Warren Lewis and The Lewis Papers

Abstract

Nine months after the death of their father, C.S. Lewis and his brother Warren, began to talking about organizing, editing, and publishing the family papers they brought with them from their home in Belfast, Leeborough. In this “chest of family papers,” Warren and Jack had an extensive, although unorganized, family archive consisting of letters, diaries, journals, essays, sermons, poems, newspaper clippings, illustrations, maps, photographs, drawings, short stories, anecdotes, legal papers, and miscellaneous documents.

In this essay, Don Kin explores Warnie’s work on what became the Lewis Papers. What were Warnie's selection and organizational principles, and how are his gifts as a writer visible throughout the process?