Above: Owen Barfield and Lyle Dorsett in Barfield's study, August 1984. Image owned by the Wade Center.
The Oral History Project was established by Wade director Lyle W. Dorsett in 1983 in order to record the personal recollections of people who knew the seven authors of the Wade Center, or were impacted by them, and preserve those recollections for future research use. Interviewees include friends, family members, acquaintances, scholars and, in the case of Owen Barfield, the author himself. The intent of the project was explained to each person being interviewed before the interview was conducted.
In 2023, the Wade’s oral history collection was named in honor of Lyle and Mary Dorsett in recognition of their tremendous work in building the foundations of this significant archival resource. When Dr. Dorsett began his tenure as the second Director of the Wade Center in 1983, one of his main objectives was to conduct oral history interviews with those who had personal memories of one or more of the seven Wade authors. An accomplished historian and researcher, Dr. Dorsett came to the Wade with a wealth of experience interviewing individuals for his own books and articles. He used this expertise to develop a detailed procedure and guidelines for successful oral history interviews that are still used by the Wade Center today.
The majority of the interviews were recorded on audio (SR), video (VR), or both, and all of the oral histories have been transcribed. Interview content is only available for on-site use at the Wade Center. Permission to publish or reproduce any part of these interviews must be applied for in writing to the Marion E. Wade Center.
Learn more about the background of the Dorsett Oral History Collection
Lyle Dorsett conducted forty-five of the oral history interviews that were recorded from 1982 to 1989. The collection now has over ninety recordings. Chronologically the first interview (five-hours in length) was with Douglas Gresham, C.S. Lewis’s stepson. The recording took place on Wheaton's campus on June 4, 1982, a year before Dorsett became director.
A brief listing of the collection provides basic information on each of the recordings and the full listing below includes summaries of the topics covered in each interview. The list is arranged by name of person interviewed and interview date.
Call number(s): OH-SR-1
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 30 mins.; CSL
Stella Aldwinckle organized the Oxford Socratic Club, of which C.S. Lewis was president. In the interview, she discusses her childhood in Africa, South America, and England, the founding of the Oxford Socratic Club, and what it was like to know and work with C.S. Lewis in that setting.
Call number(s): OH-SR-2
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 24 mins.; OB, CSL, CW, DLS
Owen Barfield is an author and philosopher, and one of the seven authors of the Wade Center. In this first interview with Barfield, Lyle Dorsett begins the conversation discussing Barfield’s relationship with C.S. Lewis. The discourse recounts Barfield’s unease with Lewis’s apologetic work and “evangelism” during World War II. Joy Davidman, Charles Williams, and Dorothy L. Sayers are mentioned, as well as the reception of both Lewis’s and Barfield’s work. Barfield reiterates his commitment to speak on what he and Lewis share in common rather than in their disagreements.
Call number(s): OH-SR-3; OH-VR-3
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 3 hrs. 24 mins.; OB
Owen Barfield is an author and philosopher, and one of the seven authors of the Wade Center. In this second interview, Barfield discusses his own life and work. The discourse goes through Barfield’s early life, education, his time at Wadham College, and his becoming a lawyer (solicitor). The conversation then moves to how he met his wife, Maud, and their marriage. It then concludes with influences and his study of Rudolf Steiner’s works on anthroposophy.
Call number(s): OH-SR-4
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 45 mins.; OB, DLS
Owen Barfield is an author and philosopher, and one of the seven authors of the Wade Center. A shorter interview than the two previous ones, the discussion focuses on Barfield’s fiction, English People and This Ever Diverse Pair, along with Walter de la Mare. Additional subjects include abortion, rights in relation to responsibility, the difference between barristers and solicitors (Barfield was a solicitor), and Dorothy L. Sayers.
Call number(s): OH-SR-93
Interviewers: M.J. [Michael] Hammerson and T.G. Mallinson
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 3 mins.; OB
Owen Barfield attended Highgate School from 1906 to 1917, ages 8-18. This interview discusses his time there, as well as the history of the school with reminiscences between Barfield and the interviewers while walking the grounds. The recording was provided by Highgate School and permission was granted for the Wade Center to add it to its collections.
Call number(s): OH-SR-82; OH-VR-32
Interviewer: Christopher W. Mitchell
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 57 mins.; OB
Owen A. Barfield is the grandson of Owen Barfield. In this interview, he discusses his childhood, personal life, extended family, and different family members’ relationships with his grandfather. He also discusses growing up reading books by the Inklings and his own relationship with his grandfather.
Call number(s): Transcript only
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): n/a; CSL, JRRT
Pauline Baynes is well-known for illustrating C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia. In this interview, she reminisces on her relationships with both Lewis and Tolkien. Of particular interest is her personal relationship with Tolkien, and their shared distaste for Lewis writing books on theology.
Call number(s): OH-SR-55
Interviewer: David L. Dodds
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 30 mins.; CSL
Mrs. Nell Berners-Price and her late husband were owners and operators of the Court Stairs Hotel and friends of C.S. Lewis. In this interview, she recounts the interesting story of how she came to meet Lewis, their relationship, the Joy and the Gresham boys, as well as several other topics.
