Sylvia Tryon collection, 1912-1979

Full finding aid (pdf)

Collection Scope and Content

This collection contains a biographical sketch of her mother, Kate Tryon; correspondence focusing on her mother and the Tryon gift to the college; a manuscript of her play, Christmas at Castlewood; published poetry; descriptions of her mother’s paintings and Jefferies quotations to accompany them.

Biographical/Historical Note

Sylvia Tryon, daughter of Kate and James L. Tryon, graduated from Vassar and studied at Oxford. She traveled widely in England, visiting some of the same places her mother saw years before. Tryon donated a collection of her mother’s paintings to the University of New England (then Westbrook College), as well as her mother’s collection of Richard Jefferies books and a copy of her mother’s Adventures in the Vale of the White Horse. Sylvia Tryon wrote mainly poetry, publishing Songs of the North Country in 1932. She also wrote a play titled Christmas at Castlewood, based on William Makepeace Thackeray’s novel Henry Esmond and its sequel The Virginians.