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Hamer Manuscripts

 Fonds
Reference code: 62

Scope and Contents

Research papers and other material on several topics: English language and literature, theatrical history, nursery rhymes, World War One battles in 1918, and Anglo-Saxon cross fragments of the Sheffield area.

The archive is in several distinct sections, and consists of research material in manuscript, with some printed material, often with ms. annotations. The sections include:

Hamer Research Collections on English language and literature (MS 62); Manuscript notes on nursery rhymes (MS 63); British Battles on the Western Front from 18 August - 11 November 1918 (MS 72A); Scott-Hamer Mss. on Anglo-Saxon monuments in the Sheffield area (MS 77); Robert Henryson Poems and fables, 1933, with ms. annotations (MS 107); Temple Edition of Shakespeare, ed. W. Aldis Wright, c. 1900, with ms. annotations (MS 135); Miscellaneous literary notes (MS 136); Theatre collection of lantern slides; The Towneley Hall Mss: The Spending of the Money of Robert Nowell of Reade Hall, Lancashire. Edited By A.B. Gossart, 1877, 'with annotations and corrections from the MS (Chetham Library, Manchester), by Douglas Hamer, 1950-2'; Manuscript notes and cuttings on Chaucer, and archaeology and antiquities (MS 345)

The nursery rhyme material, researched to academic standards, was intended for publication, but was pre-empted by the publication of the Opies' Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes in 1951.

Dates

  • Creation: c1930 - 1962

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Available by appointment. Some material is restricted, please contact us to discuss.

Copyright

Use of the following sections is expressly limited, by the conditions of deposit, to academic researchers of postgraduate status and above: Hamer Research Collections. The declaration form in each volume must be signed, and acknowledgement of all notes published made in a designated form of words (instructions are at the front of each volume). Manuscript notes on nursery rhymes Scott-Hamer Manuscripts The Townley Hall Mss.

Biographical / Historical

Douglas Hamer (1897-1981) was appointed Lecturer in the Department of English Literature in 1929, and retired in 1962 as Reader. He is particularly remembered as a Spenserian scholar, and for his work on the theatre and on nursery rhymes.

During World War I he fought in France, being wounded in 1916 and commissioned in 1917. He was awarded the MC and bar.

Forrest Smyth Scott, jointly responsible with Hamer for the Scott-Hamer Manuscripts on Anglo-Saxon cross fragments of the Sheffield area, was Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in the Department of English Language before becoming Professor at Auckland University.

Extent

21 Box(es)

31 Item(s)

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement

By section

Previous Ref Codes

63, 64, 72A, 77, 107, 135, 136, 345

Custodial History

Donated by Douglas Hamer at various times between 1964 and 1978

Description rules
International Standard for Archival Description - General
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections and Archives Repository

Contact:
Western Bank Library
University of Sheffield
Western Bank
Sheffield South Yorkshire S10 2TN United Kingdom
+44 (0) 114 222 7299