Scope and arrangement
This is a synthetic collection consisting of manuscripts, typescripts, correspondence, an undated notebook, financial and legal documents, and a photographic portrait. The manuscripts and typescripts comprise plays, stories, chapters from novels, poems, essays, and drafts of a Sherlock Holmes play by W. H. Gillette. The correspondence consists of letters from the author, dating from 1881 to 1930, to John Kendrick Bangs, his sons Denis and Malcolm (later Adrian) Doyle, his daughter Jean Doyle, Amy Ratcliff Hoare, Sir Wemyss Reid, Clement King Shorter, Greenhough Smith, the literary agency A. P. Watt & Son, and others. Also present are letters relating to the author and his works, dating from 1896 to 1944, between various correspondents, including Adrian Conan Doyle, Denis Conan Doyle, Jean Doyle, Louise Conan Doyle, M. F. Doyle, Leon M. Lion, Clement King Shorter, and the literary agency A. P. Watt & Son. There is also a 16-volume letter book of A. P. Watt and Son, dating from 1879-1891, with letters to Conan Doyle and others.
The Sir Arthur Conan Doyle collection of papers are arranged in four series: