Resources

There is no central archive of Salt’s letters, and the location of many are unknown.

British Library, G. B. Shaw Papers

Title: G. B. SHAW PAPERS: SERIES I. Vol. XLII (ff. 245). Correspondence with:1. ff. 1-50. Henry Stephens Salt (correspondence of and concerning); 1889-1950.2. ff. 51-93. Henri Seiffert; 1888-1920.3. ff. 94-115. Upton Sinclair and his wife Mary; 1911-1942

Collection Area: Western Manuscripts

Reference: MS 50549

Creation Date: 1887-1950

Contents:

G. B. SHAW PAPERS: SERIES I. Vol. XLII (ff. 245). Correspondence with:

1. ff. 1-50. Henry Stephens Salt (correspondence of and concerning); 1889-1950.

includes:

ff. 1-17v Henry Stephens Salt, social reformer: Correspondence with G. B. Shaw of Henry Stephens Salt: 1889-1939: Partly typewritten copy.

f. 18 Herbert Hilton Jones, secretary of the Vegetarian Society: Letter to G. B. Shaw of Herbert Hilton Jones: 1939: Signed.

ff. 18-50 Henry Stephens Salt, social reformer: Correspondence, etc., of G. B. Shaw concerning Henry Stephens Salt: 1939-1950: Partly typewritten, signed and shorthand draft.

f. 19 Bertram Loyd, folklorist; Hon. Secretary, National Society for the Abolition of Cruel Sports: Letter, etc., to G. B. Shaw of Bertram), folklorist Loyd: 1939: Typewritten and signed.

f. 20 Henry Stephens Salt, social reformer: Address for his own cremation by Henry Stephens Salt: 1939?: Typewritten.

ff. 21-25 Catherine Salt, wife of H S Salt: Letters to G. B. Shaw of Catherine Salt: 1939, 1943, n.d.: Partly fragm.

ff. 26-44 Henry Stephens Salt, social reformer: ‘Reminiscences of G. Bernard Shaw’ by Henry Stephens Salt: 1929: Typewritten copy.

ff. 45-50 George Bernard Shaw, author: ‘Notes on Henry Salt’ by George Bernard Shaw: 1950: Shorthand draft and typewritten copy.

Visit: The British Library

Hitotsubashi University Library

Letters, 1920-1938 : written by Henry S. Salt
604 Items

Mss. signed
Almost all written at Brighton
Year 1920: 5 letters (12 leaves) and 1 postcard — Year 1921: 15 letters (21 leaves, one folded) and 2 postcards — Year 1922: 18 letters (18 leaves, some folded) — Year 1923: 12 letters (16 leaves, some folded) and 2 postcards — Year 1924: 18 letters (18 leaves, some folded) and 1 postcard — Year 1925: 28 letters (29 leaves, some folded) and 4 postcards — Year 1926: 34 letters (35 leaves, some folded) and 4 postcards — Year 1927: 38 letters (43 leaves, some folded), 3 postcards and 1 card — Year 1928: 26 letters (37 leaves, some imperfect) and 3 postcards — Year 1929: 33 letters (40 leaves, one imperfect)
Year 1930: 28 letters (41 leaves) — Year 1931: 33 letters (38 leaves) — Year 1932: 53 letters (61 leaves) and 3 postcards — Year 1933: 64 letters (76 leaves) and 1 postcard — Year 1934: 38 letters (43 leaves) and 9 postcards — Year 1935: 43 letters (44 leaves) and 4 postcards — Year 1936: 47 letters (52 leaves) and 3 postcards — Year 1937: 23 letters (23 leaves) and 3 postcards — Year 1938: 3 letters (3 leaves) and 1 postcard
Part of the Henry S. Salt Collection

Papers, ca. 1922-1936 / by Catherine Salt and Henry S. Salt
28 Items

Chiefly miscellaneous letters and manuscript drafts. Papers include letters from Catherine Salt to Bertram Lloyd, undated, and a holograph of Henry S. Salt entitled The Great creator : a problem that we evade
Part of the Henry S. Salt Collection

Visit: Hitotsubashi University Library

Jon Wynne-Tyson Collection

Jon Wynne-Tyson has the largest private collection of Salt material including original photographs and books from Salt’s own library.

Pennsylvania State University Libraries

Humanitarian League papers, 1897-1923

In Rare Books and Manuscripts, University Libraries, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa. (#1990-0005R).

Henry Stephens Salt was a British author and humanitarian. Among his publications were writings against slavery, corporal punishment, and vivisection, and in support of socialism, vegetarianism, and the protection of wildflowers. As one of the founders of the Humanitarian League (1891-1919), he edited its publications The Humanitarian (1895-1919) and The Humane review (1900-1910).

The collection contains Salt’s personal family photo album (21 prints), n.d.; membership records of the Humanitarian League, particularly the Croydon, Scottish, and Manchester branches, 1908-1918; letters to league secretary Miss K. Whitaker, 1914-1922; a scrapbook of clippings, 1897-1903; and a broadside, program, and calling cards, 1906-1923.

