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Erwin K. Welsch collection of T.S. Eliot material
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Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us] 3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6206
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Erwin Kurt Welsch was born April 17, 1935 to Frederick K. Welsch (1895-1950) and Anna Schwarz Welsch (1893-1973) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1958 and went on to receive a Master's degree in Library Science from Indiana University, and his Ph.D. in European history from Indiana University. He was a member of the faculty and European history librarian and later Assistant Director for Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1967 until his retirement in 1995. He also authored several books and over one hundred articles.
Welsch became enthralled with the poet during a University of Pennsylvania literature class. Welsch started to collect Eliot material during graduate school. While searching for literature for a comparative literature course, he came across two first editions of Eliot's work and his life long pursuit to acquire material began.
Welsch married Carol Elizabeth Gessing in 1956. The couple had 2 children.
This collection of T.S. Eliot material was collected by historian and librarian Erwin K. Welsch who became enthralled with the poet during a University of Pennsylvania literature class. Welsch started to collect Eliot material during graduate school. While searching for literature for a comparative literature course, he came across two first editions of Eliot's work and his life long pursuit to acquire material began.
The collection is arranged in four series: I. T.S. Eliot material; II. Donald Gallup, T.S. Eliot: a Bibliography; III. Erwin Welsch research material; and IV. Ephemera and audiovisual material.
Series I. T.S. Eliot material contains published articles by Eliot, images of Eliot and letters Eliot wrote to several different people, including dressmaker Madame Felix (Marie Felix de Varague), Seymour Lawrence and Ursula Roberts. Eliot's two letters to Madame Felix discuss the rental of a flat. The Madame Felix file also includes letters from whom it is believed to be Lady Victoria Cavendish-Bentinck, and Pretiva Sundari Devi Narayan of Cooch Behar, as well as proofs of two newspaper articles on Madame Felix by an unnamed author. Eliot's letter to Seymour Lawrence discusses his ability to translate Greek with the help of a dictionary and George Seferis' achievements, while his letters to Ursula Roberts discuss her poem Dunch.
Series II. Donald Gallup, T.S. Eliot: a Bibliography includes copies of T.S. Eliot's works that are contained in Gallup's bibliography. According to Welsch, he "attempted to gather copies of every edition of every work listed in Gallup A or B as well as variants and association copies together with those listed in Part C in either the origial or in Xerox copy." Items in this series pertain to part C, and are numbered by Welsch with their ID's from Gallup's bibliography, i.e. C 22.
Series III. Erwin Welsch research material contains copies of articles about T.S. Eliot written by others. The articles are arranged alphabetically by author. The series also contains bibliographies, library catalogue searches, letters from Valerie Eliot discussing the importance of Welsch's collection of her husband's material and invoices of Welsch's purchases of T.S. Eliot items. An inventory of the collection compiled by Welsch is also located in this series and it provides a detailed description of each item in the collection.
Series IV. Ephemera and audiovisual material contains a wide variety of multimedia items including T.S. Eliot commemorative U.S. postage stamps, sheet music, audiobooks, cassette and compact disc recordings of radio programs airing readings of Eliot's works, vinyl records, and a VHS tape of the movie Tom and Viv based on Eliot's marriage to his first wife, Vivienne.
Gift of Erwin K. Welsch and Carol Anne Harves, 2015
Books from this collection were catalogued separately and are searchable in Franklin under Erwin K. and Carol Welsch T.S. Eliot collection (University of Pennsylvania).
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- Publisher
- University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts
- Finding Aid Author
- Kristine McGee
- Finding Aid Date
- 2026 January 7
- Access Restrictions
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The bulk of this collection is open for research use; however, access to original audio/visual materials and computer files is restricted. The Kislak Center will provide access to the information on these materials from duplicate master files. If the original does not already have a copy, it will be sent to an outside vendor for copying. Patrons are financially responsible for the cost. The turnaround time from request to delivery of digital items is about two weeks for up to five items and three to seven weeks for more than five items. Please contact Reprographic Services (reprogr@upenn.edu) for cost estimates and ordering. Once digital items are received, researchers will have access to the files on a dedicated computer in the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center. Researchers should be aware of specifics of copyright law and act accordingly.
- Use Restrictions
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Copyright restrictions may exist. For most library holdings, the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania do not hold copyright. It is the responsibility of the requester to seek permission from the holder of the copyright to reproduce material from the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts.