Collections : [Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

A group of fifteen letters from Hearn to Basil Hall Chamberlain (1850-1935), professor of Japanese and Philology at the Imperial University in Tokyo and Hearn's closest Western friend in Japan. The letters cover a tremendously varied range of subjects including Hearn's opinion of his own writing, his methods of work and use of language; his discontent as a teacher at the government college at Kumamoto; his views on religion, philosophy, and music; Japanese customs, mythology, art, and language; the Oriental character vs. the Occidental; and critical opinion of Paul Boerget's LE DISCIPLE and of Lewis Carroll.

Correrspondence, manuscripts, notes, memoranda, documents, photographs and printed materials. In addition to personal correspondence and documents, there are files of Amnesty International, the human rights organization of which Morris was American Section chairman. Also included are notes and manuscripts of Morris' studies in Japanese literature and culture, particularly relating to his many books and translations. His interest in puzzles, and compilations of several volumes of them, are reflected in notes and correspondence. Among the major correspondence are Donald Keene, Anthony Powell, Sacheverell Sitwell and Arthur Waley