The Marion E. Wade Center at

Wheaton College (Illinois) Wheaton College is a Private college, private Evangelical, Evangelical Christian Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wheaton, Illinois. It was founded by evangelical abolitionists in 1860. Wheaton College was a ...

is a special research collection of papers, books, and manuscripts, primarily relating to seven authors from the United Kingdom:

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univers ...

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...

G. K. Chesterton Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English writer, philosopher, Christian apologist, and literary and art critic. He has been referred to as the "prince of paradox". Of his writing style, ''Time'' observed: "Wh ...

Dorothy L. Sayers Dorothy Leigh Sayers (; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime writer and poet. She was also a student of classical and modern languages. She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between th ...

, Charles Williams,

Owen Barfield Arthur Owen Barfield (9 November 1898 – 14 December 1997) was a British philosopher, author, poet, critic, and member of the Inklings. Life Barfield was born in London, to Elizabeth (née Shoults; 1860–1940) and Arthur Edward Barfield (1864 ...

, and

George MacDonald George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet and Christian Congregational minister. He was a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll. I ...

, as well as C. S. Lewis's wife, the poet Joy Davidman. The center is named after Marion E. Wade, founder of

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Corp. The Wade Center serves primarily as a research center, attracting scholars from around the world. It holds at least one copy of every book written by the Wade authors, plus books, articles, and other materials about the various writers. It holds the world's fullest collection of the writings of Dorothy L. Sayers, including 30,000 pages of letters and documents both published and unpublished. For some of the Wade authors, collections of family documents are also available. The center's museum features memorabilia and changing displays about the authors from its collection of books, letters, manuscripts, and artifacts.

History and organization

The center was founded in 1965 by Clyde S. Kilby. In 2001 a new building was completed at the edge of the Wheaton College campus to house the Wade Center, with an expande
reading room
classroom space, and an enlarge
exhibits area
C. S. Lewis's dining-room table, which used to serve as desk space for visiting researchers, has been moved into the exhibits area near the Wade's own Lewis wardrobe. The Wade Center's second director, after Kilby, was Lyle W. Dorsett, who headed the center from 1983 until 1990. From 1994 until 2013, the small staff was headed by director Christopher W. Mitchell (author of ''Through the Wardrobe and into the Mind of C. S. Lewis'', 2009), until his departure to teach at Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University. From 2013 until 2018, Associate Director Marjorie Lamp Mead acted as interim director of the Wade Center. She is the author of ''A Reader's Guide Through the Wardrobe: Exploring C. S. Lewis's Classic Story'', and of ''A Reader's Guide To Caspian: a journey into C. S. Lewis's Narnia''. Since July 2018, the Wade Center has been headed by co-directors David Downing and Crystal Downing. David C. Downing earned his PhD from UCLA and is the author of four scholarly books on C.S. Lewis: ''Planets in Peril'', ''The Most Reluctant Convert'', ''Into the Wardrobe'', and ''Into the Region of Awe'', as well as extensive other writings on Lewis. Crystal Downing has written two books on Dorothy Sayers, ''Writing Performances: The Stages of Dorothy L. Sayers'', which was granted the Barbara Reynolds Award for best Sayers scholarship in 2009 by the Dorothy L. Sayers Society, and ''Subversive: Christ, Culture and the Shocking Dorothy L. Sayers'' along with nearly 100 other scholarly essays. The center hosts special events related to its authors: meetings of scholarly societies, book discussions and classes, film-release celebrations, etc.

Publications

The Wade Center also publishes the journal ''VII: Journal of the Marion E. Wade Center'', highlighting works by and about the Wade authors.

Notes

External links

Center's WebsiteResources held at the Center
{{authority control Research libraries in the United States Wheaton College (Illinois) Museums in DuPage County, Illinois Literary museums in the United States Inklings