THE UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA
DECEMBER 11, 1998
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THE UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA |
Special collections at the UVic libraries has acquired a
valuable collection of manuscripts and correspondence by
Audrey Brown, one of Canada's leading poets of the 1930s and
'40s. Brown, who died Sept. 20 in Victoria, was featured in
the "Passages" column in the Times Colonist in October and,
while reading it, special collections librarian Chris Petter
took note of the final paragraph mentioning that Brown's
sister, Wilma, was searching for a suitable home for
Audrey's original manuscripts. Petter contacted Wilma Brown, who subsequently agreed
to donate the materials to UVic. The first instalment of the
donation arrived in two small leather suitcases full of
meticulously ordered manuscript pages in tiny, orderly
handwriting. Among the materials are unpublished works,
including the manuscripts and illustrations for two
children's books. The family is examining a further box of
correspondence and other material for items of personal
interest before passing it along to UVic. Brown was born in Nanaimo in 1904. She was an avid reader
and self-taught, except for four years of formal schooling.
She started writing poetry at age six and was first
published at age 16.
photo courtesy UVic special
collections
She won national acclaim for her first book of poems, A
Dryad in Nanaimo, published in 1931. Like Emily Carr, Brown was "discovered" by a member of
the eastern establishment, professor Pelham Edgar, and her
fame spread rapidly. Among her admirers were Prime Minister
Robert Borden, who sent her a cheque to buy a typewriter,
and Queen Mary, wife of George V. Brown won the memorial gold medal of the Canadian
Women's Press Club in 1936, the Lorne Pierce gold medal of
the Royal Society of Canada for her contribution to Canadian
literature&emdash;the youngest person and first woman to
receive the honour&emdash;and the
Order of Canada in 1968. UVic English professor Kim Blank,
a distant relative of Brown, is interested in studying the
collection, and expressions of scholarly interest have come
from elsewhere as well. By spring '99, Chris Petter hopes to
have a full finding aid available on the special collections
literature gateway page at <http://uviclib.uvic.ca/spcoll/Lit.html>.
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by Robie Liscomb
Robie Liscomb photo
Brown's manuscripts came packed into two small
suitcases (top), which included meticulously ordered
manuscript pages in her neat and orderly hand, and her
illustrations for unpublished childrens' books. Audrey Brown
(right), 1951, in the garden of a friend.