Call number(s): OH-SR-5; OH-VR-4
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 19 mins.; CSL
Author and retired Anglican clergyman, Canon Blair first met C.S. Lewis in 1945, and corresponded and periodically visited with him for the next 18 years. In this interview, Blair moves through a long list of subjects with regard to C.S. Lewis on matters of theology, evangelism, and the Royal Air Force (RAF) meetings. Discussion also includes insights into Lewis’s conception of Romantic love and Charles Williams’s substituted love. Additional mentions include Dorothy L. Sayers, J.R.R. Tolkien, Owen Barfield, Adam Fox, and Neville Coghill. The discourse ends with a reference to Joy Davidman’s critique of the popular usage of the Old Testament.
Call number(s): OH-SR-6; OH-VR-5
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 56 mins.; CSL
C.S. Lewis was the tutor of Harry Blamires at University College, Oxford. In this interview Blamires discusses the nature and nuances of Lewis’s form of tutoring. Discussion topics include Pilgrim’s Regress, Lewis on logic, being discipled by Lewis, and the concept of “Christian” literature. The talk concludes with Lewis’s impact on his own time and his thoughts on the Roman Catholic church.
Call number(s): OH-SR-58
Interviewer: Stephanie L. Feeck
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr.; CSL
Lady Elizabeth Catherwood is the daughter of Martin Lloyd-Jones and has experience in Christian publishing. In this interview, she discusses her family’s connections with C.S. Lewis, his writings, the Church in Britain, and hearing Lewis lecture as a student at Oxford.
Call number(s): OH-SR-52
Interviewer: David L. Dodds
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr.; CSL
John Christopher (nom de plume for “C.S. [Christopher Samuel] Youd”) met Joy Davidman when she began to attend his science-fiction interest group after moving to England. This interview covers his friendship with Joy, and Joy and “Jack’s” relationship.
Call number(s): OH-SR-64
Interviewer: Christopher Dean
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 5 mins.; DLS
This very brief, impromptu interview covers Peggy Church’s personal recollections of Dorothy L. Sayers.
Call number(s): OH-SR-87
Interviewer: Kendra Juskus
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 30 mins.; CSL
Emanuel Contac is a professor at the Theological Pentecostal Institute in Bucharest, Romania. He has translated several of C.S. Lewis’s works into Romanian. In this interview, he discusses how he first became interested in Lewis’s work and his hopes for the impact his translations will have on Romania.
Call number(s): OH-SR-79; CSL-Z-SR-5
Interviewer: end of lecture by Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): n/a; CSL
Howard Davidman was the brother of Joy Davidman, C.S. Lewis’s wife. This recording is a lecture given at the New York C.S. Lewis Society by Lyle Dorsett, entitled “The Search for Joy Davidman.” Howard Davidman was present at this lecture and participated in the question and answer segment, offering answers to the audience about his sister, her first husband William Gresham, and C.S. Lewis.
Call number(s): OH-SR-54
Interviewer: David L. Dodds
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr.; CW
Ian Davie was an undergraduate student at Oxford who became connected with Charles Williams. He discusses Williams’s works and their impact on him, as well as running into Williams on campus at Oxford.
Call number(s): OH-SR-75; OH-VR-26
Interviewer: Helen Durham
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 56 mins.; DLS
Christopher Dean is the former head of Modern Languages at Hearst-Pierpoint College and served as the Chair of the Dorothy L. Sayers Society. He discusses Sayers’s works, especially her detective stories, and her relationships with other writers such as G.K. Chesterton and Agatha Christie.
Call number(s): OH-SR-7
Interviewer: David L. Dodds
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 20 mins.; CSL
C.S. Lewis was the tutor of A.G. Dickens at Magdalen College, Oxford. This interview goes over the progression of Lewis’s tutorship on political philosophy. Dickens, a historian, discusses beginning with the Greeks and the format of seven essays which were required in the term, and goes on to reference the English Reformation and the type of prose that Lewis desired from his students.
Call number(s): OH-SR-8; OH-VR-6
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 14 mins.; CSL
Lady Maureen Dunbar of Hempriggs (formerly Maureen Moore) and her mother lived with C.S. Lewis and Warren Lewis at the Kilns after her brother Paddy, Lewis's friend, was killed in World War I. Both Lady Maureen Dunbar and her husband Leonard Blake were interviewed, and recounted their stories from the Kilns. In the discourse, Lady Dunbar relates the promise of C.S. Lewis to her brother “Paddy” to take care of her and her mother if Paddy did not make it home from the war. Numerous subjects are touched upon such as C.S. Lewis’s war wounds, his incapability with math, and his tutor William Kirkpatrick. Warren Lewis is also mentioned, especially his relationship with his brother, his love of music, his reclusiveness, and his alcoholism.
Call number(s): OH-SR-74; OH-VR-25
Interviewer: Helen Durham
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 33 mins.; DLS
Seona Ford is the daughter of Dr. Jim Denham, the physician of both Dorothy L. Sayers and her husband. Seona is also active in the Dorothy L. Sayers Society. She discusses meeting Sayers as a child and reading her books. She also shares some humorous stories about her father’s work as physician to Sayers and her husband, and mentions Sayers’s love of cats.
