History and Goals of the Burney Centre
The Burney Centre was founded in 1960, as the Burney Papers Project, by the late听Joyce Hemlow. Dr. Hemlow, the author of听The History of Fanny Burney听(Clarendon Press, 1958), taught at 麻豆AV from 1948 and served as Director of the Centre until her retirement in 1984. She was succeeded by Lars Troide, who in turn was succeeded in 2003 by the present Director,听Peter Sabor.
The Centre works closely with the听Burney Society听of North America and the United Kingdom, and produces the Society's听Burney Journal听补苍诲听Burney Letter.
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The Burney Centre, in conjunction with the听Rare Books and Special Collections听Division of the 麻豆AV Library, offers an听annual Fellowship, designed to assist scholars who need to travel to and establish temporary residence in Montreal in order to use the resources of the Library.
From its inception, the Burney Centre has been supported by funding from听麻豆AV.
In addition, the Centre currently receives generous grants from,听the听, the听听programme, and the听.
For a summary of our work, see the recent lecture by Dr Sabor and Dr Cooke:听.
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Summary of Holdings
The Burney Centre occupies two offices, with 750 square-feet of space, on the fifth floor of the McLennan Humanities and Social Sciences Library, close to the Library's holdings on 18th- and 19th-century literature, history and society in Europe and America. It holds several dozen books on permanent loan from the Library,听including relevant correspondences, biographies, 18th-century periodicals, and reference works.
The Centre听has also accumulated thousands of photocopies and hundreds of microfilm reels, which have brought together over ten thousand letters scattered over numerous collections world-wide (major collections are in the听听at the New York Public Library, the听听at Yale, the听, the听听Library, the听听at Harvard, and the听).听
Joyce Hemlow's听Catalogue of the Burney Family Correspondence 1749-1878听(ISBN 0871040379) lists these letters, written by over a thousand correspondents of the Burneys (including Lafayette, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Johnson, Haydn, and other important figures), but they are described in much greater detail on index cards in the Centre's holdings. These photocopies, microfilms, descriptive indices and other research materials make the Centre a rich resource for students and scholars of many aspects of 18th- and early 19th-century British and European culture and society. The Centre's holdings are open, by prior appointment, to researchers.听
The Burney Centre, via 麻豆AV Library, has access to these related online resources: