| Description | Alongside manuscripts for both published and unpublished works the Collection contains extensive research notes in the form of files of loose papers and notebooks. These include handwritten notes, news cuttings, maps, leaflets, notices, correspondence, illustrations and photographs. Many of these notes are organised to correspond with specific projects and often struck through when used.
N.B Materials are numbered and described as originally labelled.
Box 1
1. Peter Mundy- original manuscript (2 folders) includes correspondence and notes for typesetters for the publication Travels of Peter Mundy Seaman and Traveller 1597-1667
2. Life of Zephaniah Job of Polperro, John Family, Cornish Methodism etc. (2 folders)
3. Hugh Peters (1 folder) - includes incomplete draft and research and manuscript notes
4. Notes on Cornish families and customs (1 folder)
The History of Lostwithiel - part manuscript (1 folder)
Box 2
5. Medieval trade, Church dissent, Rebecca (Stephens) Thompson's diary of 1834 (1 folder)
6. JT Austin (Treffry) original manuscript/carbon copies of letters [Book of Fowey] (4 folders) - Although file was originally labelled as shown, the contents are a draft of the second edition of The Story of Fowey which includes printed pages from the first edition.
7. History of Fowey - original manuscript (1 folder) - also titled The Story of Fowey with cover illustration by Renée Keast.
Box 3
8. Book of Fowey - draft manuscript (1 folder)
Book of Fowey - manuscript material (1 folder)
Book of Fowey - Barracuda (4 folders) - publishers draft
Box 4
9. History of Looe (3 folders) - Materials for the publication of The History of East and West Looe, includes research notes, maps, correspondence and manuscript notes.
Cornish Diaries and Journals (edited by John Keast) (1 folder) - draft incomplete manuscript for, A Selection of Cornish Diaries and Journals 1750-1850. Biography of John Wolcot - Typescript (1 folder)
Box 5
9. History of East and West Looe - draft manuscript (6 folders) N.B some chapters are duplicated
Box 6
10. History of Parliament Trust (2 folders) - research notes and draft manuscript parts , includes sections titled Guide for Contibutors - Model 'Skeleton', Model Biography, Model County Borough History and Parliament introduction.
Box 7
11. J T Treffry - manuscript (4 folders) - Material comprises of draft manuscript and manuscript notes and includes some original documents in folder 3 of 4
11. Transcripts from Papers at Place 1800-1850 (1 folder) A collection of manuscript transcriptions of poems, historical documents and Cornish customs and stories (1 folder)
Box 8
11. Copy correspondence Treffry & G Lucy (4 folders) - Copies of correspondence from the Treffry Estate papers (c1800-1850) relating largely to Joseph Thomas (Austen) Treffry and George Lucy
12. Newspaper cuttings from Western Morning News 1953/1954 (3 folders) - folders also include materials from The Cornish Guardian and The Cornishman 1948 - 1955. Cuttings are largely taken from a regular column relating to Cornish/Devonshire history but also include articles mentioning Keast or written by Keast himself.
Box 9
13. Notes for A History of Lostwithiel/Restormel (1 folder) - includes a notebook, news cuttings, notices and writing titled, The Action between the Monmouth and the Foudroyant, 28th of February 1758.
Cornwall & the Royal Navy (1 folder)
The Regatta in Cornwall (1 folder)
N.B The last two items were unnumbered.
|
| Admin History | Writer and historian William John Keast (1913 - 1990) was born and grew up in Fowey, Cornwall. A Bard of the Cornish Gorsedh from 1950, (bardic name Gorhelwas - meaning Shipman) Keast was also a member of the Royal Institute of Cornwall and the Cornwall Family History Society. His published works include The Story of Fowey (1950), Cornish Bedside Book (1981), Cornish Epitaph (1982), King of Mid Cornwall - the life of Joseph Thomas Treffry (1982), Travels of Peter Mundy 1597-1667 (1984), The Book of Fowey (1987) and The History of East and West Looe (1987). Keast was also a graduate of Reading University, where he gained his MPhil in 1983.
Keast pursued the idea of writing a history of Fowey for meany years since leaving school. The Story of Fowey was the first full length account of this ancient Cornish port and was the result of several years research utilising both local records and those sourced at the British Museum Library and Public Record Office. The book was awarded the 'Sir Edward Nicholl' Silver medal in 1949 by the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society. Keast was also the recipient of an award by the Jenner County Memorial Fund in 1952 for The Story of Fowey and his work on the Treffry manuscripts. His interest in Fowey continued with a further publication, The Book of Fowey, published in 1987.
In later years Keast lived in Polperro and then Looe with his wife the artist Renée Keast who illustrated many of his publications.
|