colin_macinnes_papers This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on October 03, 2021. English. Describing Archives: A Content Standard Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester Rush Rhees Library Second Floor, Room 225 Rochester, NY 14627-0055 [email protected] URL: https://www.library.rochester.edu/spaces/rbscp colin_macinnes_papers Table of Contents Summary Information .................................................................................................................................... 4 Biographical/Historical note .......................................................................................................................... 4 Scope and Contents note ............................................................................................................................... 5 Administrative Information ............................................................................................................................ 5 Controlled Access Headings .......................................................................................................................... 6 Collection Inventory ....................................................................................................................................... 6 Series I: Personal papers ............................................................................................................................. 6 Subseries I: Juvenalia ............................................................................................................................... 6 Subseries II: Correspondence ................................................................................................................... 7 Subseries III: McGibbon and Kee correspondence .................................................................................. 9 Subseries IV: Martin Brian and O'Keefe: correspondence and contracts ................................................ 9 Subseries V: Reg Davis-Poynter correspondence .................................................................................... 9 Subseries VI: Correspondence and materials from James Campbell McInnes (Colin MacInnes's father) ........................................................................................................................................................ 9 Subseries VII: Travel .............................................................................................................................. 10 Subseries VIII: Legal, financial, and medical documents ..................................................................... 11 Subseries IX: Working files (miscellaneous background materials and notes for work in progress) .................................................................................................................................................. 11 Series II: Published works ........................................................................................................................ 12 Subseries I: City of spades ..................................................................................................................... 12 Subseries II: Absolute beginners ............................................................................................................ 12 Subseries III: Mr. Love and Justice ....................................................................................................... 13 Subseries IV: England, half English ...................................................................................................... 13 Subseries V: All day Saturday ............................................................................................................... 13 Subseries VI: Sweet Saturday night ....................................................................................................... 13 Subseries VII: Westward to laughter ..................................................................................................... 13 Subseries VIII: Three years to play ....................................................................................................... 14 Subseries IX: Loving them both ............................................................................................................ 14 Subseries X: Out of the garden .............................................................................................................. 14 Subseries XI: No novel reader ............................................................................................................... 14 Subseries XII: Manuscripts and typescripts of essays as published ...................................................... 15 Subseries XIII: Essays for periodicals (tearsheets only) ........................................................................ 16 Subseries XIV: Neighborhoods .............................................................................................................. 17 - Page 2 - colin_macinnes_papers Subseries XV: BBC scripts and miscellaneous ..................................................................................... 17 Series III: Unpublished works .................................................................................................................. 18 Subseries I: Gallery boy ......................................................................................................................... 18 Subseries II: Cousin mixed .................................................................................................................... 18 Subseries III: Angus Bard ...................................................................................................................... 18 Subseries IV: All day Saturday (dramatisation) .................................................................................... 19 Subseries V: Four maids of Albion ....................................................................................................... 19 Subseries VI: Children of Eve ............................................................................................................... 19 Subseries VII: The Cockneys ................................................................................................................. 19 Subseries VIII: Juan Benvenuto (El Morito) ......................................................................................... 19 Subseries IX: Miscellaneous essays and novels .................................................................................... 19 Subseries X: The heart of the legend ..................................................................................................... 20 Series IV: Printed material about MacInnes ............................................................................................. 20 - Page 3 - colin_macinnes_papers Summary Information Repository: Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester Creator: MacInnes, Colin Title: Colin MacInnes papers ID: D.140 Date [inclusive]: 1921-1976 Physical Description: 23 boxes Language of the English Material: Preferred Citation (Name of item, if applicable), Colin MacInnes Papers, 1921-1976. Dept. of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester. ^ Return to Table of Contents Biographical/Historical note Colin MacInnes was born August 20, 1914 in London. He was the second child and younger son (a daughter died in infancy) of James Campbell McInnes (1874-1945) a professional singer who in 1919 migrated to Canada where he continued his concert career and also taught singing. Colin's mother Angela Mackail (1890-1961) was the daughter of J. W. Mackail and the granddaughter of the artist Edward Burne-Jones. She was also related to Stanley Baldwin and Rudyard Kipling. Angela Mackail McInnes left her husband in 1917 and, after obtaining a divorce, married an Australian, George Allnut Thirkell. In 1920 the family moved to Australia where Colin's half-brother Lance Thirkell was born. In 1929 Angela Thirkell returned to England with her youngest son. There she began to write novels, the best known of which are the series on English country life, the "Barsetshire" novels. Colin and his brother Graham both went by the name of Thirkell until the early 1930s when they resumed using their father's surname, McInnes. Shortly thereafter Colin changed the spelling of his name to MacInnes. Colin MacInnes was educated in Australia, where he lived until 1930. From 1930 to 1935, he pursued a business career in Brussels. Upon leaving Brussels, he went to London to study painting, first at the London Polytechnic and later at the School of Drawing and Painting, Euston Road. After the outbreak of the war, he served with the British Army as a sergeant in the Intelligence Corps and was sent to Germany - Page 4- colin_macinnes_papers during the occupation. His experiences there formed the basis of his first published novel, To The Victors The Spoils. After leaving the army, he joined BBC Radio, where he evidently wrote scripts. He left the BBC sometime in the mid-Fifties and supported himself for the rest of his life by writing essays, plays, and novels. He was published in many English periodicals and was a regular contributor to "New Society" in 1962 and 1963. His fiction and non-fiction drew upon his experiences in Australia, in the