The scrapbook contains clippings of articles and letters to the editor in British newspapers such as the Daily mail, Hampshire independent, Manchester guardian, Times, and the periodical The Vegetarian about the Humanitarian League, vegetarianism, antivivisection, feather and fur trade, slaughterhouse reform (including Jewish ritual slaughtering, Shehitah), seal hunting, the collecting of tortoise shell, and mistreatment of geese for pate de foie gras.

Writers include Canon Samuel A. Barnett, J.C. Brage, Benjamin Bryan, Jessie Cazalet, Joseph Collinson, E.M. Mallet, Gertrude L. Mallet, S.S. Monro, Henry S. Salt, Ethel Springett, F. Primrose Stevenson, Alexander Waddell, and Edith Ward.

Visit: Pennsylvania State University Libraries

Tamiment Library, New York University

In their collection Box 6 Folder 41:

Salt, Henry: Clippings, Correspondence (Catherine L. Salt, Samuel J. Looker, Laurence Housman, Sylvia Lloyd, Bertram Lloyd), Manuscripts.

Consists of some 30 pages — mostly correspondence, and a few clippings. A large part of it consists of correspondence relating to Stephen Winsten’s ‘Salt and his Circle.’

Visit: Tamiment Library

The John Rylands University Library

C.F. Sixsmith Collection of Printed and Photographic Material

Reference Number(s)    Eng 1331/3/6
Dates of Creation    1897-1939
Physical Description    7 items

This class contains material relating to Henry Shakespear Stephens Salt (1851-1939), scholar, author, naturalist, socialist and founder of the Humanitarian League which existed from 1891 to 1919. Salt was a friend of Edward Carpenter, and Sixsmith may have become acquainted with him through Carpenter.

Material includes: cuttings relating to Salt, principally a bundle of 5 obituaries, originally stored together in an envelope; a publisher’s advertisement; and 4 periodicals containing a letter and 3 articles by Salt: ‘Thoreau in Twenty Volumes’ (3/6/3); ‘Reminiscences of Ernest Bell’ (3/6/4); and ‘The Memorial Window to Lord Fortescue’ (3/6/5).

Visit: The John Rylands University Library

Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods Library

The Walter Harding Collection

Series II. Henry D. Thoreau: Writings and Correspondence

Salt, Henry S. “Thoreau’s ‘Anti-Slavery and Reform Papers’” Lippincott’s Magazine, August 1890
Salt, Henry S. “Thoreau’s Poetry” The Art Review I (May 1890), pp. 153-155

The Walter Harding Collection
Series III. Research Collections

Series III.J.8. JEFFERIES, R.
b. Salt, Henry S. “Thoreau and Jefferies” Nature Notes, 1900
Series III.J.20.
b. vii. Salt, Henry S. “Froude to Thoreau” The Academy, 11 March 1899, pp. 305-306

Series III.S.3. SALT, HENRY S.

a. By Henry S. Salt
i. “A Botanophilist’s Journal” The Call of the Wildflower, 1922, pp. 133-138 (Copy)
ii. “Gandhi and Thoreau” The Nation, 1 March 1930 (Transcription – Letter)
iii. “Henry D. Thoreau” Eclectic Magazine, January 1887, pp. 89-98
iv. Henry David Thoreau
1. Book Reviews: October 1890- Spring 1995, 8 items
2. Henry David Thoreau: A Century Essay 1917, pp. 3-30 (Copy)
v. “A Statement Written by Henry Stephens Salt and Read at His Funeral by Bertram Lloyd” 22 April 1939 (Typescript copy)
vi. “Thoreau Illustrated” The Saturday Review, 5 November 1898, pp. 600-601 (Copy)
ix. Correspondence
Salt, Henry S. to Agnes, 13 April 1936, 1 item (ALS)
2. Salt, Henry S. to Fred S. Piper, March 1932-January 1936, 3 items (ALS Copy, original, typescript copy

b. About Henry S. Salt
ii. Davies, John. “Henry S. Salt” Centi, June 1962, pp. 3725-3726 and transcription, 2 items

2. “Literary Comments in the Letters of Henry S. Salt to W. S. Kennedy” Emerson Society Quarterly, pp. 25-29
3. Reviews of Henry Salt: Humanitarian Reformer and Man of Letters
a. Harding, Walter. Journal of English and Germanic Philosophy, January 1978, pp. 152-153, 2 items (Journal and typescript)

v. Oehlschlaeger, Fritz. “Henry Salt’s Third Biography of Thoreau” (Typescript)

vi. Russell, George K. Orion, Winter 1983, pp. 36-37 — review of Animals’ Rights Considered in Relation to Social Progress, by Henry S. Salt
vii. “The Widening Influence of Thoreau” Current Literature, August 1908, pp. 170-171

Series III.V.6. VEGETARIANISM
k. Salt, Henry S. “Henry David Thoreau” Vegetarian Review, May 1896, pp. 225-228 (Copy)

