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Claud Lovat Fraser and Grace Crawford Lovat Fraser collections
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Held at: Bryn Mawr College [Contact Us]Bryn Mawr College Library, 101 N. Merion Avenue, Bryn Mawr 19010
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Bryn Mawr College. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
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Claud Lovat Fraser (1890-1921) was an active artist in the fields of illustration and theater design. He was born in London on May 15, 1890 to Florence Margaret Fraser, an amateur artist, and Claud Fraser, a city solicitor. Fraser and his brother Alan were educated at various English boarding schools, including the prestigious Charterhouse School in Surrey, from which Fraser graduated in 1907. He then began a course of legal study, entered into articles of clerkship in his father's law firm, and joined a group of critics and artists who regularly congregated at Dan Rider's Den, a printer's shop. Fraser produced many caricatures of contemporary literary and theatric figures, and in 1910, he produced a privately printed edition of ten of these caricatures. In 1911, Fraser left his father's firm to seriously pursue art. He spent a brief period under the tutelage of Walter Sickert at Westminster Technical Institute. In 1912, Fraser executed decorations for Haldane Macfall's essay on art and aesthetics, The Splendid Wayfaring, and for Macfall's play The Three Students, considered but ultimately rejected for production by Herbert Beerbohm Tree. Fraser was also interested in producing affordable, quality toys, and some of his designs were executed. These and the illustrations for The Splendid Wayfaring and The Three Students were among the objects shown at his first solo exhibition, in his studio in February 1913. Fraser, Holbrook Jackson and the poet Ralph Hodgson established the "Sign of the Flying Fame" in 1913, and published several poetry broadsides and chapbooks illustrated by Fraser. Although printed in limited editions and often hand-colored, they were affordably priced and were intended to bring poetry to the general public. Flying Fame's activities ended with the start of World War I, replaced by Harold Munro's Poetry Bookshop.
In the fall of 1914, despite a history of ill health, Fraser enlisted with the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps and was quickly commissioned to the 14th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry. Fraser's war-era sketchbooks and the drawings he included in his correspondence provide an intimate visual record of the trenches and battlefields of Flanders in this early phase of the war. He was one of few British officers to survive the battle of Loos (September 25-October 8, 1915). In December 1915, Fraser's battalion was the first to withstand a German gas attack. In the excitement and confusion of the event, he neglected to put on his gas mask until he had emerged from his bunker and was dispatched to England for a short sick leave. Fraser was promoted to captain in January 1916, but by late February he was home on leave again, suffering from the effects of gas and shellshock after a battle at the Ypres Salient. While recovering, Fraser occupied himself with plans for a pictorial history of the Grenadier Guards that was never published. Successive Medical Board Reviews continued to find his health unfit for battle through the end of the war. Fraser instead served the Army as a clerk upon the completion of his sick leave in August 1916. He worked in the War Office on visual propaganda from October 1916 through late April 1917 and at the Army Record Office at Hounslow until his discharge in March 1919.
In August 1916, Fraser met the American-born actress Grace Inez Crawford in the dressing room of a theater where she was appearing in Hugo Rumbold's L'Apres Midi d'un Faune. They were married on February 6, 1917 and had one daughter, Helen Catherine Adeline Lovat Fraser. His wife's theatrical interests may have contributed to Fraser's increased activities in stage and costume design after this date, and the two collaborated on many projects, including her translations of several eighteenth century Italian lyric plays.
After the war, Fraser continued to make designs for the Poetry Bookshop, provided illustrations for approximately twenty books, executed private commissions for bookplates, stationery and greeting cards, and designed commercial advertisements through the Curwen Press. Fraser's designs for Nigel Playfair's production of Shakespeare's As You Like It, staged on opening night of the Shakespeare Festival at Stratford-Upon-Avon in April 1919 and at the Lyric Theater, Hammersmith, in April 1920, were derisively called "futurist" by some critics because of their spare, evocative design. Despite the critical furor raised by the unconventional set and costumes, this was later acknowledged as a groundbreaking departure from the unimaginatively literal Shakespearean production typical of the time.
