Scope and arrangement
The Caroline Norton manuscript material in the Pforzheimer Collection consists of writings and correspondence. The writings comprise one holograph poem, one holograph hymn, five presentation inscriptions, and a series of holograph journal entries. The more than eighty pieces of correspondence date between 1830 and 1876 and deal mostly with her personal and social life, including Norton's protracted battles with her estranged husband, George Norton, over the custody of their children. Correspondents include Adam and Charles Black, publishers; Augusta Cowell, composer; Abraham Hayward, essayist and translator; Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, writer; and Thomas Noon Talfourd, writer, judge, and politician.
The Caroline Norton manuscript material is arranged in three series: