Fred Norris Robinson collection of Irish manuscripts
Overview
Contains seven Irish manuscripts colleted by Fred Norris Robinson.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1814-1913
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research. Formerly restricted until 1978.
Extent
.25 linear feet (1 box)Contains seven nineteenth century Irish manuscripts, all in Irish and Gaelic Latin script, collected by Celtic scholar Fred Norris Robinson and bequested upon his death in 1966 to Houghton Library.
Biographical / Historical
Fred Norris Robinson (April 4, 1871 – July 21, 1966), professionally known as F. N. Robinson, was an eminent American Celticist and scholar of Geoffrey Chaucer. Robinson received his B.A. (1891), M.A. (1892), and PhD (1894) from Harvard University, working with the eminent medievalists Francis James Child and George Lyman Kittredge. In 1936, after appointments at Harvard as instructor (1894), assistant professor (1902), and professor (1906), he succeeded his thesis adviser, Kittredge, as Gurney Professor of English. In 1895, he spent a year abroad at the University of Freiburg, Germany, working with Rudolph Turneysen, one of the founders of Celtic Philology. He received honorary doctorates from the National University of Ireland and the University of Dublin, was an honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy and also the Consultative Committee of the Irish Texts Society.
Source: Wikipedia page
Arrangement
Materials have not been arranged.
Custodial History
Ownership before this acquisition explained in detail in Cornelius G. Buttridge's Catalog of Irish manuscripts in Houghton Library, Harvard University and to the extent possible in the item description in the finding aid.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
66M-91. Bequest of Fred Norris Robinson, 1966.
Processing Information
Processed by Betts Coup, 2023.
Processing Information
The contents of this finding aid are based on Cornelius G. Buttridge's 2022 Catalog of Irish manuscripts in Houghton Library, Harvard University. Buttridge describes the seven manuscripts and their provenance in detail. He uses the MS Ir call number system to number them, identifying them as 38-44 in his text. Because this collection is being treated archivally, all seven have been described as MS Ir 38 and other materials will be processed with the additional numerical call numbers. For the sake of matching the contents of this collection to Buttridge's description, see his descriptions of 38-44 for additional information about these manuscripts.
- Title
- Robinson, F. N. (Fred Norris), 1871-1966. Fred Norris Robinson Collection of Irish Manuscripts, circa 1814-1913 (MS Ir 38): Guide.
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard University.
- Date
- February 3, 2023
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- hou03526
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
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