As early as 1914, Fraser had begun to make designs based on John Gay's The Beggar's Opera. His innovative set and costume designs for this play were essentially designed in only four days because of last-minute budget constraints. The designs, which premiered at the Lyric Theater on June 5, 1920, proved successful and were used for many subsequent stagings of the play.
In the fall of 1920, Grace and Lovat Fraser befriended the Russian ballerina Tamara Karsavina, who expanded their stage interests to include the ballet. Fraser designed the costumes and set for her Nursery Rhymes, which opened at the London Coliseum on January 3, 1921. In the spring of 1921, Fraser embarked on numerous projects, including set and costume designs for John Drinkwater's Mary Stuart and Lord Dunsaney's If. Designs for Karsavina's Divertissement were finished on June 14, 1921, while the family was vacationing at Dymchurch. Fraser died on June 18 after a sudden illness. His final project, Divertissement, opened at the London Coliseum on July 4 of that year through the combined efforts of Karsavina and Grace Lovat Fraser.
A tremendous outpouring of emotion marked Fraser's early death. A well-attended memorial service at Saint Mary the Boltons in South Kensington was held on June 24. Fraser's final project, Divertissement, opened at the London Coliseum on July 4 of that year through the combined efforts of Crawford and Karsavina. A memorial exhibition was held in December, 1921 at the Leicester Galleries in London. Subsequent exhibitions of Fraser's work have included:
Lovat Fraser. The St. George's Gallery, London. November 1923. Claud Lovat Fraser (1890-1921). An Exhibition. Ashmolean Museum. May 1968. Claud Lovat Fraser: An Exhibition of the Printed Work. University of Hull. 1968. Claud Lovat Fraser. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 1968. Claud Lovat Fraser. d'Offay Couper Gallery, London. 1971. The Art of Claud Lovat Fraser: Book Illustrator, Theatrical Designer and Commercial Artist. Rosenbach Museum and Library, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Winter 1972. Edward Gordon Craig and Claud Lovat Fraser: Drawings and Watercolors. Davis Galleries, New York, New York. October - November 1972. Bryn Mawr College Library, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Autumn 1979. Claud Lovat Fraser: An Exhibition of His Illustrations. Manchester Polytechnic Library, Manchester. Autumn 1984. Claud Lovat Fraser: An Exhibition of His Illustrations. North East London Polytechnic Library, London. Spring 1985. Claud Lovat Fraser: An Exhibition of His Illustrations. University of Ulster, Ireland. 1989.
Works cited: Drinkwater, John and Albert Rutherston. Claud Lovat Fraser. London: Heinemann. 1923. Fraser, Florence M. Unpublished typescript timeline, after 1921. Special Collections Department, Bryn Mawr College Library. Fraser, Grace Lovat. In the Days of My Youth. London: Cassell & Company Ltd. 1970. Macfall, Haldane. The Book of Lovat Fraser. London: J.M. Dent. 1923.
Inez Grace Crawford Lovat Fraser (1889-1977) was a singer, actress, costume designer, translator of plays, and author of several books. She was born in Paris in 1889, daughter of Theron Clark Crawford, an American entrepreneur, and a highly trained amateur pianist (maiden name Randall). Her father's professional projects (including work with Buffalo Bill Cody's "Wild West Show") caused the family to reside in various European and American cities, but England was considered home. Crawford's circle of acquaintances in London included Ezra Pound, Ford Maddox Ford, Violet Hunt, Yeats, and D.H. Lawrence.
Crawford received training in voice, ballet, piano, and music theory, as well as French, German and Italian. She met her future husband, artist Claud Lovat Fraser, during a fitting for a faun costume for Hugo Rumbold's adaptation of L'Après-midi d'un Faune." After a brief courtship, they were married February 6, 1917. During the next four years, until Fraser's death in 1921, the two worked jointly on a number of theatre projects, including La Serva Padrona and The Liar (both of which Crawford translated), and Fraser's long-running production of The Beggar's Opera. Their daughter, Helen Catherine Adeline Lovat Fraser, was born in 1918.
