The University of Chicago Library > The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center > Finding Aids > Guide to the George Gordon Coulton Papers 1875-1941
© 2008 University of Chicago Library
| Title: | Coulton, George Gordon. Papers |
|---|---|
| Dates: | 1875-1941 |
| Size: | 19.5 linear feet (38 boxes) |
| Repository: |
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
| Abstract: | G. G. (George Gordon) Coulton (1858-1957), Professor of Medieval History. The collection includes correspondence, photographs, notes and writings documenting Coulton's scholarship and his advocacy of compulsory national service. |
The collection is open for research.
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G. G. (George Gordon) Coulton, Historian, was born in King's Lynn, Norfolk, England in 1858. He was educated at St. Catharine's College, Cambridge. Although ordained as a deacon in the Church of England in 1883, Coulton served only briefly before spiritual doubts led him to resign his curacy in 1885. For the next decades, he held a series of teaching and tutoring positions and studied and wrote extensively in medieval history.
In 1911, Coulton was named Birkbeck Lecturer in Ecclesiastical History at Trinity College, Cambridge, and in 1919, he became a Lecturer in English and a Fellow St. John's College. He retired from his faculty position in 1934, and devoted himself to research and writing. He spent the majority of the war years (1940-1944) in Canada, as a guest lecturer at the University of Toronto. Coulton married Rose Dorothy Ilbert in 1904; they had two daughters. He died in Cambridge in 1947.
As an historian, Coulton was most noted for his attention to primary sources, particularly those illuminating religious, social and economic topics, and the controversy generated by his disputes with mostly Roman Catholic scholars. Among his published works are the anthologies of medieval sources A Medieval Garner, 1910 and Social Britain from the Conquest to the Reformation, 1918, monographs, including The Medieval Village, 1925; Art and the Reformation, 1928; Inquisition and Liberty, 1938 and Medieval Panorama, 1938 and the four-volume work Five Centuries of Religion, 1923-1950.
In addition to his scholarship, Coulton was a strong advocate for compulsory military service and an active member of the National Service League. He wrote and spoke publicly on the subject, particularly in the first two decades of the 20th century.
The Coulton papers have been divided into six series.
Series I: Correspondence and Personal, contains mostly correspondence received by Coulton from 1905 to 1939. Some copies or drafts of outgoing letters are included. Most of the correspondence concerns Coulton's scholarship and his advocacy of compulsory national service; little personal material is included. Among Coulton's major correspondents are fellow historians James Gairdner, H. G. Richardson and H. P. Stokes, and Reginald L. Poole, editor of the English Historical Review. The correspondence with Poole includes Coulton's essay "A Point of Monastic Costume and Discipline," on codpieces in monastic dress, which Poole declined to publish.
Series I also includes several files of unidentified and undated photographs. The photos appear to be snapshots taken on travels through towns and countryside in Britain, Switzerland and Germany, in the late 19th or early 20th centuries. Many of the photos are likely to have been taken in Stein am Rhein, Switzerland. A small group of photos are identified as having been taken at Coulton's family home, Pentney, Norfolk, in 1901.
Series II: War and National Service, contains Coulton's notes from his readings and writings about compulsory military service, pamphlets he collected on the subject during the first World War, and annotated proofs of his book The Case for Compulsory Military Service, 1917.
Series III: Writings by Others, contains two MA theses on late medieval and early modern English nunneries by British women historians. Particularly notable is Some Chapters in the History of English Nunneries in the Later Middle Ages, (c. 1250-1535), University of London, 1916, by Eileen E. Power, a prominent economic historian and pioneer in the study of medieval women's history.
Series IV: Writings and Notes contains notes and transcriptions on a variety of subjects, particularly monasticism, usury and the 13th century Italian chronicler Salimbene. Also included are annotated proofs of Coulton's Christ, Saint Francis and Today, 1918. The material in Series IV is similar to that in Series VI, but does not form part of Coulton's designated series of "British Museum Notebooks."
Series V and VI contain the volumes Coulton called his "British Museum Notebooks." Originally comprising "extracts and notes made when [Coulton] could manage to get to the British Museum," the scope of the notebooks expanded to include notes, transcriptions of articles and historic documents, clippings, and a small amount of correspondence relating to Coulton's widespread scholarly and civic interests. While the majority of the volumes focus on medieval social, economic and religious history, the notebooks also demonstrate the degree to which Coulton's historical studies were matched by an interest in the role of religion in contemporary life. Notebook 53, for example, is a scrapbook of clippings of a 1901 debate carried on among Coulton and others in the pages of the New Statesman, on the relative "morality," as defined by the rate of illegitimate birth, of Protestant and Catholic regions. The notebooks in Series VI are numbered from one to 271. Volumes 24, 38, 150, 180 and 269 are not included in the collection.
Series V contains indexes to the British Museum notebooks. The most complete are Index A, by author and title, and Index B, a subject index. Index B also includes various other sources, not in the notebooks, which are listed in the beginning of the book. The other notebooks and note cards in the series are less complete; several appear to be early drafts superseded by Indexes A and B.
Series I: Correspondence and Personal |
| Box 1 Folder 1 | Correspondence A-B, 1875, 1905-1939 |
| Box 1 Folder 2 | Correspondence C, 1909-1911 |
| Box 1 Folder 3 | Correspondence D, 1905-1939 |
| Box 1 Folder 4 | Correspondence E-F, 1906-1932 |
| Box 1 Folder 5 | Correspondence G, 1905-1912 |
| Box 1 Folder 6 | Correspondence H, 1905-1924 |
| Box 1 Folder 7 | Correspondence I-L, 1908-1941 |
| Box 1 Folder 8 | Correspondence M, 1905-1913 |
| Box 1 Folder 9 | Correspondence N, 1920-1923 |
| Box 1 Folder 10 | Correspondence O-P, 1907-1923 |
| Box 1 Folder 11 | Correspondence, Reginald L. Poole, 1910-1919 |
| Box 1 Folder 12 | Correspondence Q-R, 1905-1924 |
| Box 1 Folder 13 | Correspondence S, 1907-1935 |
| Box 1 Folder 14 | Correspondence T-V, 1908-1920 |
| Box 1 Folder 15 | Correspondence W-Z, 1905-1935 |
| Box 1 Folder 16 | Photographs, undated |
| Box 1 Folder 17 | Photographs, Pentney, ca. 1901 |
| Box 1 Folder 18 | Address Book |
| Box 1 Folder 19 | Maps |
Series II: War and National Service |
| Box 2 Folder 1 | Notes |
| Box 2 Folder 2 | Notebook, "War and Education" |
| Box 2 Folder 3 | Notebook, notes and transcriptions of scholarship on war and service in world history |
| Box 2 Folder 4 | Pamphlets
|
| Box 2 Folder 5 | Pamphlets and notes
|
| Box 2 Folder 6 | G. G. Coulton, The Case for Compulsory Military Service, annotated proofs, 1917 |
Series III: Writings by Others |
| Box 3 Folder 1 | H. T. Jacka, The Dissolution of the English Nunneries, MA Thesis, University of London, typescript, 1917 |
