Tolkien material being made available to the public

Here are the full details from the Arts Council's report:

"Walter Hooper collection of CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien manuscripts and books and personal possessions of CS Lewis

CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien manuscripts and books, and personal possessions of CS Lewis.

The creators of two of the most popular fantasy worlds, Narnia and Middle Earth, CS Lewis (1898-1963) and JRR Tolkien (1892-1973) were close friends and fellow dons at Oxford University. The archive contains their unpublished correspondence as well as other important material such as Tolkien’s manuscript items relating to The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Futhorc: The Runes as used by Thorin Oakenshield and others. The Lewis material includes his personal copy of Prince Caspian, the rare early book Spirits in Bondage (written under his alias Clive Hamilton) and a notebook relating to Boxen, a fictional world Lewis created as a child, before Narnia.

After Lewis’s death, Walter Hooper (1931-2020) took up the role as his literary executor. There is material written by Lewis and edited by Hooper that was published after Lewis’s death, including Selected Literary Essays (1969) and Of Other Worlds (1982). The personal items belonging to CS Lewis include his desk, pipes and a pair of spectacles.

The Panel considered the books, manuscripts and personal possessions, accepted from the estate of Walter Hooper, pre-eminent under the first, second and third criteria, in
acceptable condition and fairly valued. The books and manuscripts were offered with a wish to the Bodleian Library and the personal possessions to The Story Museum, Oxford. Given the close connection of the material to Oxford, the Panel recommended that these allocation wishes should be made conditional and the Historical Manuscripts Commissioner agreed in relation to the books and manuscripts. The books and manuscripts have been permanently allocated to the Bodleian Library and the personal possessions to The Story Museum, Oxford, initially on a temporary basis subject to a review.

Report - https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/cultura ... lieu-annual-report-202223

The Tolkien Estate has let me know that the transfer is complete, but that it will be some time before it is catalogued by the Bodleian and possible made available to researchers. All of the Tolkien related material has gone to the Bodleian, some personal material from C.S. Lewis (not Tolkien related) might be going to the Story Museum, if they can suitably store and care for them.