in Edinburgh, but his early childhood was spent in England. His family emigrated to Canada at the outbreak of World War II, and Gael Turnbull subsequently returned to England, where he attended Cambridge University. He then returned to North America and studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 1951.

In 1952 he married his first wife, Jonnie (neé Draper), and his career as a medical doctor was followed on both sides of the Atlantic. On his retirement from medicine in 1989, he moved to Edinburgh with his second wife Jill (neé Iles Norman), whom he had married in 1983.

In 1957 he started the Migrant Press, which introduced many North American poets to a new audience in the United Kingdom. His own poems were widely published in journals and a number of small press editions. He also created 'kinetic structures' which he displayed at poetry festivals. His collected poems were published posthumously ('These are the words: collected poems' (Exeter: Shearsman Books and Edinburgh: Mariscat Press, 2006)).

The letters in this collection have been arranged and annotated by the donor, Esther Turnbull Henry (known as Tess), sister of Gael Turnbull.

For further papers of Gael Turnbull, see Acc.12477, Acc.12552, Acc.12553, Acc.12554, Acc.12555, and Acc.12556.

Presented, 2007.

1-11. Letters, 1943-1953, 1998, of Gael Turnbull to his parents, his sister and other family members.

1. 1943 2. 1944 3. 1945 4. 1946 5. 1947 6. 1949 7. 1950 8. 1951 9. 1952 10. 1953 11. 1998

12. Notebook of Gael Turnbull, dating from his childhood, press cutting, 1961, concerning Gael Turnbull, and typescript of text read at his funeral by his sister, 2004.

13. Annotated photocopies of two poems of Gael Turnbull, 'The Words' and 'Sureties'.

14. Annotated photocopy of a biographical article by Gael Turnbull. This article was published in 'Contemporary Authors Autobiography Series' (Detroit, Mich.: Gale, 1991), Volume 14, pages 321-337.

15. Tess Turnbull Henry, 'From Dalarna to Dassel. A Swedish American Immigrant Experience', prepared for the American Swedish Institute to provide information for their exhibit 'The Community Collects', 2005.