After Fraser's death, Crawford promoted and protected his artistic legacy through exhibitions and publications. She continued her own work in singing and in costume design, working with prominent music and theatre figures of the time, including composer Arthur Bliss, Serge Diaghileff, and Nigel Playfair. Tamara Karsavina, the Russian ballerina, was a lifelong friend.
Crawford also worked in other design-related businesses. In 1923 she formed a firm with Norman Wilkinson and a Mr. Trevelean that specialized in scenery and dress for the theatre, interior decoration for the home, hand printed fabrics, and "modern" clothing. She was editor of the magazine Art and Industry, worked in the design departments of Schweppes and Venesta Limited, and served for a time on the Research and Industrial Design Advisory Departments of Pritchard, Wood & Partners, Ltd.
Crawford was the author of Doll Making at Home, 1940, with drawings by Helen Lovat Fraser; "Different types of plastics, their properties and uses" in John Gloag's Plastics and Industrial Design, 1945; Textiles in Britain, 1948; and a number of magazine articles. She was co-editor with F.A. Mercer of Modern Publicity in War, 1941. In 1970, Crawford published her autobiography, In the Days of My Youth, which concluded with Fraser's death.
Works cited: Fraser, Grace Lovat. In the Days of My Youth. London: Cassell & Company Ltd. 1970. Hooper, Sir Anthony. "Mrs. Grace Lovat Fraser." London: The Times, April 28, 1977, p. 21 "Notes and News" in Art and Industry, London: Volume 34, March 1943, p. 92. Unidentified newspaper clippings in the Fraser Collections, Bryn Mawr College Library.
The collection consists of materials that are sorted into three broad series: Artwork, Photographs, and Manuscripts. That Artwork series consists of approximately 1,000 loose pencil or reed pen drawings, watercolors and gouaches, 29 bound volumes of original material, approximately 600 printed items, approximately 10 scrapbooks of printed items, 162 photographs documenting Fraser's art work, and related negatives. This portion of the collection is organized into eleven subseries based on the subjects of the items. The Photograph series complements the detailed diaries and manuscripts that exist in the manuscript section of the Collection, and also illustrates Crawford's life after Fraser's death. The section has been divided into five subseries. The Manuscripts series consists of correspondence to and from Lovat Fraser and Grace Crawford Lovat Fraser. Additionally, the series contains 13 of Fraser's diaries and a variety of other manuscript materials, such as Fraser's essays, poetry, drafts of his letters and news clippings.
Acquired primarily by purchase from Seymour Adelman and Grace Lovat Fraser.
People
- Drinkwater, John, 1882-1937
- Karsavina, Tamara, 1885-1978
- Pound, Ezra, 1885-1972
- Dunsany, Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, Baron, 1878-1957
- Yeats, W. B. (William Butler), 1865-1939
- Hunt, Violet, 1862-1942
- Bliss, Arthur, 1891-1975
- Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert), 1885-1930
- Diaghilev, Serge, 1872-1929
- Macfall, Haldane, 1860-1928
- Playfair, Nigel, Sir, 1874-1934
- Sickert, Walter
Organization
Subject
- Actors
- Boarding schools
- Set designers
- Costume design
- World War, 1914-1918
- Illustrators
- Theaters -- Stage-setting and scenery
Place
- Publisher
- Bryn Mawr College
- Finding Aid Author
- Barbara Ward Grubb, Claire Pingel, Melissa Torquato
- Finding Aid Date
- 2013
- Access Restrictions
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The Claud Lovat Fraser and Grace Crawford Fraser collection is the physical property of Special Collections Department, Bryn Mawr College Library. Copyright belongs to Bryn Mawr College.
- Use Restrictions
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This collection is open for research. For publication, consult the Head of Special Collections.
