MS Mus. 1813/2/1/197-240

Business files of Leslie Boosey (1887–1979), chairman of Boosey & Co. from 1920 to 1930 and of Boosey & Hawkes almost continuously from 1930 to 1964. This sub-series consists of two sub-sub-series of files of general correspondence accumulated by Leslie Boosey himself, and one piecemeal sub-series of files which was among Leslie Boosey's files at acquisition, but had been extracted variously from the files of Ken Straker, Carl Rosen and the Copyright Department, and relating frequently, but not exclusively, to copyright. Some of Leslie Boosey's files were created before the merger of Boosey & Co. with Hawkes and Son in October 1930.

This sub-series does not represent a comprehensive record of Leslie Boosey's work or career, having undergone significant pruning before the British Library acquired the archive. There are now considerable limitations in its overall scope: none of the material preserved here was created earlier than 1927, and, moreover, the general files created between 1927 and 1945 were at some point drastically reduced, so that there remain only those involving correspondents with names beginning B-. The sole exception is the year 1938, for which the whole alphabet's worth of correspondence survives (MS Mus. 1813/2/1/211-219).

Among Leslie Boosey's surviving general correspondence there is, however, notable breadth of scope at item level, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s. Correspondents include composers, conductors, music publishers, professional and amateur musicians, musical societies and ensembles, composers' associations, musical promoters or directors, churches, infant and junior schools, public officials, neighbours of the firm in Regent Street in London, Boosey & Hawkes' own personnel and members of the general public.