| Box 3 Folder 2 | E. E. Power, Some Chapters in the History of English Nunneries in the Later Middle Ages, (c. 1250-1535), MA Thesis, University of London, typescript, 1916 |
Series IV: Writings and Notes |
| Box 4 Folder 1-10 | Monasticism, notes, transcriptions and correspondence, ca. 1930-1940 |
| Box 4 Folder 11 | Usury, notes, transcriptions and correspondence, ca. 1927 |
| Box 5 Folder 1 | Skeat's Piers Ploughman B-Text (EETS, 1869), heavily annotated |
| Box 5 Folder 2 | Notes and "From St. Francis to Dante: Translations from the Chronicle of the Franciscan Salimbene," chapters 26-end, typescript, circa 1905 |
| Box 5 Folder 3 | "Salimbene Index," notebook |
| Box 5 Folder 4 | "Salimbene Additions, Vol II," notebook |
| Box 5 Folder 5 | "Christ, St Francis and Today," annotated proofs, 1918 |
Series V: Indexes |
| Box 6 Folder 1-5 | Notecards |
| Box 6 Folder 6 | Index A, Author-Title Index to British Museum notebooks |
| Box 7 | Index B, the most complete subject index of the British Museum notebooks and of other works indicated. |
| Box 8 Folder 1 | Index C, partial index to British Museum notebooks and other texts |
| Box 8 Folder 2 | Index F, partial index to British Museum notebooks and other texts |
| Box 8 Folder 3 | Index G, partial index to British Museum notebooks and other texts |
| Box 8 Folder 4 | Index H, partial index to British Museum notebooks and other texts |
| Box 8 Folder 5 | Indexes to British Museum notebooks and other texts
|
Series VI: British Museum Notebooks |
| Box 9 Folder 1 | Notebooks 1-3 |
| Box 9 Folder 2 | Notebook 4 |
| Box 9 Folder 3 | Notebook 5 |
| Box 9 Folder 4 | Notebooks 6-8 |
| Box 9 Folder 5 | Notebook 9 |
| Box 9 Folder 6 | Notebooks 10-12 |
| Box 9 Folder 7 | Notebooks 13-14 |
| Box 9 Folder 8 | Notebook 15 |
| Box 10 Folder 1 | Notebook16 |
| Box 10 Folder 2 | Notebook 17 |
| Box 10 Folder 3 | Notebook 18 |
| Box 10 Folder 4 | Notebooks 19-22 |
| Box 10 Folder 5 | Notebook 23, 25-26 |
| Box 10 Folder 6 | Notebooks 27-28 |
| Box 10 Folder 7 | Notebooks 29-30 |
| Box 11 Folder 1 | Notebooks 31-32 |
| Box 11 Folder 2 | Notebook 33-33a |
| Box 11 Folder 3 | Notebook 34 |
| Box 11 Folder 4 | Notebooks 35-35a |
| Box 11 Folder 5 | Notebook 36 |
| Box 11 Folder 6 | Notebooks 37-37a |
| Box 11 Folder 7 | Notebooks 39-41 |
| Box 11 Folder 8 | Notebooks 42-43 |
| Box 12 Folder 1 | Notebooks 44-45 |
| Box 12 Folder 2 | Notebooks 46-47 |
| Box 12 Folder 3 | Notebooks 48-50 |
| Box 12 Folder 4 | Notebooks 51-52 |
| Box 12 Folder 5 | Notebook 53 |
| Box 12 Folder 6 | Notebooks 54-55 |
| Box 12 Folder 7 | Notebooks 56-57 |
| Box 13 Folder 1 | Notebooks 58-59 |
| Box 13 Folder 2 | Notebook 60 |
| Box 13 Folder 3 | Notebooks 61-62 |
| Box 13 Folder 4 | Notebooks 63-64 |
| Box 13 Folder 5 | Notebooks 65-66 |
| Box 13 Folder 6 | Notebooks 67-68 |
| Box 13 Folder 7 | Notebook 69 |
| Box 14 Folder 1 | Notebook 70 |
| Box 14 Folder 2 | Notebook 71 |
| Box 14 Folder 3 | Notebooks 72-73 |
| Box 14 Folder 4 | Notebook 74 |
| Box 14 Folder 5 | Notebooks 75-76 |
| Box 14 Folder 6 | Notebooks77-78 |
| Box 14 Folder 7 | Notebook 79 |
| Box 14 Folder 8 | Notebooks 80-82 |
| Box 15 Folder 1 | Notebooks 83-84 |
| Box 15 Folder 2 | Notebooks 85-86 |
| Box 15 Folder 3 | Notebooks 87-88 |
| Box 15 Folder 4 | Notebooks 89-90 |
| Box 15 Folder 5 | Notebooks 91-92 |
| Box 15 Folder 6 | Notebook 93 |
| Box 15 Folder 7 | Notebook 94 |
| Box 16 Folder 1 | Notebooks 95-96 |
| Box 16 Folder 2 | Notebook 97 |
| Box 16 Folder 3 | Notebooks 98-99 |
| Box 16 Folder 4 | Notebook 100 |
| Box 16 Folder 5 | Notebook 101 |
| Box 16 Folder 6 | Notebooks 102-103 |
| Box 16 Folder 7 | Notebook 104 |
| Box 17 Folder 1 | Notebook 105 |
| Box 17 Folder 2 | Notebook 106 |
| Box 17 Folder 3 | Notebook 107 |
| Box 17 Folder 4 | Notebook 108 |
| Box 17 Folder 5 | Notebook 109 |
| Box 17 Folder 6 | Notebook 110 |
| Box 17 Folder 7 | Notebook 111 |
| Box 17 Folder 8 | Notebook 112 |
| Box 18 Folder 1 | Notebook 113 |
| Box 18 Folder 2 | Notebook 114 |
| Box 18 Folder 3 | Notebook 115 |
| Box 18 Folder 4 | Notebook 116 |
| Box 18 Folder 5 | Notebook 117 |
| Box 18 Folder 6 | Notebook 118 |
| Box 19 Folder 1 | Notebook 119 |
| Box 19 Folder 2 | Notebook 120 |
| Box 19 Folder 3 | Notebook 121 |
| Box 19 Folder 4 | Notebook 122 |
| Box 19 Folder 5 | Notebook 123 |
| Box 19 Folder 6 | Notebook 124 |
| Box 19 Folder 7 | Notebook 125 |
| Box 20 Folder 1 | Notebook 126 |
| Box 20 Folder 2 | Notebook 127 |
| Box 20 Folder 3 | Notebook 128 |
| Box 20 Folder 4 | Notebook 129 |
| Box 20 Folder 5 | Notebook 130 |
| Box 21 Folder 1 | Notebook 131 |
| Box 21 Folder 2 | Notebook 132 |
| Box 21 Folder 3 | Notebook 133 |
| Box 21 Folder 4 | Notebook 134 |
| Box 21 Folder 5 | Notebook 135 |
| Box 21 Folder 6 | Notebook 135a |
| Box 21 Folder 7 | Notebook 136 |
| Box 22 Folder 1 | Notebook 137 |
| Box 22 Folder 2 | Notebook 138 |
| Box 22 Folder 3 | Notebook 139 |
| Box 22 Folder 4 | Notebook 140 |
| Box 22 Folder 5 | Notebook 141 |
| Box 22 Folder 6 | Notebook 142 |
| Box 22 Folder 7 | Notebook 143 |
| Box 23 Folder 1 | Notebook 144 |
| Box 23 Folder 2 | Notebook 145 |
| Box 23 Folder 3 | Notebook 146 |
| Box 23 Folder 4 | Notebooks 147-148 |
| Box 23 Folder 5 | Notebook 149 |
| Box 23 Folder 6 | Notebook 151 |
| Box 23 Folder 7 | Notebook 152 |
| Box 23 Folder 8 | Notebook 153 |
| Box 24 Folder 1 | Notebooks 154-155 |
| Box 24 Folder 2 | Notebook 156 |
| Box 24 Folder 3 | Notebook 157 |
| Box 24 Folder 4 | Notebook 158 |
| Box 24 Folder 5 | Notebook 159 |
| Box 24 Folder 6 | Notebook 160 |
| Box 24 Folder 7 | Notebook 161 |
| Box 25 Folder 1 | Notebook 162 |
| Box 25 Folder 2 | Notebook 163 |
| Box 25 Folder 3 | Notebook 164 |
| Box 25 Folder 4 | Notebook 165 |
| Box 25 Folder 5 | Notebook 166 |
| Box 25 Folder 6 | Notebook 167 |
| Box 25 Folder 7 | Notebook 168 |
| Box 26 Folder 1 | Notebook 169 |
| Box 26 Folder 2 | Notebook 170 |
| Box 26 Folder 3 | Notebook 171 |
| Box 26 Folder 4 | Notebook 172 |
| Box 26 Folder 5 | Notebook 173 |
