Mary, Viscountess Eccles

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Mary Morley Crapo Hyde Eccles, Viscountess Eccles (8 July 1912-26 August 2003) was the wife of British peer, David Eccles, 1st Viscount Eccles and was a co-founder of the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library.

Lady Eccles was renowned for establishing one of the biggest private collections of 18th century literature with her first husband, Donald Hyde. This include works from Samuel Johnson and James Boswell.

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[edit] Early life and education

Eccles was born Mary Morley Crapo in Detroit, Michigan, USA in 1912. She attended Vassar College in New York State where she became friends with novelist Mary McCarthy. She later attended Columbia University where she undertook her PhD in Englist literature. The dissertation from her doctorate was later developed into a book, entitled Playwriting for Elizabethans.[1]

[edit] First marriage

In 1939 she married Donald Hyde, a New York lawyer. The couple bought Samuel Johnson's silver teapot in 1941 and threw a tea party in its honour. Over the next 25 years, they became avid collectors of Johnson's belongings, including hundreds of his letters, several of his diaries and a collection of his poems.

Mary Hyde--as she was then known--bought Four Oaks Farm in Somerville, New Jersey in 1943. Here they bought up surrounding land and added a library to the property, filling the house with their Samuel Johnson collection. Hyde also published The Thrales of Streatham Park in honour of Mrs Thrale who had previously collected many of Johnson's belongings.

During the following years, Hyde became well acquainted with many influential figures, including business tycoons, politicians and English aristocrats.

Donald Hyde died in 1966; after which his wife wrote The Impossible Friendship which is a study of Mrs Thrale and James Boswell. Hyde also wrote Bernard Shaw and Alfred Douglas: A Correspondence and developed an Oscar Wilde collection which was second only in size to that of the University of California.

[edit] Second marriage

Mary Hyde married David Eccles, 1st Viscount Eccles in 1984, becoming Mary, Viscountess Eccles. They founded the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library in 1992 as Lord Eccles had previously been its Chairman.

[edit] Honours

Lady Eccles was made an Honorary Fellow of Samuel Johnson's college at Oxford, Pembroke College.

She was also Benjamin Franklin Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.