Collection Inventory
The series consists of approximately 1,000 loose pencil or reed pen drawings, watercolors and gouaches, 29 bound volumes of original material, approximately 600 printed items, approximately 10 scrapbooks of printed items, 162 photographs documenting Fraser's art work, and related negatives. Most of the items date from Fraser's mature period, 1911-1921, but there are also several juvenile drawings and paintings and several posthumous publications. The series is organized into eleven subseries, based on the subjects of the items contained within them. The first seven subseries consist only of loose original materials. Many of these were removed from sketchbooks, presumably by Fraser himself. Scrapbooks of original material and the majority of the sketchbooks occupy the eighth subseries and contain diverse subjects. The only exceptions are the sketchbooks that Fraser used during World War I, which are in subseries III. Two subseries are composed of both printed material and original designs for printed material. The last subseries is composed of both printed and original materials executed not by Fraser but by family members, friends, and other artists.
Figural Work is organized into five groups: Family Members; Caricature and Portraiture; Full-length Figures; Faces and Heads; Nudes; and Scenes with Figures. Family Members chiefly consists of members of Fraser's immediate family. Caricature and Portraiture contains caricatures and portraits of Fraser's contemporaries and historic persons. Faces and Heads and Full-length Figures contain studies of people and costumes, including six silhouettes of women in nineteenth century dress that may be by Fraser or his mother. Nudes contain both portraits and general studies of nudes. Scenes with Figures contains groups of figures in an environment which usually include a caption.
There is one more sheet of caricatures, a "thinking paper" too large for a box, located in the flat file drawer marked "Fraser Posters."
There is one more scene with figures, too large for a box, located in the flat file drawer marked "Fraser Posters." It may have been intended to represent a scene from an unidentified theatrical production and is very similar to smaller versions in this box.
Landscape and Architecture is organized into two boxes. More landscapes can be found in Series III and Series VII. There is also one landscape ("Cortona") in Over-sized Box 1, on the same sheet as a figure drawing of a character identified as Billy Waters.
World War I is organized into four boxes.
Beneath the folders are over-sized (1) and matted (4) drawings
Beneath the folders is one larger matted watercolor of Sint Jan's Kerk, Poperinghe.
Animals is contained in one box. More sketches of animals can be found in Series III, Series VIII, Series IX and Series X.
Toys is contained in one box and includes 21 drawings and watercolors. Drawings of toys that served as decorations on printed items can be found in Series IX and Series X. See especially a book mock-up in Series X, Box 19, "A Book of Simple Toys," which was published by the Bryn Mawr College Library in 1982 with an introduction by Seymour Adelman.
Theater and Stage is organized into two subseries: A) Designs for Specific Plays and Ballets and B) Designs for Unidentified Plays and Ballets. These objects occupy a total of five boxes. See also bound designs for The Clandestine Marriage and The Captain, in Series VIII.
There is one costume design for Beau Brummel too large for a box, located in the flat file drawer marked "Fraser Posters." A decorated list of the "Men, Women and Monsters" costume designs Lovat intended to exhibit at the 1921 Leicester Gallery show (which became his memorial exhibition) is also in this drawer.
Beneath the folders are: Large scene notes and set designs (9) Large costume designs (5)
There is one large scene with figures, too large for a box, located in the flat file drawer marked "Fraser Posters." Like smaller versions in Series I Box 6 Oversize, it may have been intended to represent a scene from an unidentified theatrical production.
Miscellaneous Drawings includes 17 drawings and paintings not included in the six series above. There is also a drawing of a sailboat on the verso of a small sketchbook page with three drawings of a man in a blue gown w/yellow spots and one drawing of a woman & child (ca. 1914) in Figural Work Box 2.
Sketchbooks includes all of Fraser's sketchbooks except those produced during World War I, which are found in Series III. Smaller sketchbooks are located in two boxes. Larger sketchbooks that are boxed in individual boxes are also located on these shelves. This Series also contains five scrapbooks of original drawings and watercolors; these were compiled by Fraser and contain many caricatures.
