Historic correspondence collections added to Manchester Digital Collections

The Letters of John Ruskin

155 letters associated with one of the most influential figures of the Victorian era, English writer, philosopher and art critic John Ruskin (1819-1900), are now available on Manchester Digital Collections with enhanced descriptions and ultra-high quality images.

Numerous correspondents are represented in this new digital collection, in particular the Scottish writer and editor Peter Bayne and American artist and writer William James Stillman.

The letters form part of a rich and extensive collection of material relating to Ruskin held by The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, which sheds light on Ruskin himself and his works, his personal affairs and his domestic and financial problems. 

• View The Letters of John Ruskin

Nancy Cunard Correspondence

The John Rylands Research Institute and Library’s exceptional Manchester Guardian Archive holds an important collection of correspondence between Nancy Cunard (1896-1965), former heiress, activist, and journalist, and the Cross Street office of the Manchester Guardian newspaper. 

This collection, now available on Manchester Digital Collections for the first time, offers a fascinating insight into Cunard’s work on behalf of the Manchester Guardian around the period 1938-9 when she reported on the final stages of the Spanish Civil War from Perpignan. She writes eloquently and movingly on the humanitarian impact of the conflict and the plight of refugees and fleeing republican soldiers.

• View the Nancy Cunard Correspondence collection