Add MS 61101-61710, Add Ch 76069-76142, Seal CCV.8

The archive, formerly housed at Blenheim Palace, co. Oxon, consists chiefly of the correspondence and papers of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, his wife Sarah, née Jenyns, and their son-in-law Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland, whose descendants by his second wife, Anne Churchill, inherited the Dukedom of Marlborough. It also includes smaller groups of papers of later Dukes of Marlborough, as well as earlier collections relating chiefly to the Spencer and Trevor families and their connections; the provenance of these smaller collections is discussed in the introductions to the relevant sections of the catalogue. Chiefly 17th-18th cent., with a few items of the 16th to 20th cent. On the collection as arranged by Archdeacon William Coxe at Blenheim Palace in the early 19th century and slightly modified by Stuart J. Reid at the end of the century, see Historical Manuscripts Commission, Eighth Report, Appendix, pt. 1 (1881), pp. 1-60, and The Marlborough-Godolphin Correspondence, ed. H. L. Snyder, Oxford, 1975, I, pp. xvii-xx. This arrangement was chiefly in the form of a lettered series, sections A and B containing the papers of the 1st Duke, sections C and D those of Sunderland, and section E those of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, and the later Dukes. Sections F to H consisted of largely unsorted material relating to all the above groups (Coxe's list of what became the G section, explaining that these papers 'were found in a closet at Blenheim subsequent to the arrangement of the large collection', is now Add. MS. 61710 A). Within sections A to D the arrangement was broadly chronological, further subdivided into a numbered series of functional and alphabetical groups. In almost all cases the original pressmarks will be found pencilled on the individual documents. For Coxe's transcripts of parts of the collection, made in connection with his Memoirs of John, Duke of Marlborough, 3 vols., 1818-1819, see Add. MSS. 9092-9125. Also included in the collection is a set of bound manuscript volumes, chiefly letter-books of Sunderland, Marlborough and the latter's secretary, Adam Cardonnel, and entry-books relating to army administration. A further set of papers at Blenheim Palace, related to all the above groups but not included in the original lettered series, was not acquired by the British Library; this applies also to the greater part of the estate papers. The papers were offered to the Treasury in 1973 as part payment of duty on the estate of the 10th Duke of Marlborough and allocated to this Department in 1978. On the acquisition and present arrangement, see British Library Journal, VIII, 1982, pp. 1-6. Except as otherwise noted, the Index to the present Catalogue provides detailed references to the individual documents in the collection. Six hundred and ten volumes. Classified as follows:-

Correspondence and papers of:-

A. The 1st Duke of Marlborough (61101-61413). B. Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough (61414-61480). C. The Early Spencers, viz:-

I. The 1st Earl of Cardigan and others (61481, 61482). II. The 2nd Earl of Bristol (61483-61485). III. The 2nd Earl of Sunderland (61486-61490). D. The 3rd Earl of Sunderland (61491-61665). E. Later Dukes of Marlborough (61666-61680). F. The Trevor Family, viz:-

I. The Boteler Family (61681-61683). II. The lst and 2nd Barons Trevor of Bromham (61684,61685). III. Sir Richard Steele (61686-61688). G. Sir John Wildman (61689, 61690). H. Political and Historical Tracts, Catalogues, etc. (61691-61710). I. Charters (Add. Ch. 76069-76142); Seal (CCV. 8). Appendices:-

1. Printed Matter in the above collection.

2. Printed Works now transferred to the Department of Printed Books.