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Name of creator
Biographical history
Son of a Belfast solicitor, educated at Malvern School and University College Oxford
Achieved Firsts in Mods & Greats and English
Fellow and Tutor of Magdalen College, Oxford, 1925-1954
Appointed the first Professor of Medieval & Renaissance English at Cambridge, and was a Professorial Fellow of Magdalene College, 1954-1963
Made an Honorary Fellow in 1963.
College Magazine
Obituary - College Magazine, vol. 8 (1963-64) pp.13-14
Book review of The Discarded Image, College Magazine, vol. 8 (1963-64) pp.17-21
Article - 'C.S. Lewis: from Magdalen to Magdalene (1954)', by John Constable, College Magazine, vol. 32 (1987-88) pp. 42-46
Article - 'Celebrating C. S. Lewis', by Simon Barrington-Ward, College Magazine, vol. 43 (1987-88) pp. 31-33
Memorial slate in Chapel
Archival history
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C.S. Lewis was appointed the first Professor of Medieval & Renaissance English at Cambridge and moved from Magdalen College, Oxford, to take up the position in 1954. He was made a Professorial Fellow of Magdalene College in 1954, and he had rooms in First Court. He was made an Honorary Fellow in 1963 and died on 22 November 1963. A Memorial Service was held in the Chapel..
He described his move as a 'great success' and described Magdalene in the following terms:
‘My new college is a smaller, softer, more gracious place than my old. The mental and social atmosphere is like the sunny side of a wall in an old garden'; ‘A tiny little place … but a perfect gem architecturally and (I think) much more congenial socially and spiritually.’
See Walter Hooper (ed)., Collected Letters, 3 vols. (2000-2006), esp. Vol. III 'Narnia, Cambridge & Joy, 1950-1963'.
In addition to the letters in this archive, Hooper prints his ‘Easter hymn’ (F/FT/3); a letter about Canon Tibbats; and a letter about the possible deposit of Kipling’s papers in the College (p. 1261, 4 May 1961).
For other letters of College interest, see W.H. Lewis (ed) Letters of C.S. Lewis , p. 289 (Lady Willink's death), p. 293 (unexpurgated Pepys), and p. 308 (Hon. Fellowship).
Most of C.S. Lewis's papers are held in the Bodleian Library in Oxford.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
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System of arrangement
This collection of papers relating to C.S. Lewis was constructed artificially. Original archives have been removed from their original series.
It has been decided to keep the original archives in this collection and catalogue them here.
Printed articles and other secondary sources are catalogued in the College Archive section of the catalogue under 'Historical Reference': MCHR/LEWIS