Why did Yale University acquire James Boswell’s journals and letters?

Yale University acquired James Boswell’s journals and letters to facilitate a systematic, multivolume publication of his private papers, which had been recovered in the 20th century after long being presumed destroyed.12

The collection was assembled over several decades by the American collector Ralph H. Isham, who discovered the manuscripts in various locations, including Malahide Castle in Ireland and Fettercairn House in Scotland. In 1949 and 1950, Isham sold the bulk of these papers to Yale University. Under the editorship of Frederick A. Pottle, the university began the massive task of sorting, cataloging, and publishing the material.21

This acquisition was significant because the papers provided an extraordinary, complex portrait of Boswell himself and revealed that his masterpiece, the Life of Samuel Johnson, relied heavily on the conversations he had meticulously recorded in his journals. The publication of these papers confirmed Boswell’s stature as an artist in his own right, allowing readers to see him as more than just a biographer.1