Call number(s): OH-SR-85
Interviewer: Marjorie L. Mead
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 44 mins.; CSL, JRRT
Douglas and Barbara, longtime friends of the Wade Center, discuss how they came to be involved with Wheaton College and the Wade Center, life in Europe, and their relationship with Clyde S. Kilby. As a photographer, Douglas has photographed numerous Lewis and Tolkien locations in Britain, and taken portraits of J.R.R. Tolkien. He is co-author of the book C.S. Lewis: Images of His World with Dr. Kilby.
Call number(s): OH-SR-10
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr.; CSL
Roger Lancelyn Green was a writer and friend of C.S. Lewis, and the co-author of C.S. Lewis: A Biography with Walter Hooper. In this interview, Green talks about the autobiographical nature of A Grief Observed, his perceptions of Joy Davidman and Walter Hooper, as well as his holiday with Lewis and Joy Davidman in Greece. He relates the “ordinariness” of the Lewis family once Lewis and Davidman got married.
Call number(s): OH-SR-11; OH-VR-7
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 3 hrs. 56 mins. (sound); 4 hrs. 24 mins. (video); CSL
Douglas Gresham is the stepson of C.S. Lewis. This interview covers at length the life of Douglas Gresham, son of Joy Davidman and William Gresham. Gresham discusses life in New York, the move to England, and life at the Kilns with the Lewis brothers. The conversation describes the nature of Joy and Jack’s (C.S. Lewis) relationship and the normal family life that came about with their marriage. The interview then moves into the grieving experience shared by Douglas and Jack at the death of Joy.
Call number(s): OH-SR-12
Interviewer: Jennifer Young
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 35 mins.; CSL
Douglas Gresham is the stepson of C.S. Lewis and son of Joy Davidman. In his second interview for the Wade Center, Douglas discusses what it was like to live with C.S. Lewis, his mother’s marriage to Lewis, and things he learned about writing from Lewis.
Call number(s): OH-SR-69; OH-VR-23
Interviewer: Marjorie L. Mead
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 27 mins.; CSL
Douglas and Merrie Gresham discuss how God broke anew into their lives, their subsequent move to Ireland, and Douglas’s work on C.S. Lewis. Merrie also describes her early life and aversion to Christianity as a child and young adult, as well as meeting Douglas and how God captured her heart through their relationship.
Call number(s): OH-VR-8 (video only)
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 20 mins.; CSL
Dom Bede Griffiths was C.S. Lewis’s pupil and friend for more than 40 years. In this interview he discusses his life, including his own autobiography, The Golden String, and his relationship with Lewis as a student and friend. Due to a recording error, there is no audio with this recording. The interview summary is given in a document by Lyle Dorsett.
Call number(s): OH-SR-13; OH-VR-13
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 23 mins.; CW
Charles and Alice Mary Hadfield both worked for Oxford University Press in the 1930s and 1940s, and it was at the press where they met and befriended Charles Williams. This interview explores the overall person of Charles Williams, and his charismatic personality. The discussion touches upon the family life of Williams, but this is done mostly in relation to his formation of Romantic Theology and the Way of Affirmation.
Call number(s): OH-SR-92
Interviewer: Crystal Downing
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 19 mins.; CSL
Madeline’s father was Chad Walsh, who published the first book about C.S. Lewis: C.S. Lewis: Apostle to the Skeptics (1949). Madeline shares her memories of meeting C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman, as well as of her father.
Call number(s): OH-SR-67
Interviewer: Stephen Schofield
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 15 mins.; CSL
Tim Hardy is also known by the name of Robert Hardy. He is a successful British actor and was a pupil of C.S. Lewis’s at Magdalen College before joining the theatre. In this interview, he discusses some of his experiences learning under Lewis.
Call number(s): OH-SR-60
Interviewer: Christopher Dean
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 40 mins.; DLS
Lilian Harrison played “Mary” in three of Sayers’s Man Born to Be King BBC radio plays. Here she discusses Sayers’s role in rehearsals, how she was cast for the plays, some of the controversies preceding and surrounding the production, and life in World War II England.
Call number(s): OH-SR-14; OH-VR-10
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 56 mins.; CSL, JRRT
Robert E. Havard (also known as “Humphrey,” “The Red Admiral,” and “U.Q.” or “Useless Quack”) was the friend and personal physician of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, and also a member of the Inklings. This interview provides an overview of Havard’s friendships with Lewis and other members of the Inklings. The discussion ends with a discourse on the differences of Tolkien and Lewis.
Call number(s): OH-SR-15
Interviewer: Jerry Root
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 5 mins.; CSL
Father R.E. Head was the Vicar of Holy Trinity Church in Headington, and was Pastor to the Lewis brothers for several years. Head relates the relationship that the Lewis brothers had to their local church and to the broader Church in general. The interview also discusses Joy Davidman’s health struggles and Lewis’s support of Joy during her illness.
Call number(s): OH-SR-16
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 30 mins.; CSL
Major Frank Henry was a friend of both Warren and C.S. Lewis. His sister, Vera, was goddaughter to Mrs. Janie Moore and helped in the Kilns household for several years. Major Henry frequently acted as chauffeur to the Lewis brothers when they visited Northern Ireland. This interview relates Major Frank Henry’s time as a soldier in World Wars I and II. Other subjects during this interview include Walter Hooper and the Millers, along with a story of what Christmas at the Kilns was like.
Call number(s): OH-SR-81; OH-VR-30
Interviewer: Christopher W. Mitchell
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 2 hrs. 32 mins.; CSL
Walter Hooper served as C.S. Lewis’s personal secretary for the last few months of Lewis’s life. After his death, Hooper was invited by Owen Barfield to assist him in managing Lewis’s literary estate, which he did faithfully for four decades. In this interview, Hooper discusses Lewis’s life, work, friends, and his own involvement in the Lewis community.
Call number(s): OH-SR-83; OH-VR-31
Interviewer: Christopher W. Mitchell
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 2 hrs. 40 mins.; CSL
Walter Hooper was the personal secretary of C.S. Lewis near the end of Lewis’s life, and served as the literary executor and editor of Lewis’s works after his death. In this longer interview, Hooper describes his fascination with people’s stories and beauty, growing up in North Carolina, and his later life in Oxford. He also discusses his respective relationships with C.S. Lewis, Warren Lewis, and other members of the Inklings.
Call number(s): OH-SR-90
Interviewer: Dwain Tissell
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 7 mins.; OB, CSL, JRRT
James Houston was a lecturer in geography at Hertford College, Oxford, where he met and became friends with C.S. Lewis. In this interview, Houston recounts his memories of Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, 1940s and 50s Oxford, and relationships among the Inklings. He makes some mention of the different mythologies of Tolkien and Lewis.
Additional related material by Dr. Houston may be found in the following journal article: Houston, James. “Reminiscences of the Oxford Lewis.” The Lamp-Post. Vol. 7, No. 2. Southern California C.S. Lewis Society. August 1983. pp. 6-12.
Call number(s): OH-SR-65
Interviewer: Marjorie L. Mead
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 40 mins.; CSL
Dr. Howard teaches at St. John’s Seminary in Massachusetts, and is both a graduate of Wheaton College and friend of Clyde Kilby. He was involved in the early days of the Wade Center. In this interview, he shares about being a student under Dr. Kilby while at Wheaton, and traveling to England with him where he met C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams’s son, Michael. He also discusses his own move from evangelicalism to Catholicism, and Lewis’s resistance to doing so.
Call number(s): OH-SR-89
Interviewer: Marjorie L. Mead and Stan & Jeannette Bakke
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 41 mins.; OB, CSL, JRRT, CW
Dr. Charles A. Huttar is professor emeritus of English at Hope College in Holland, MI, and was also a friend of Clyde Kilby for many years. He discusses his education at Wheaton, acquaintance with Marion E. Wade, and meeting the Barfields and other Wade authors and their family members.
Call number(s): OH-SR-61
Interviewer: Marjorie L. Mead
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 54 mins.; DLS
H.R.F. Keating is president of the Detection Club. He and his wife, Sheila Mitchell, discuss the works of Dorothy L. Sayers, including Sheila’s familiarity with some of Sayers’s plays as an actress and her work on a play about Sayers.
Call number(s): OH-SR-17
Interviewer: David L. Dodds
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 20 mins.; DLS
Norah Lambourne was an artist and theater designer who befriended and worked with Dorothy L. Sayers. This interview relates Norah Lambourne’s relationship with Sayers during the production of the latter’s plays. Different matters of theater are discussed with relation to stage set-up, costumes, and dramatic flow. The works of The Just Vengeance, The Zeal of Thy House, and The Emperor Constantine are introduced and summarily discussed.
Call number(s): OH-SR-63
Interviewer: Christopher and Christine Dean
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr.; DLS
Norah Lambourne, an artist and stage designer, was a friend of Dorothy L. Sayers and worked with her on several plays. Here she discusses her memories of work and friendship with Sayers, recollections from Detection Club meetings, and spending Christmas with Sayers.
Call number(s): OH-SR-76; OH-VR-27
Interviewer: Helen Durham
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 5 mins.; DLS
Artist and stage designer Norah Lambourne was a close friend of Dorothy L. Sayers. This interview details her friendship with Sayers, including impressions upon meeting her, working together, and spending weekends staying at Sayers’s home with her and her husband, Mac. Norah also discusses her impressions of Sayers’s relationship with Mac.
Call number(s): OH-SR-18
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 55 mins.; CW
Lois Lang-Sims was a friend of Charles Williams and has written about her relationship with him in her books A Time to be Born and Letters to Lalage. This interview was a discourse on Lois Lang-Sims’s relationship with Charles Williams, along with Williams’s doctrine of Romantic Love. Further discussion includes Charles Williams and religious practices, Phillida, and myth.
Call number(s): OH-SR-57
Interviewer: David L. Dodds
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 3 mins.; CSL
Martin Lings was personally acquainted with C.S. Lewis, mainly in the 1930s, as a friend and frequent guest of Lewis’s neighbors. In this interview, he discusses his interest in Lewis’s works and personal relationship with him. He also compares Lewis’s ideas to that of the philosophies of other literary giants of the time, such as Rene Guénon.
Call number(s): OH-SR-19
Interviewer: Cheri Bedell Peters
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 20 mins.; CW, CSL
This interview discusses Lockard’s friendship with Michal Williams, wife of Charles Williams, and Michael Williams, their son, after Williams’s death. Lockard got to know the family during and after his involvement in World War II. Lockard also had C.S. Lewis as his tutor and attended Inklings meetings. His dissertation was written on Charles Williams.
Call number(s): Transcript only
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): n/a; GKC
Gregory MacDonald knew and worked with G.K. Chesterton on his magazine, GK’s Weekly. This interview covers a number of subjects surrounding Chesterton, including how MacDonald met him, how he perceived Chesterton, and what working for him at GK’s Weekly was like. MacDonald also discusses Chesterton’s spirituality and the impact it had on his magazine, as well as Chesterton’s impact on early 20th-century Britain.
Call number(s): OH-SR-20; OH-VR-1
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 15 mins.; GKC
Aidan Mackey is both the leading dealer and authority on books by G.K. Chesterton, as well as the author of the book Mr. Chesterton Comes to Tea. Mackey discusses a bit about himself and his own work, as well as his personal and professional relationships with people who knew and were close to Chesterton.
Call number(s): OH-SR-59
Interviewer: Tom H. Willett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 3 hrs. 12 mins.; GKC
Aidan Mackey, who is considered a leading collector and expert on G.K. Chesterton and his works, discusses Chesterton’s life and the impact he had on Christianity in his time. He also briefly explains his own introduction to Chesterton’s works as a teenager.
Call number(s): OH-SR-72; OH-VR-29
Interviewer: Marjorie L. Mead
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 13 mins. (sound); 1 hr. 24 mins. (video); GKC
Aidan Mackey is a well-known Chesterton collector, scholar, and the author of Mr. Chesterton Comes to Tea, as well as a leading dealer of Chesterton’s works. In this interview, he discusses more of his personal life and introduction to Chesterton’s works, as well as how and why he got into dealing them.
Call number(s): OH-SR-21
Interviewer: Aidan Mackey
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 30 mins.; GKC
Rex Mawby was a pivotal figure in the London branch of the Distributist League. He discusses his experiences and memories of work in the League, as well as some of its leading figures, including G.K. Chesterton.
Call number(s): OH-SR-84
Interviewer: Christopher W. Mitchell
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 37 mins.; CSL
Tom McAlindon studied under C.S. Lewis at Cambridge and was the only student to complete a PhD under him there. He discusses his life growing up as an Irish Catholic, his introduction into academia, and memories of Lewis.
Call number(s): OH-SR-73
Interviewer: Christopher W. Mitchell and Marjorie L. Mead
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 30 mins.; CSL, JRRT
Peter Milward is a Jesuit priest and professor at Sophia University in Tokyo. As a student at Oxford in the 1950s, he attended C.S. Lewis’s lectures, and also corresponded with Lewis via letter until his death. Father Milward was active in the Socratic Club at Oxford, of which Lewis was president, and has written on Lewis’s work and thoughts. In this interview, he discusses memories of Lewis at Oxford, his reputation around the university, and Father Milward’s impressions of J.R.R. Tolkien as a lecturer.
Call number(s): OH-SR-70
Interviewer: Christopher W. Mitchell
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 12 mins.; CSL
Basil Mitchell was a British philosopher who both attended and later taught at Oxford. As a student at Queen’s College, he participated in the Socratic Club, replacing C.S. Lewis as its president in 1955 when Lewis moved to Cambridge. He discusses his introduction to and relationship with Lewis, and reminisces on his involvement in the Socratic Club. Basil also talks about what it was like to be a Christian in Oxford’s then-anti-religious setting.
Call number(s): OH-SR-22; OH-VR-11
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 30 mins.; CSL, JRRT
Clifford Morris was the driver for both Lewis and Tolkien. In this interview he discusses his own background, introduction to Lewis as his driver, and how they became friends. He also discusses his involvement with Tolkien and his family as their driver, and the differences between Lewis and Tolkien as individuals.
Call number(s): OH-SR-23; OH-VR-12
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr.; CSL
Martin Moynihan studied under C.S. Lewis at Oxford, corresponding and visiting with him several times after leaving the university. He reminisces on what it was like to have Lewis as a tutor, and how Lewis introduced him to others, including Charles Williams. Monica Moynihan also recalls meeting Lewis as an undergraduate at Oxford.
Call number(s): OH-SR-66
Interviewer: Stephen Schofield
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 25 mins.; CSL
Malcolm Muggeridge began life as a socialist and gradually made his way into Christianity, coming to faith with his wife in the 1960s. In this interview, he discusses his review of C.S. Lewis: A Biography, which was written by Roger Lancelyn Green and Walter Hooper.
Call number(s): OH-SR-24; OH-VR-13
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 40 mins.; CSL
Stephen F. Olford met C.S. Lewis when they both spoke at an evangelical meeting in Wales. In this interview, he reminisces on the times he spent with C.S. Lewis, and discusses his understanding of Lewis’s impact on his own times.
Call number(s): OH-SR-25
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 20 mins.; CSL
Ruth Parker is C.S. Lewis’s first cousin. In this interview, she discusses her memories of Lewis, including his fatherly affection for two young girls who stayed at the Kilns as evacuees during World War II (he especially loved helping them with their homework).
Call number(s): OH-SR-26
Interviewer: Clyde S. Kilby
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 2 hrs.; CSL
Frederick William Calcutt Paxford was the spare cook, gardener, and handyman at C.S. Lewis’s home The Kilns from 1930 until Lewis’s death in 1963. This interview examines Paxford’s life at the Kilns, and the household life, culture, and inhabitants. The deaths of C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman are also discussed.
Call number(s): OH-SR-27
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 13 mins.; CSL
Ruth Pitter was a poet and close friend of C.S. Lewis. In this interview, she discusses some of her childhood, including her entrance into poetry. She also reminisces on meeting Lewis for the first time, getting to know him, and meeting some of the other Inklings. She discusses meeting Joy Davidman before she and Lewis married, and expresses a dislike for her.
Call number(s): OH-SR-28; OH-VR-14
Interviewer: Clyde S. Kilby
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 50 mins.; DLS
Dr. Barbara Reynolds was an Italian scholar, lexicographer and translator, and a close friend of Dorothy L. Sayers and the Wade Center. In this first interview, Reynolds discusses her work with the Wade Center, Dante, and Italian Studies. She also recounts her friendship with Dorothy L. Sayers.
Call number(s): OH-SR-29; OH-VR-15
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 40 mins.; DLS
Dr. Barbara Reynolds was an Italian scholar, lexicographer and translator, and a close friend of Dorothy L. Sayers and the Wade Center. The discourse builds on the previous interview, interrelating Reynolds’s relationship with Sayers and Reynolds’s book, The Passionate Intellect: Dorothy L. Sayers' Encounter with Dante. There is then discussion of the British university system, and the works of Dorothy L. Sayers.
Call number(s): OH-SR-80
Interviewer: Marjorie L. Mead
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hour; DLS
Dr. Barbara Reynolds was an Italian scholar, lexicographer and translator, and a close friend of Dorothy L. Sayers and the Wade Center. This interview recounts some of Dr. Reynolds’s early life in England and the United States. Mention is made of her teaching career and children, and she delves further into her friendship with Sayers, the Detection Club, and her translation work.
Call number(s): OH-SR-77; OH-VR-28
Interviewer: Helen Durham
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 53 mins.; DLS, CW
Dr. Barbara Reynolds was an Italian scholar, lexicographer and translator, and a close friend of Dorothy L. Sayers and the Wade Center. She further discusses her relationship with Sayers here, including how they met. Also covered are Sayers’s relationship with Charles Williams and subsequent interest in Dante following his work, The Figure of Beatrice.
Call number(s): OH-SR-30; OH-VR-16
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett and Catherine Kenney
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr.; DLS
Kathleen Richards was Dorothy L. Sayers’s secretary. In this interview, she relates their friendship during World War II, and her duties as Sayers’s secretary. She then talks about Sayers’s personality and sense of intellect.
Call number(s): OH-SR-31; OH-VR-17
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 20 mins.; CW
Anne Ridler was a friend of Charles and Florence “Michal” Williams, and is a poet and author who has written about Williams and edited some of his work. She discusses their friendship, Williams’s health, writing habits, and work.
Call number(s): OH-SR-32
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 10 mins.; CSL
Father Luke Rigby was tutored by C.S. Lewis and has contributed a remembrance of his time with Lewis to the book C.S. Lewis at the Breakfast Table. He discusses his time as a student under Lewis, as well as Lewis’s works.
Call number(s): OH-SR-53
Interviewer: David L. Dodds
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 30 mins.; CSL, JRRT
Dr. John Roberts is the warden of Merton College and attended Oxford as an undergraduate, which included his participation in the Socratic Club. He discusses his time at Magdalen College and some interactions with C.S. Lewis, working with Tolkien at Merton College, and his own memories of Tolkien as a person. Also mentioned is his recollection of Hugo Dyson.
Call number(s): OH-SR-33
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 6 mins.; CSL
This is a musical recording written to one of C.S. Lewis’s poems, “The Late Passenger,” and performed by Val and Mary Rogers. Music written by Mary Rogers. The Rogers both heard many of Lewis’s lectures at Oxford.
Call number(s): OH-SR-34; OH-VR-18
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 50 mins.; CSL
Mary Rogers was an attendee at many of C.S. Lewis’s lectures at Oxford, where she was a student from 1932-1935. This interview is a presentation of her own on Lewis, his works, and his family history.
Call number(s): OH-SR-35; OH-VR-19
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 2 hrs. 6 mins. (sound); 2 hrs. 18 mins. (video); CSL
George Sayer is the author of a biography on C.S. Lewis’s early years: Jack: C.S. Lewis and His Times. He also studied under Lewis at Oxford. In this interview, he discusses his memories of Lewis as a tutor and, later, as a friend. He also discusses his knowledge and impressions of Joy Davidman, including an encounter his own wife had with Joy. C.S. Lewis’s works are also discussed.
Call number(s): OH-SR-36
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 50 mins.; CSL
Stephen Schofield met C.S. Lewis at Magdalen College while bicycling through England as a journalist. He has written several works on Lewis. In this interview, he discusses his reminiscences of Lewis, including how they met, his impressions of Lewis as a person, his works, and faith. Also mentioned are his impressions of Joy Davidman.
Call number(s): OH-SR-37
Interviewer: Jerry Root
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 55 mins.; CSL, CW
Anne Scott was a student at Oxford during the time both Lewis and Williams were lecturing there. She met Williams at a Lewis lecture and began a friendship with him; she is the inspiration behind his poem “The Queen’s Servant.” In this interview, she discusses her early life, interest in Lewis’s and Williams’s works, and how she got to know Charles Williams.
Call number(s): OH-SR-38
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 25 mins.; DLS
Hilda Sebastian was a bookseller with an extensive collection of Sayers’s works. She first heard Sayers speak at a meeting of the Greater London Soroptomist Club, and later sold her mother-in-law’s home to Sayers. In this interview, she reminisces on a few memories of Sayers, as well as stories from others who knew her.
Call number(s): OH-SR-39
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 30 mins.; GKC
Brocard Sewell was on staff at GK’s Weekly and the Distributist League from 1928-1931 and has written a biography on G.K. Chesterton’s brother, Cecil. He discusses some of Chesterton’s political positions, involvement with the League and GK’s Weekly, and Mrs. Frances Chesterton’s views on her husband’s involvement in these things.
Call number(s): OH-SR-40
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 55 mins.; CW
Mary McDermott Shideler has authored two books on Charles Williams and was a personal friend of Mrs. Williams and her son Michael. In this interview, she discusses Charles Williams’s works and ideas, and how she became interested in his writing. She also discusses her relationships with Mrs. Williams and Michael, and some of their family life, including their reaction to Charles’s relationships with other women such as Phyllis Potter.
Call number(s): OH-SR-41; OH-VR-20
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 2 hrs.; CW
Thelma Shuttleworth met Charles Williams in the 1920s as he lectured on Shakespeare at the City Literary Institute in London. She and Williams remained friends until his death. In this interview, she discusses her memories of attending Williams’s lectures, some of the people he knew, and having tea with him. She also recalls her impressions of Williams’s wife and son, their family life, and her knowledge of Williams’s relationship with Phyllis Jones.
Call number(s): OH-SR-42
Interviewer: David L. Dodds
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 13 mins.; CW
The Spalding family owned the house where Charles Williams and other Oxford University Press employees lived while temporarily relocated to Oxford. Anne Spalding discusses 1940s Oxford, Williams’s habits and routines while living in their house, and his interests and personality. She also discusses her opinions of his writing.
Call number(s): OH-SR-43
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hour; CW
The Spalding family owned the house where Charles Williams and other Oxford University Press employees lived while temporarily relocated to Oxford. Ruth originally met with Williams in an effort to understand his work Seed of Adam, and later acted in a play he had written. She deeply admires his work but has been able to remain objective about him. In this interview, she shares her views of Williams, his work, and what it was like to know him.
Call number(s): OH-SR-86
Interviewer: Christopher W. Mitchell
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 30 mins.; CW
Ruth Spalding is a playwright, actress, and scholar who boarded Charles Williams during his years in Oxford, 1939-1945. As a result, she and her sister, Anne, developed a friendship with Williams. This interview with Chris Mitchell follows up with the 1987 interview conducted by Lyle Dorsett. Ruth further discusses what it was like to work with Williams on plays, his spirituality, and his writing habits.
Call number(s): OH-SR-68
Interviewer: Stephen Schofield
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 16 mins.; CSL
A.J.P. Taylor was a fellow with C.S. Lewis at Magdalen College for about twenty years. In this short interview, he shares stories about working with Lewis at Magdalen, including Lewis’s distaste for administrative work.
Call number(s): OH-SR-56
Interviewer: David L. Dodds
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 10 mins.; CW
Leslie W. Taylor worked with Charles Williams at the Oxford University Press for many years. In this interview, he reminisces on what it was like to work for the Press, Williams’s role there, and his works. He also shares some of Williams’s quirks, including his desire to set up office in a bathroom upon the Press’s move to Southfield House in Oxford.
Call number(s): OH-SR-44
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 20 mins.; CSL
Reverend Kenneth C. Thompson was an assistant priest under Father Ronald E. Head at Holy Trinity Church in Headington Quarry, the parish that C.S. Lewis frequently attended. In this brief interview he discusses Lewis, Joy Davidman, and their relationship, Lewis’s brother, and Lewis’s reputation in the local community. He also talks a bit about the current condition of the parish.
Call number(s): OH-SR-62; OH-VR-24
Interviewer: Helen Durham
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 50 mins.; DLS
John Thurmer was a “theological disciple” of Dorothy L. Sayers and has written many articles for VII, the Wade Center’s journal. He knew of Sayers growing up as a boy in Witham, Essex and became very interested in her work. He discusses his understanding of her theology and works.
Call number(s): OH-SR-78; OH-VR-22
Interviewer: Christopher W. Mitchell
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 42 mins.; CSL
Dr. Natalia Trauberg is a noted Russian linguist and translator, and has translated several works by British Christian authors into Russian. In this interview, she and Eugene Grossman (serving as her translator) discuss Trauberg’s growing up in Communist Russia, her conversion to Christianity, introduction to Lewis’s works, and involvement in the Russian Christian community. She also shares about her work doing underground publication of Christian materials during the Communist era.
Call number(s): OH-SR-45
Interviewer: David L. Dodds
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 40 mins.; CSL
Rachel Trickett is the principal of St. Hugh’s College in North Oxford. She attended Oxford as an undergraduate in the 1940s, and although she never met C.S. Lewis in person, she is a respected Lewis scholar. She discusses Lewis’s faith and literary works, contrasting his work with that of other authors such as G.K. Chesterton and George MacDonald.
Call number(s): OH-SR-88
Interviewer: Kendra Juskus
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 50 mins.; CSL
Denise Vasiliu is a professor and Doctoral student at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Romania. Her thesis is “C.S. Lewis at the Border Between Fiction and Christian Spirituality.” In this interview she discusses her own journey to faith, becoming acquainted with Lewis’s works, and the impact his work has had in Romania.
Call number(s): Transcript only
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): n/a; CSL, CW
Alexander Vidler was a colleague of C.S. Lewis at Cambridge. Subjects covered in this interview are his respect for both Lewis and Charles Williams as advisors while Vidler worked for the journal Theology, Vidler’s thoughts about Lewis as a person, and his admiration for the work of Joy Davidman.
Call number(s): OH-SR-46; OH-VR-21
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 46 mins.; CSL
Jean Wakeman was a journalist and friend of both C.S. Lewis and his brother, Warren H. Lewis. She makes some mention of C.S. Lewis in the interview, but most of the discussion centers on “Warnie” – who he was as a person, his own literary works, love for travel, struggle with alcoholism, and relationship with his brother.
Call number(s): OH-SR-47
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 30 mins.; CSL
Chad Walsh was an author and Episcopal priest who corresponded with C.S. Lewis over the years. He and his wife, Eva, also personally knew Joy Davidman. In this interview, Chad and Eva share some of their own story, talk about how Chad met Lewis, and share about Lewis’s reaction to meeting their children. They also briefly discuss Owen Barfield, talk about Lewis and Joy Davidman’s relationship, and share about the personal impact Lewis’s work has had on them.
Call number(s): OH-SR-48
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hour; CSL
Chad Walsh was an author and Episcopal priest who corresponded with C.S. Lewis over the years. He and his wife, Eva, also personally knew Joy Davidman. This interview is a follow-up to the interview conducted with Chad and Eva in 1983, and centers on Chad’s correspondence with Lewis, which was donated to the Wade Center.
Call number(s): OH-SR-49; OH-VR-2
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 24 mins.; GKC
Barbara West was an actress who knew G.K. Chesterton as she was growing up. In this interview, she recalls her family’s friendship with the Chestertons, including weekend visits at each other’s houses, impressions of Chesterton’s wife, Frances, and a book inscribed to West’s mother, Mrs. Morley Horden.
Call number(s): OH-SR-71
Interviewer: Marjorie L. Mead
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 1 hr. 12 mins.; CSL
Dr. Sherwood Wirt spent most of his career working with Billy Graham and helped start the Graham Association’s magazine, Decision. In this interview, Dr. Wirt and his wife, Ruth, discuss Dr. Wirt’s work with Billy Graham and how that led him to interview C.S. Lewis. Dr. Wirt gives his synopsis of the interview, his impressions of Lewis, and thoughts on his work.
Call number(s): OH-SR-50
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 50 mins.; JRRT
Christopher L. Wiseman and J.R.R. Tolkien were classmates at King Edward’s School, Birmingham, in the early 1900s. They were also members of the T.C.B.S. (Tea Club and Barrovian Society). In this interview, Wiseman recounts their childhood friendship and describes his perception of Tolkien becoming more reserved as he got older.
Call number(s): OH-SR-51
Interviewer: Lyle W. Dorsett
Time & Related Wade Author(s): 35 mins.; CSL, JRRT
Since 1985, Nicholas Wyatt has owned The Eagle and Child, a pub that was frequented by C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the other Inklings. In this interview, he discusses the history of the pub, how Lewis and Tolkien’s fame has affected business, and things he has learned about the famous writers since taking over the pub. Of particular interest are the reports regarding Tolkien’s attitude as a customer at The Eagle and Child.