Series III.W.45. WHITE, GILBERT
d. Salt, Henry S. “Thoreau and Gilbert White” New Age, 15 421, November 1900 (Copy)

The Raymond Adams Collection

www. Salt, Henry S “Thoreau” [The Times, 1904]
xvii. Salt, Henry H. [to Raymond Adams]
xviii. Salt, Henry H. [to Daniel G. Mason]

The Lewis C. Dawes Collection

11. Salt, Henry. “Henry D. Thoreau” from Temple Bar, November 1886.

Visit: Walden Woods Library

University of Oxford, Bodleian Library

Research papers of Henry Salt for his book on James Thomson (1834-82). Salt contacted many friends and acquaintances of Thomson in the quest for information. Many of the replies he received can be seen in MS. Eng. c. 2383. Salt also interviewed several people and was granted access to diaries and journals of Thomson in the possession of J.W. Barrs, many of whose Thomson papers are in the Bodleian – see M. Clapinson and T.D. Rogers Summary Catalogue of Post-medieval Western Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, vol. 1 (Oxford, 1991), nos. 38864-911.

Letters to Salt, 1886-1906
Shelfmark:MS. Eng. c. 2383
Extent: 109 leaves

Scope and Content:

Including letters from

  • (fols. 49-50, 88, 107-8) Bertram Dobell, 1888-1906

Papers, 1888-98
Shelfmark: MS. Eng. c. 2384
Extent: 42 leaves

Scope and Content:

Including

  • (fols. 1-27) notes from interviews with friends of James Thomson, 1888-98, including (fol. 1) Charles Bradlaugh, 1888
  • (fols. 28-32) copies of extracts from Thomson’s diaries and notebooks, 1861-79
  • (fols. 39-41) copies of Thomson’s correspondence, 1879-80

Website: Bodleian Library

University of Virginia Library

Nellie Porterfield Dunn 1897-1938 Letters to and from Nellie Porterfield (Mrs. John H.) Dunn regarding her sketch and portrait of Percy B. Shelley by the American artist, William E. West. The main body of correspondence is with Mrs. A. P. Bryant, niece of the artist West, R. U. Johnson, associate editor of Century Magazine; r. W. Gilder, editor of Century Magazine, Henry S. Salt, and Richard Garnett. #38-177.

There are ca.12 Henry Salt letters in MSS 38-177, which translates to be ca. 23 pages.

Visit: University of Virginia Library website

Vegetarian Society

In addition to several books by Henry Salt, the Vegetarian Society archive has a large collection of Vegetarian journals which feature Salt essays and letters. These include the Vegetarian Messenger, Vegetarian Review (1894 and 1897 only), Vegetarian News, The Food Reform Magazine, The Vegetarian, The Humane Review and a few editions of the Humanitarian.

Visit: The Vegetarian Society

Working Class Movement Library

The library has several Henry Salt books and several early Socialist journals (e.g. Justice) that feature essays by Salt.

Visit: Working Class Movement Library

Salt’s Letters

The Fabian Archive, Nuffield College, Oxford
Edward Carpenter Collection, Sheffield City Library
George Bernard Shaw, Papers, 1879-1937 at Kent State University Libraries
John Galsworthy Letters, Syracuse University Library – Seven letters written between 1909 and 1910 to Salt
George Meredith Letters, University of London – Letters to Salt
Alfred Russel Wallace Collection – Two letters to Salt
George Bernard Shaw Harry Ransom Center – Salt and S. Winsten
Alfred Winslow Hosmer Collection – Salt Letters
Northwestern University – Garnett Collection

Socialist Journal Lists

English Socialist Periodicals, 1880-1900: A Reference Source by Deborah Mutch (Amazon)
Marxists Internet Archive: Voices of Social Democracy in Britain (website)

Archive Aids

Location Register (University of Reading)
Archives Hub
WorldCat
The Online Books Page
Internet Archive
HathiTrust Digital Library
ProQuest – Available via some libraries

Sources of Information

Some of the missing essays from our archive were found mentioned here:

Henry Salt and His Life of Thoreau by John T. Flanagan, The New England Quarterly 28, June 1955, pages 237-246
Salt, Henry Shakespear Stephens (1851-1939) by David E. Martin, Biographical Dictionary of Modern British Radicals Volume 3, 1870-1914, L-Z
Henry Salt, Humanitarian Reformer and Man of Letters, by George Hendrick
Brigid Brophy’s review of Salt’s Animals’ Rights, TLS, 16 January 1981, page 48
Bernard Shaw: Collected Letters, edited by Dan H. Laurence (London, 1965-72), 2 volumes)
(Vol.1: 1874-97, Vol. 2: 1898-1910, Vol. 3: 1911-1925, Vol. 4: 1926-1950)
The Genius of Shaw by Michael Holroyd, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1979. 238pp – (Incudes a photograph of Salt)

Articles or other sources of information on Salt

The Labour Annual for 1897
Edward Carpenter 1844-1929: Prophet of Human Fellowship by Chushichi Tsuzuki (Cambridge, 1980) 0-52123-371-2