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The correspondence, 1885-1926, is very varied and reflects closely many facets of Welsh public, cultural and intellectual life during this period. There are a large number of invitations to J. H. Davies to attend various meetings, events and occasions and to deliver public lectures in Wales and beyond. He is often invited to subscribe to books and journals and to contribute to a large number of charities and worthy causes. -- After Davies's appointment as Registrar of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, in 1905, a large number of the letters relate to the college: its development, expansion, departments, academic staff, the convention of public lectures etc. A number of letters also concern the establishment and the early development of the National Library of Wales: its location at Aberystwyth, its building appeal fund, and the grant of a royal charter. -- Many of the letters are from academics, both historians and literary scholars, who write to J. H. Davies concerning their researches and writings. Welsh manuscripts and printed works feature prominently in the letters. There is a particular interest in his work on the Welsh ballads and his researches on Morgan Llwyd and Lewis Morris. -- Some letters concern the Calvinistic Methodist connexion and others the Church in Wales, especially the deliberations of the contentious Welsh Church Commission, set up in 1906, of which J. H. Davies was a member. There are also a few letters devoted to legal matters, particularly the running of the Cwrt Mawr estate. Several also concern local events and developments in the Tregaron-Llangeitho locality. A few of the correspondents are engaged in local history and family history research.

Notes for lectures in Welsh by the Rev. Ben Davies, including lectures on 'Goronwy Owen', 'Dewi Sant' and 'Morgan Llwyd o Wynedd', delivered c. 1934.

A typescript of 'Cân Anghyhoeddiedig o waith Morgan Llwyd o Wynedd ... byrnodiadau gan Y Parch J. Peter, Bala', with manuscript corrections [in the hand of the Reverend John Peter].

A composite volume consisting of previously separate, home-made booklets containing material in the hand of Edward Williams ('Iolo Morganwg') bound into one volume). P. 11 (probably the 'title-page' of the section now paginated 13-100) is inscribed 'General View of the Agriculture of the County of Glamorgan, 1796', and is followed (pp. 13-100) by an incomplete essay on the said county [by Edward Williams]. This essay contains four chapters with sectional sub-headings 'Situation, Extent, etc.', '[Divisions and] Market Towns', 'Climate', 'Soil and Surface', 'Minerals', 'Water' (rivers, springs), 'State of Property' (mode of tenure, a list of the principal landholders), 'Buildings' (building materials, a list of the seats of landed gentry, a description of a typical farmhouse, outbuildings, cottages, etc.), 'Size of farms and character of farmers', 'Rent', and 'Tithes'. P. 101 bears the inscription 'Antiquities of Lantwit Major in the County of Glamorgan. Collected from various Documents. By Edward Williams. 1800', and is followed (pp. 105-39) by material relating to St. Illtud and the monastery and monastic school at Llanilltud, descriptions of inscribed stones at Llanilltud, and details of a twelve- point plan for setting up a committee and employing salaried research workers to supervise and undertake research for a history of the county of Glamorgan. A good deal of the material relating to Llanilltud is allegedly taken from an account compiled by the Reverend David Nichols, M.A., in 1729, and the whole of the contents of pp. 105-39 is presented in the form of a letter [from Edward Williams] to David Thomas, esqr., at Bath, 20 October 1798 (see IM, t. 307). P. 165 is inscribed 'Collection for the History of Dunraven, 1814', and is followed (pp. 169-87) by miscellaneous historical, pseudo-historical, and genealogical material relating to Dunraven Castle [co. Glamorgan] and its owners, and to Bran Vendigaid ap Llyr and his son Caradog (Caractacus) both of whom allegedly resided at Dunraven, (p. 188) an outline scheme or chapter headings for a proposed history of Dunraven Castle, and (on two unnumbered leaves between p. 188 and p. 189) a copy of a letter, ? 2 February 1818, from [Edward Williams] from Keven Cribor [co. Glamorgan], to Mrs. Wyndham of Dunraven Castle relating to the writer's research work concerning the said seat and the notes he was forwarding. Pp. 211-17 contain an incomplete copy of 'An Account of the cause of the conquest of Glamorgan by Sir Robert Fitz Haymon and his twelve Knights by Sir Edward Mansell of Margam, Knight' (for this and a fuller 'account' attributed to the same author in NLW MS 13161A (Llanover C. 74) see TLLM, tt. 200-03). P. 251 is inscribed 'List of Sheriffs and Und[er]sheriffs For the County of Glamorgan From the year 1541 To the year (blank) From a MS. in the Possession of the Revd. Mr. Davies of Wenvoe . . . 1808', and is followed ( pp. 255-71) by the said list for the period 1541-1808. Other items in the volume include extracts from a biographical dictionary (1798) relating to the English poet John Gower, Robert of Gloucester (temp. Henry II), and [Thomas] Sternhold (ob. 1549) (pp. 155-6); further notes relating to Dunraven Castle (p. 190); an extract from a letter from W. Davies to O. Jones, 1792 (p. 195); anecdotes relating to the brothers Richard and William Twrch and the building of a porch at Bewper [co. Glamorgan] (see also NLW MSS 13089E, 13103B, and IM, tt. 272-3) (pp. 205-07); a list of 'Castles in Gower' (p. 232); notes on birds (unnumbered leaf between p. 232 and p. 233); a note on the construction of a wheelbarrow (p. 233); a copy of an 'englyn' by [Edward Williams] 'Iolo Morganwg', etc. (p. 234); a copy of the inscription on the tomb of Edward Pritchard, rector of Flimnston (sic) [co. Glamorgan], ob. 1742, and his wife Margaret, ob. 1707/08, in Trefemin (Flemingston) church (p. 235); notes on Caer Fule, a Roman fortification near St. Olave's Church, Newport, and Trefela, a village in the parish of Llangwm near Usk (p. 236); a note on the rocks in Glam[organshire] (p. 237); copies of an 'englyn' and a six-line stanza of Welsh verse by [Edward Williams] 'Iolo Morganwg' (p. 238); brief notes referring to Jenkin Jones of Llangyfelach, 'minister of a Catabaptistical Congregation circa anno 1649', [William] Erbury, Walter Caradoc, Samuel Jones of Bryn Llywarch, and Morgan Llwyd (p. 239); a note on Huw Spencer, the younger, and his building activities in Glamorgan, ? temp. Edward II (p. 240); a list of Welsh superstitions ('Ofergoelion Gwlad Gymru') (p. 242 ); and notes on an outbreak of plague at Drenewydd Notais (Newton Nottage) [co. Glamorgan], circa 1620-1630 (p. 243).