Contains drawings executed at West Town, Somerset, including animals, landscapes, buildings and studies after paintings
Contains three buildings, a window and a tree
Mostly executed on a trip to Northern France. Contains sketches of construction site at Westminster; drawings of figures, buildings, and street scenes and anecdote "La Place l'Animal Combat" which is also transcribed by someone else inserted here.
The number 5 has been pencilled in the inside front cover. Executed on a trip to Paris. Contains drawings of figures, buildings and scenes at the Opera and in gardens and cafes, lists of expenses, lists of names and objects.
The number 13 has been pencilled in the inside front cover. Contains figure studies, blasted tree, drafts of letters, drawings and notes for If
Contains theater, set and costume notes and drawings and an essay, "What's wrong with the theatre"
The number 18 has been pencilled in the inside front cover. Contains figures, portraits, soldiers historic figures, scenes with figures, designs for printed projects including vases and other patterns, fragments of writing
The number 8 has been pencilled in the inside front cover. Contains faces, trees, flowers, bulldog, buildings, and a list of Flying Fame publications
Contains notes for As You Like It
Contains landscapes and a few figures from Rotterdam, Antwerp, Bruges Many drawings have been removed and all that's left are their captions. The drawings are now in Series I & IIv
Contains figure notes from National Gallery, the street, London theater
Contains watercolor, charcoal and ink drawings of buildings and figures
Contains pasted in drawings, including caricatures, portraits, historic figures, full- length figures, designs for advertisements and scenes in theaters
Contains watercolors of buildings in and around Buntingford, designs for Little Ninevah, and other figures
With black and white drawings by Fraser pasted in.
Beaumont and Fletcher. The Captain. 1711 edition. With Fraser's 1920 designs interleaved. There is one drawing in Series VI that may have been in this book.
No Subnote Content
Individually housed.
Frontispiece: "The Thorny Way/Being Testimonials, not all Honey, but with a judicious flavoring of gall, solicited and unsolicited, provoked and unprovoked, caused by the unpleasant Art of Lovat Claud Fraser." All material pasted into book. Some pages have been removed and can now be found in Series I, Full-Length Figures, Faces and Heads, and Scenes with Figures. Contains self-portrait as Saint Stephen; correspondence (ca. July 1909-February 1910) regarding Fraser's caricature and criticism of it, sometimes accompanied by Fraser's comments and criticisms of the authors; caricatures; clippings of early published caricatures in the back.
All material pasted into book. Contains an imaginary ca. 22nd century museum brochure with small drawing by Old Master Lovat Fraser, caricature, portraits, figure studies, soldiers, ballerinas, heads and faces, figures in rooms or landscapes and street scenes.
All material pasted into book. Contains historic scenes and portraits, caricature, figure studies, costume studies, self-portraits, street scenes, drawings after paintings, ghosts and demons, designs for "The Ghost on Gallow Rise" and "Knowledge; A Modern Morality Play," two designs for book covers.
All material pasted into book. Contains designs for bookplates and book covers, designs for posters including exhibition posters and advertising posters, figure studies, faces and heads, self-portraits, historic figures, landscapes and buildings, Eastern design of an enthroned sultan with caption, a sleeping cat, a heraldic shield, a satyr for a Greek book and a watercolor of a religious procession.
Executed while on holiday, probably while recovering from an illness. Contains landscapes and buildings around Buntingford; a Maypole; designs and notes for Flying Fame projects; figure and character studies; designs for and notes on advertisements in England; designs for toys and bookplates; a lengthy anecdote; printed items and other drawings pasted in.
Contains landscapes and buildings in Anstey, Hertfordshire, Aspenden and Buntingford; poetry; designs and notes for Flying Fame projects; figure and character studies of peasants, soldiers, historical and other figures; figures on horses; a ship; Eastern subjects; animals; designs for bookplates; printed items and other drawings pasted in.