| Box 26 Folder 6 | Notebook 174 |
| Box 26 Folder 7 | Notebook 175 |
| Box 27 Folder 1 | Notebook 176 |
| Box 27 Folder 2 | Notebook 177 |
| Box 27 Folder 3 | Notebook 178 |
| Box 27 Folder 4 | Notebooks 179, 181, 182 |
| Box 27 Folder 5 | Notebook 183 |
| Box 27 Folder 6 | Notebook 184 |
| Box 27 Folder 7 | Notebooks 185-186 |
| Box 27 Folder 8 | Notebooks 187-188 |
| Box 28 Folder 1 | Notebook 189 |
| Box 28 Folder 2 | Notebooks 190-191 |
| Box 28 Folder 3 | Notebooks 192-193 |
| Box 28 Folder 4 | Notebooks 194-195 |
| Box 28 Folder 5 | Notebooks 196-197 |
| Box 28 Folder 6 | Notebooks 198-199 |
| Box 29 Folder 1 | Notebooks 200-201 |
| Box 29 Folder 2 | Notebook 202 |
| Box 29 Folder 3 | Notebook 203 |
| Box 29 Folder 4 | Notebook 204 |
| Box 29 Folder 5 | Notebook 205 |
| Box 29 Folder 6 | Notebook 206 |
| Box 29 Folder 7 | Notebook 207 |
| Box 30 Folder 1 | Notebook 208 |
| Box 30 Folder 2 | Notebook 209 |
| Box 30 Folder 3 | Notebooks 210-211 |
| Box 30 Folder 4 | Notebook 212 |
| Box 30 Folder 5 | Notebook 213 |
| Box 30 Folder 6 | Notebook 214 |
| Box 30 Folder 7 | Notebook 215 |
| Box 31 Folder 1 | Notebook 216 |
| Box 31 Folder 2 | Notebook 217 |
| Box 31 Folder 3 | Notebook 218 |
| Box 31 Folder 4 | Notebook 219 |
| Box 31 Folder 5 | Notebook 220 |
| Box 31 Folder 6 | Notebook 221 |
| Box 31 Folder 7 | Notebook 222 |
| Box 31 Folder 8 | Notebook 223 |
| Box 32 Folder 1 | Notebook 224 |
| Box 32 Folder 2 | Notebook 225 |
| Box 32 Folder 3 | Notebook 226 |
| Box 32 Folder 4 | Notebook 227 |
| Box 32 Folder 5 | Notebook 228 |
| Box 32 Folder 6 | Notebook 229 |
| Box 32 Folder 7 | Notebook 230 |
| Box 33 Folder 1 | Notebook 231 |
| Box 33 Folder 2 | Notebook 232 |
| Box 33 Folder 3 | Notebook 233 |
| Box 33 Folder 4 | Notebook 234 |
| Box 33 Folder 5 | Notebook 235 |
| Box 33 Folder 6 | Notebook 236 |
| Box 33 Folder 7 | Notebook 237 |
| Box 34 Folder 1 | Notebook 238 |
| Box 34 Folder 2 | Notebook 239 |
| Box 34 Folder 3 | Notebook 240 |
| Box 34 Folder 4 | Notebook 241 |
| Box 34 Folder 5 | Notebook 242 |
| Box 34 Folder 6 | Notebook 243 |
| Box 34 Folder 7 | Notebook 244 |
| Box 35 Folder 1 | Notebook 245 |
| Box 35 Folder 2 | Notebook 246 |
| Box 35 Folder 3 | Notebook 247 |
| Box 35 Folder 4 | Notebook 248 |
| Box 35 Folder 5 | Notebook 249 |
| Box 35 Folder 6 | Notebooks 250-251 |
| Box 35 Folder 7 | Notebook 252 |
| Box 35 Folder 8 | Notebook 253 |
| Box 36 Folder 1 | Notebook 254 |
| Box 36 Folder 2 | Notebook 255 |
| Box 36 Folder 3 | Notebook 256 |
| Box 36 Folder 4 | Notebook 257 |
| Box 36 Folder 5 | Notebook 258 |
| Box 36 Folder 6 | Notebook 259 |
| Box 36 Folder 7 | Notebook 260 |
| Box 37 Folder 1 | Notebook 261 |
| Box 37 Folder 2 | Notebook 262 |
| Box 37 Folder 3 | Notebook 263 |
| Box 37 Folder 4 | Notebook 264 |
| Box 37 Folder 5 | Notebook 265 |
| Box 37 Folder 6 | Notebook 266 |
| Box 37 Folder 7 | Notebook 267 |
| Box 38 Folder 1 | Notebook 268 |
| Box 38 Folder 2 | Notebook 270 |
| Box 38 Folder 3 | Notebook 271 |