Identity area
Reference code
Beaton/A/A4
Unique identifier
Title
Date(s)
- 1928-1956 (Creation)
Level of description
Subseries
Extent and medium
43 items, paper
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Photographer, artist, writer, and designer of scenery and costumes. Educated at Harrow and St John's College, Cambridge, 1922-5. Made his name as a photographer through portraits of the Sitwells. Employed by Vogue in London and New York. Published 'The Book of Beauty' (1930). Photographed the Duke of Windsor's wedding, 1937. War photographer, 1939-45. Designed 'Lady Windermere's Fan', 1945. Designed costumes for 'An Ideal Husband' and 'Anna Karenina', 1948. Worked on 'The School for Scandal', 1949, 'Quadrille' for Noel Coward, 1952, 'Turandot', 1961, and 'La Traviata', 1966. Designed costumes for 'My Fair Lady', 1956, and for the film version in Hollywood, 1963. His play 'The Gainsborough Girls', 1951 and 1959, was unsuccessful. Published 'The Glass of Fashion' (1954), and six volumes of diaries. Exhibited photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, 1968. Knighted 1972.
Repository
Archival history
These letters were retained by the Beaton family until deposited at St John's.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Given by Sir John Smiley in 2022.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
32 autograph letters from Beaton to his family from abroad, 6 telegrams, 4 press cuttings, and 1 rough sketch of a dress.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
The items have been arranged chronologically.