This sketchbook includes drawings from Fraser's trip to France and Italy with his father in March, April and May, 1914. Contains various figures, animals, vehicles, buildings, landscapes and cityscapes from home and abroad; an illustrated nursery rhyme; Eastern subjects; printed items and other drawings pasted in.
This sketchbook includes drawings from Fraser's trip to France and Italy with his father in March, April and May, 1914. Contains watercolors of buildings, paintings and sculptures, landscapes, vehicles, figures and boats. Several watercolors at the back of the book may not be Italian subjects.
Contains mostly reed pen drawings of figures and heads, boats, buildings at Buntingford, several watercolors of buildings in Venice and a pencil sketch of a soldier. Many pages removed.
Millard Printed Items includes anything in the collection that is to be found in Christopher Millard's The Printed Work of Claud Lovat Fraser. London: H. Danielson, 1923, as well as working drawings and proofs for those items. Millard grouped items into the following nine chapters: Flying Fame, Poetry Bookshop, Books, Christmas and Greeting Cards, Bookplates and Labels, Posters, Prints, Periodicals and Miscellaneous. Miscellaneous is organized by commissioning agent. Items are marked with and arranged according to their corresponding catalogue number. See also Designs for Cover Papers in Series VIII.
Flat file drawer marked "Fraser posters." M272, M278, M281-M282, M286
Several Flying Fame broadsides not decorated by Fraser are located in Series XI.
Printouts from Tripod for M121-228, M121-M123, M129, M143, M146, M149-M150, M155, M157-M158, M160-M161, M164-M165, M167-M168, M170-M174, M176-M183, M188-M189, M191-M193, M200, M202-M204, M210-M211, M214-M216, M218, M220, M227-M231, M233, M235-M241, M244, M247, M247a, M248, M250, M254, M256-M268, M276, M291, M293, M295-M296, M302a-d, M303, M305, M307-M308a-b, M310, M313, M316, M321, M323, M329, M331, M336, M338, M347-351, M353-357, M360, M362-363, M371, M373-M376, M386, M391-M396, M398-M399
M401-M402, M406-M425, M427, M434, M4442, M446, M448-M449, M456-M458, M461-M462, M465, M471, M473, M489-M491, M493-M494, M498-M499, M502, M510-M512, M514 -M517, M521-M522, M525-M534, M536, M538-M548, M550, M554-M559, M562-sM563, M566-M571, M573, M575, M577, M581-M587, M590-M593, M609, M611, M615-M620, M622-M625, M627-M632, M634-M635, M640, M642, M644-M645, M649, M651, M653-M654, M656, M6558-M663, M667, M669-M672, M689, M691-M696, M699, M701, M704-M709, M712, M719-M725, M732-M734, M736-M740, M742), miscellaneous unsorted proofs
M166, M168-M183, M194, M196 & M201 original drawing only, M265, M275-M276, M281, M286, M290-M291, M297-M298, M304 w/proof, M306-M310
M315-M317, M397 w/proof, M427, M438 proof only, M474, M494 proof only, M506, M521d, M549, M552, M618, M673-M689, M690 w/original drawing, M691 preliminary design only, M693 original drawings only
M19-M20, M22-M23, M25-M26, M28-M29, M31-M32, M34-M35, M37-M38, M40-M41, M43-M44, M46-M47, M49-M50, M52-M53, M55-M56, and misprints of second series Flying Fame broadsides (some are mentioned in Millard but others are not); M118-M120 with original designs, and printer's proofs and color separations; M121; M196 mock-up; M196 interleaved in sketchbook with color separations
Other Printed Items includes printed items and designs for printed items that do not appear in Christopher Millard The Printed Work of Claud Lovat Fraser (London: H. Danielson, 1923). As in Millard, items have been grouped into the following subseries: Flying Fame, Poetry Bookshop, Books, Christmas and Greeting Cards, Bookplates and Labels, Posters, Prints, Periodicals and Miscellaneous. Millard organized Miscellaneous by commissioning agent. Because the commissioning agent for many of these materials is unknown, Miscellaneous has instead been divided into the following six categories: Pattern Designs, Drawings for Unidentified Publications, Private Commissions, Commercial Designs, Theater and Stage, and Exhibition-Related Materials.
