Michael Millgate - C.P. Snow
Collection

 

1958 – 1964

 

 

Manuscript Collection Number 458

 

Accessioned:  Purchase, August 2002

 

Extent:  42 items (.2 linear ft.)

 

Content:  Correspondence, articles, typescripts

 

Access:  The collection is open for research.

 

Processed:  December 2002 by Gerald Cloud

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Biographical Notes

 

Michael Millgate

            The British scholar Michael Millgate was born July 19, 1929, in Southampton, England, and educated at St. Catharine's College, Cambridge (B.A. 1952, M.A. 1956), and the University of Leeds (Ph.D., 1960).  Millgate is Professor of English at the University of Toronto and has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Royal Society of Canada, and the Royal Society of Literature.  He is the author of critical studies and biographies of Thomas Hardy and William Faulkner.

 

C. P. (Charles Percy) Snow

            The British writer, scientist, and public official C. P. (Charles Percy) Snow was born in Leicester, England, on October 15, 1905.  He died July 1, 1980 in London.  Snow was educated at University College, Leicester (B.S. 1927, M.S. 1928); and Christ's College, Cambridge (Ph.D. in physics, 1930).  Snow combined three careers during his lifetime, serving as a Civil Service commissioner (1945-1960) and parliamentary secretary (1964-1966); he was a physicist at Cambridge University (1930-1950); and he wrote novels, plays, and critical essays.  Snow’s book The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution (1962) was aimed at closing the gap between scientific and literary spheres of thought, and was admired by figures such as John F. Kennedy, but attacked by the critic F.R. Leavis.  As a novelist Snow is most well-known for his sequence Strangers and Brothers, which includes The Masters (1951), The New Men (1954), The Affair (1960), Corridors of Power (1964), and Last Things (1970).  In 1964 Snow was made a life peer.

 

Sources:

 

“C(harles) P(ercy) Snow.” Contemporary Authors Online, The Gale Group. 2002. Retrieved December 11, 2002 from http://www.galenet.com/servlet/BioRC

“Michael Millgate.” Contemporary Authors Online, The Gale Group. 2002. Retrieved December 11, 2002 from http://www.galenet.com/servlet/BioRC

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Scope and Content Note

            The Michael Millgate-C.P. Snow collection spans the dates 1958 – 1964 and includes 42 items of correspondence, typescripts, periodicals, and news clippings related to Millgate’s 1962 interview with Snow.  The collection comprises letters from Snow to Millgate, typescripts of an interview conducted by Millgate, publication correspondence between Millgate and his editors, and periodicals and news clippings related to Snow.  The collection is organized chronologically, based on dated correspondence and dated publications.

            Snow’s letters to Millgate are related to the latter’s work on Snow and other literary matters.  The typescripts included in the collection bear many autograph corrections made by both Snow and Millgate.  A published version of the article is included for comparison.  Many of the news clippings in the collection are related to the debate that rose around Snow’s book The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution (1962). 

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Contents List

 

F1        C.P. Snow Letters to Michael Millgate

            1958    Nov 27      ALS           2p

 

            1959    Jun 8          ALS           2p              (with envelope)

                        Jun 24        ALS           2p

                        Jun 26        ALS           2p             

                        Jul 29         ALS           2p             

                        Aug 5         ALS           2p              (with envelope)

                        Aug 19       ALS           2p             

                        Nov 9        ALS           3p             

 

            1960    Apr 26       TLS           1p             

                        Jul 19         TLS           1p             

 

            1961    Sep 7         TLS           1p

                        Oct 17       TLS           1p

 

            1962    Jan 9          TLS           1p

                        Oct 8         TLS           1p

 

            1963    Oct 28       TLS           1p

           

            1964    Apr 20       TLS           1p

                        Apr 28       TLS           1p

                        Nov 4        TLS           1p

 

F2        Michael Millgate Correspondence

            1960    Feb 16       TLS           1p              from Norman Podhoretz

           

            1962    Mar 1         TLS           1p              from L. Brander

                        Mar 3         TL(c)         1p              Millgate to Brander

                        Includes 1p typescript excerpt from Snow interview with autograph note.

 

                        Mar 5         TLS           1p             

                        Mar 5         TL(c)         1p              Brander to Snow

                        May 7        TLS           1p              from Oliver Warner

                        Includes 1p typescript from Snow interview with autograph corrections.

 

F3        Interview with C.P. Snow [1959]

 

            Typescript with autograph corrections, 35 pp.

            Published in the Review of English Literature July 1962.

 

            Transcript of Recorded Interview with C.P. Snow

            Typescript with autograph notes, 21 pp.

 

            Tear Sheets from published interview, Review of English Literature July 1962

 

F4        Periodicals and news clippings (14 items)

 

            Spectator, March 9, 1962.  Includes “The Significance of C.P. Snow” by F.R. Leavis.

            Spectator, March 16, 1962.  Includes an article on the Snow-Leavis debate.

            New Statesman, May 17, 1963.  Includes “Education and Sacrifice” by Snow.

 

            News clippings from various British newspapers related to Snow and the “Two Cultures” debate that involved F.R. Leavis.