Exhibition: The Sampson Low Collection

The Sampson Low Collection

How did the Open University Archive acquire the Sampson Low Collection?

The Sampson Low Collection of over 200 letters was deposited with The Open University in 1992. The two bound volumes were presented to the then newly formed Book History Archive and Research Centre (BHARC) by the 3x great grandson of the publisher Sampson Low and former OU editor, George Low, along with his son Sampson. 

According to an article in the OU’s staff magazine 'Open House' in June 1992, George chose to deposit the family’s collection with The Open University because: "In our family we all owe the OU so much that we thought it was a natural place to store these remarkable letters". On this page there is a photograph taken for 'Open House' of the presentation of the two volumes of letters by George Low and his son Sampson.

The collection was presented to the BHARC on 14 May 1992 at the office of the London Regional Centre. The intention was for the two volumes to form part of an archive to be created by the BHARC in London in order to support researchers and post-graduate students. The Sampson Low volumes were eventually passed to the University Archive in 2003. Researchers have used the collection in recent years by visiting the Archive in person, but the letters have now been digitised, transcribed and made available online for the first time. 

On this page you can listen to interview clips from an Open Forum audio programme recorded on the day of the handover. In the first clip Dr. Simon Eliot and Dr. Alexis Weedon from The Open University discuss the collection. In the second clip George Low talks about his ancestor Sampson Low and his relationship with R. D. Blackmore, the author of 'Lorna Doone', and the book's importance to Sampson Low's publishing company.