GLASGOW.- Letters from some of the greatest artistic and literary figures of the late 19th and early 20th century have been discovered during the major digitisation and cataloguing of The Glasgow School of Art’s Archives and Collections it was revealed today.

The discovery was made by archivist Rachael Jones who is currently working on papers relating to Directors of the GSA.

“I knew that some of the most exciting of the Directors Papers were those of Francis Newbery, Head of the Art School during an incredibly dynamic period in the School’s history,” says Rachael. “So I was thrilled to find that a box of material relating to him that had not yet been catalogued, and to discover some real gems in it.”

The eminent artist Francis Henry Newbery, (known as Fra Newbery), was Director of The Glasgow School of Art from 1885 to 1918. During that time the profile of the School was raised from moderately successful institution to one with an international reputation. Newbery was also responsible for commissioning a young Charles Rennie Mackintosh to design the world-famous building which now bears his name.

Among the gems that Rachael discovered is a pack of four letters written by the celebrated designer and social reformer William Morris discussing an invitation to give some lectures in Scotland in the spring of 1889. In the earliest of the letters, dated 14 January, Morris declares that he does not like to say no, but that he has “memories of early spring in Glasgow from last year which rather terrify one.” Morris does, however, overcome his fears and in the next letter (dated 21 January) agrees to give a lecture under the auspices of the Socialist League of Glasgow (on Sunday 10 February) and one to the students at The Glasgow School of Art (on Monday 11 February). By 24 January he has agreed that the subject for The Glasgow School of Art lecture should be “Arts and Crafts”.

“These letters are incredibly important,” says GSA Lecturer and specialist in British art and design history, Dr Helen McCormack. “They provide a better understanding of Morris’s relationship with the city, revealing that he was a much more frequent visitor to Glasgow than has been believed to date.”

“Equally significant is the date of Morris’s lecture on ‘Arts & Crafts’ to Glasgow School of Art students, as it is very likely that CR Mackintosh would have had the opportunity to attend this lecture while he was still a student here in 1889,” she adds, “It is generally agreed among scholars that Mackintosh’s work, not least the building at GSA which bears his name, conveys some stylistic and architectural details determined by Arts & Crafts ideals, and here in these letters we learn about an event at which the young designer would almost certainly have learned about these principles from one of the leaders of the Arts & Crafts movement, William Morris.”

Also in the correspondence is a letter from one of the original Glasgow Boys, the leading artist Sir John Lavery, which he sent to Newbery having had an early view of works to be shown in the 1897 Biennale including paintings by Newbery. Lavery avers that he expects that the Italian papers are surpassing each other in praise of Newbery’s work.

Meanwhile, a letter from War of the Worlds author, HG Wells, shares reminiscences of the time he and Newbery were associated with the South Kensington system in the late 19th century, at the time when “Darwin’s Bulldog”, TH Huxley, was giving his final lectures.

The international reputation of The Glasgow School of Art under the direction of Newbery is underlined in two letters from one of the world’s greatest sculptors, Auguste Rodin. In the earlier of the two letters (1901) Rodin writes to Newbery asking about the public reaction to plasters of two of his famous sculptures St Jean and Les Bourgeois de Calais - that had been sent to The Glasgow International Exhibition, the major event that marked the opening of Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery.

“The wonderful thing about an archive as rich as ours at the GSA is that it contains so many exciting items,” says Rachael. “We are sure that many more gems will be discovered as we continue work on the thousands of documents, photographs and artefacts that are held here in the Archives.”

The letters have now been digitised and are available to view via: http://www.gsaarchives.net/archon/index.php?p=digitallibrary/digitalcontent&id=2644