Other Artists includes both printed and original materials by Fraser's family members and associates. Original materials are by Henri Gaudier Brzeska, John Sell Cotman, Edward Gordon Craig, Pouys Evans, Florence M. Fraser, Helen Lovat Fraser, Ralph Hodgson, Hugo Rumbold, Albert Rutherston, R. Stone, Norman Wilkinson and a person identified only as "Dolly's uncle." Printed materials by other artists include Poetry Bookshop Rhyme Sheets illustrated by James Guthrie, Philip Halgreen, John Nash, Paul Nash, and Charles Winzer. Other printed items include Edward Gordon Craig, F. L. Griggs, "T.H.," Haldane Macfall, E. MacKinstry, Paul Nash, Herbert Roth, Albert Rutherston, Gilbert Spencer, Joseph Simpson, Jack B. Yeats and items by unknown artists, including 94 19th century illustrated ballad sheets.
Photographs and Negatives. Many of Fraser's art works and theatre projects were photographed. Of particular importance is the file that supposedly contains photos of the works in Fraser's first studio show. It is not known who identified this group, but it has been maintained as a separate file within the series.
The photograph series of the Claud Lovat Fraser and Grace Crawford Lovat Fraser Collection complements the detailed diaries and manuscripts that exist in the manuscript section of the Collection, and also illustrates Crawford's life after Fraser's death. The section has been divided into five subseries. Images range in size and are of both professional and amateur quality. Photographers are identified where known. A number of the photographs are duplicated and copies may be found in more that one subseries.
Photographs that document Lovat Fraser's art work and related negatives are housed with Claud Lovat Fraser artworks.
Personal Photographs is organized into two subgroups: photos of Claud Lovat Fraser and photos of Grace Crawford Fraser. They are arranged chronologically. Most of the photographs are of only one person, although there are a few photos of both Fraser and Crawford that show other people.
Family and Friends contains photographs of family, friends and professional associates of both Frasers. The main group of photographs of Helen Catherine Adeline Lovat Fraser is found in this series.
Friends represented in this group include Tamara Karsavina, Beatrice Hackett (Mrs. James), Richard Collett, Norman Wilkinson, Arthur Bliss, Eugene and Jansi Goossens, Gordon Craig, Gregory Stroud, the Courtaulds, Hugo Rumbold, Adeline Genee, and Ralph Hodgson.
These have been combined with photos of Fraser in Box 1.
Grace Lovat Fraser Theatre Work This small series contains photos of some of the costumes and sets Crawford designed after Fraser's death.
Miscellaneous Both Frasers have miscellaneous photographs (of pets, places, photos of personal belongings) that have been separated from the chronological groupings of Series I. Many of the miscellaneous photographs are not identified, and a large number are casual snapshots.
Negatives contains an assortment of black and white negatives and color transparencies. Included is an album of negatives identified by Fraser.
The series consists of correspondence to and from Lovat Fraser and Grace Crawford Lovat Fraser, with letters to and from other family members, friends and business colleagues. Fraser's juvenile correspondence to and from his parents and his brother, Alan (approx. 200 pieces, c.1899-1907), contains many early sketches and gives a vivid picture of his life in boarding school. His mature correspondence with family members (approx. 250 letters), include his descriptive and often poignant letters home from the Front. Many of these are illustrated as well.
