An important part of our project is finding a permanent home for the Chesterton Library. We are very grateful to the Chesterton trustees who have secured the material with the intention of depositing it at the Oxford Oratory. G.K. Chesterton ("The Man who was Thirsty") left a vast mass of material including his own annotated copies of many of his books, the journals he published ("G.K.'s Weekly" and so on), and lots of original artwork. He used to entertain children by use of a Toy Theatre, which was supplied with a variety of scenery backdrops, and some very bizarre characters which moved on wires. The Theatre itself was lost by Another Library but it is hoped to reconstruct it, and display the scenery and characters in it, possibly even with the occasional performance if anyone can be found to match G.K.'s genius for improvisation.
The collection also includes many personal objects, his hat, his honorary doctoral robes, his walking sticks, his rosary beads, even his typewriter. All on the grand scale.
It is obviously of the utmost importance to keep this material together, to preserve it from the clutches of any foreign power, and to make it available in England for scholars and wonderers to admire and discover. Ultimately we hope the Chesterton Library will have its own space and display area above the Newman Chapel; in the shorter term it may be housed in the main part of the Library.
