Donald & Mary Hyde collection of realia related to Samuel Johnson

Mary Hyde Eccles (1912-2003) was one of the world's leading collectors of books and manuscripts from the 1940s through her death in 2003. She was also a distinguished literary scholar, and an important benefactor of numerous libraries and cultural institutions. She was born as Mary Morley Crapo in 1912. Her early years were spent in and around Detroit, Michigan. She received her B.A. from Vassar College in 1934, and her Ph.D. in English from Columbia in 1947. Mary Morley Crapo married lawyer Donald Frizell Hyde (1909-1966) in 1939. In 1943, they purchased Four Oaks Farm, a large estate in Somerville, New Jersey. Soon after their marriage, the Hydes began collecting books and manuscripts relating to Samuel Johnson and his circle, and in 1948, they acquired the great R.B. Adam collection, which established them as the foremost Johnson collectors in the world. The Hydes also began collecting Japanese prints and illustrated books in 1960, and assembled an important collection of Oscar Wilde material. Mary Hyde published two important monographs on Johnson's circle: The Impossible Friendship: Boswell and Mrs. Thrale (1972) and The Thrales of Streatham Park (1977). In 1984 she married David Eccles, Viscount Eccles (1904-1999), a prominent book collector, and Great Britain's former education minister. They maintained dual residences in England and at Four Oaks Farm, and she assumed the title of Viscountess Eccles. Lord Eccles died in 1999, and Lady Eccles in 2003.