Letters to Fraser and/or Crawford, including letters to Crawford after Fraser's death, include correspondence from members of the English literary, music and theatrical community of the first half of the twentieth century. Some of the correspondents are:
Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) Enid Bagnold (1889-1981) Sir Max Beerbohm (1872-1956) Baron Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt Wilson Berners (1883-1950) Desmond Coke (1879-1931) Edward Gordon Craig (1872-1966) Harold Curwen (1885-1949) Walter De La Mare (1873-1956) William Frend De Morgan (1839-1917) John Drinkwater (1882-1937) Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965) Sir Eugene Goossens (1893-1962) Robert Graves (1895-1985) Martin Hardie (1875-1952) Kenneth Hare (1888-1962) Sir Ambrose Heal(1872-1959) Ralph Hodgson (1871-1962) Sir Barry Vincent Jackson (1879-1961) Holbrook Jackson (1874-1948)Tamara Karsavina (1885-1978) Edward Verrall Lucas (1868-1938) C. Haldane Macfall (1860-1928) Sir Francis Meynell (1891-1975 Harold Monro (1879-1932) John Middleton Murry (1889-1957) Paul Nash (1889-1946) C.R.W. Nevinson (1889-1946) Sir John Henry Newbolt (1862-1938) Sir Nigel Playfair (1874-1934) James Prude (1866-1941) Alfred William Rich (1856-1941) Sir William Rothenstein (1872-1945) George William Russell (1867-1935) Albert Rutherston (1881-1953) James Stephens (1882-1950) Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1853-1917) Sir Hugh Walpole (1884-1941) Jack Butler Yeats (1871-1957)
The collection also contains 13 of Fraser's diaries written from 1906 to August 1914 and August 1917 to 1919. The gap between 1914 and 1917-Fraser's WWI period-is covered in his correspondence, particularly with his parents.
The collection holds a variety of other manuscript materials, such as Fraser's essays, poetry, drafts of his letters, Fraser's platoon roll book and discharge paper, Fraser's studio visitors book, Crawford-Fraser wedding announcements, clippings about Fraser from newspapers and periodicals, including notices of his exhibitions and stage productions, clippings about Crawford (scrapbook and loose), unpublished manuscripts by Crawford, a poem by Sinclair Lewis, a poem by Ezra Pound, an autograph manuscript score of Arthur Bliss's Rout, and an autograph first draft of James Stephens' The Story of Tuan MacCairill.
In the 2000-2001 inventory certain materials, such as photos, drawings and manuscripts, were found with letters. These groupings were maintained in these folders.
In doing the inventory of November, 2000 a number of undated letters were found grouped with those of certain dates. These undated ones were retained in the dated files. However, there were some loose undated letters and miscellaneous materials that had not been previously grouped, and these were placed in Folder 12.
There was no obvious reason why these are here, but they were retained in this group.
Fraser often included sketches, notes, clippings, and photos in his diaries. These have not been individually inventoried. The numbering of the diaries is for the purposes of this list only; Fraser did not identify them with numbers.
Includes description of trip to Belgium.
Entries are intermittent throughout the year. Many of the missing dates are covered by the separate diaries of his trip to France and Italy.
"On August 4th 1914 I closed my Diary and resolved that I would not resume it until Peace was once more declared. [Fraser describes war experiences and ends with a description of how he met Grace Crawford.] "...I knew then that I loved her."
Fraser notes that "this book was bound up with my favourite selections by Zaehnsdorf for me when I was in the Army in September 1914. I carried it with me all the time that I was on Active Service both at home and abroad." The book includes selections from the Bible, poems, works by Shakespeare, and essays.
Fraser often included sketches, notes, clippings, and photos in his diaries. These have not been individually inventoried. The numbering of the diaries is for the purposes of this list only; Fraser did not identify them with numbers.
Journal is kept primarily in Greek, with letters spelling out the English equivalent.
Primarily in Greek. "I resolve to keep my diary in cipher again [as there is no knowing what the clerks may see in my absence]."
The loose items have been assigned numbers for organization only.
Dummy relates to printed versions that are in BMC Special Collections.
Unless otherwise indicated, Fraser did not date these books. Numbers have been assigned for identification purposes only.
Subjects include CLF's theater work.
Subjects include reviews of CLF exhibition at Victoria and Albert Museum.