Frequently Asked Questions

The E.H. Shepard Archive is part of the University of Surrey’s archives and special collections. It contains the personal papers of Ernest Howard Shepard, one of the 20th century’s greatest illustrators and editorial cartoonists. For more information on the archive, including what we do and do not hold, please see the About the E.H. Shepard Archive page.

Emailing the E.H. Shepard Archive is probably the fastest way to contact us: shepardarchive@surrey.ac.uk.

The archive’s telephone number is +44 (0)1483 689600. If you are calling from overseas, please remember that Guildford is at least 5 hours ahead of North America and 9 hours behind Japan.

Our address is:
E.H. Shepard Archive,
University Library,
George Edwards Building,
University of Surrey,
Guildford,
Surrey
GU2 7XH, UK.

The archive is extremely short-staffed at the moment: please accept our apologies if you do not hear back from us as quickly as you’d wish. If you have a pressing need to contact a Shepard Archive staff member, please make this clear when you contact us.

None of the staff of the E.H. Shepard Archive are trained art appraisers; the archive and the university cannot make judgements about the authenticity or value of any object of artwork. If you would like to know if an item is a genuine Shepard work, or how much it is worth, please contact an art appraiser or dealer. Chris Beetles, owner of the Chris Beetles Gallery in London, specialises in British illustration and has a particular interest in Shepard’s work. You can find more information on the gallery’s website: www.chrisbeetles.com.

While the E.H. Shepard Archive is always interested in expanding its holdings, neither the archive nor the university have a purchasing budget. Emails and letters from dealers offering items for sale will not be answered. Donations of items are gratefully received (subject to our collection policy, available on the Policies and Procedures page); please see below - How can I donate material to the archive? - for more information.

Neither the E.H. Shepard Archive nor the University of Surrey hold copyright on any of E.H. Shepard’s works – copyright remains vested in the creator and his/her heirs unless specifically transferred to someone else by him/her. Because he worked primarily as an illustrator, the copyright situation in E.H. Shepard’s work is extremely complex. In order to use Shepard’s drawings or text – which includes quoting from his letters or literary works – you will need to obtain permission from the appropriate rights holder for a given work. In all cases, your first contact is the E.H. Shepard estate’s literary agent at Curtis Brown Ltd: more information, including contact details, can be found on their website, at http://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/.

Copyright in letters is held by the author of the letter and his/her heirs, not the recipient: you will need to obtain his/her permission to quote from letters to E.H. Shepard. The E.H. Shepard Archive cannot assist researchers in tracing the heirs of a letter’s author; the E.H. Shepard estate’s literary agent at Curtis Brown Ltd might be able to help (please see above, Can you give me clearance to reproduce a drawing and/or Shepard’s writing?).

The archive has a reproduction policy (available on the Policies and Procedures page), which allows us to make photocopies for users’ private research, either under the fair use provisions of the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988 and the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003, or by special dispensation of the Shepard estate for commercial users (please see below, What is a commercial researcher?). Researchers may not use photocopies for any other purpose, nor give or sell them to others. In order to copy any image related to Winnie-the-Pooh or Punch, or to reproduce items for any commercial or potentially commercial use, you must have prior written clearance from the appropriate copyright holder. Photocopies cost 35p per page. Please see the reproduction policy for more information.

The Walt Disney Corporation holds some merchandising and adaptation rights to the Winnie-the-Pooh characters, which extend to theatrical, film, and other dramatic performances. To use them on items for sale, in advertisements, in a book with a variant text, or in films, plays, or musicals, you will need to licence the use from Disney. In the first instance, contact Curtis Brown Ltd. (please see above, Can you give me clearance to reproduce a drawing and/or Shepard’s writing?).

There are two books on the life and career of E.H. Shepard, which provide excellent background material for research projects: Rawle Knox (ed), The Artwork of E.H. Shepard (Methuen, 1980), and Arthur Chandler, E.H. Shepard: The Man Who Drew Pooh (Jaydem Books, 2000). Knox’s book focuses more on Shepard’s career as an artist, and contains critical analysis of his work; Chandler’s book provides a chronological and more rounded discussion of Shepard’s life as a whole. University and larger public libraries may have them, and should be able to obtain them via inter-library loan. If you need more information or assistance, or would like to book a research visit, please read our Visiting the Archive page, or contact the archive.

The archive is extremely short-staffed; however, we recognise that many researchers may find it inconvenient or expensive to travel to Guildford, especially from overseas. If you have a research query, please contact the archive. We may be able to research it for you; we may, however, charge you for it. If your query is about a drawing, please provide a high-quality scan (if possible) and as much background and context as you can – this makes it easier for us to research. If you find it difficult to visit Guildford because of a disability, please contact the archive, to discuss your needs and how the archive can help further your research.

The E.H. Shepard Archive welcomes researchers of all levels; however, it has neither the space nor the staff to act as an art gallery. If your primary interest is admiring E.H. Shepard’s artwork, please consider going to the next exhibition (for more details of upcoming exhibitions, contact the archive), or arranging a group visit. If you wish to do research in the E.H. Shepard Archive, you will need to make an appointment. For more details, including study room regulations and a booking form, please see the Visiting the Archive page.

Thank you for your interest in exhibiting E.H. Shepard’s work! The Archive is more than happy to help you choose, plan, and stage an exhibition. The archive expects exhibitors to arrange transportation for loaned items, as well as “door-to-door” insurance cover including transporting works to and from the archive and the entire loan period. Additionally, loans of original artwork require appropriate 24-hour security cover at the exhibition venue. You can find more information and an enquiry form on the Arranging an Exhibition page.

Unfortunately, security and insurance concerns mean that the E.H. Shepard Archive cannot bring original items to a “show and tell” type of event. If you have the insurance cover and ability to provide 24-hour security, we can arrange an exhibition of original material on-site. Alternatively, we may be able to bring high-quality copies of artwork, or arrange a group visit to the archive, where we can safely show originals. More information on group visits and exhibitions can be found on the Visiting the Archive and Arranging an Exhibition pages.

Thank you for your interest in E.H. Shepard’s work! Archive staff are happy to arrange talks (with PowerPoint slides if you’d like) or displays of original material in the study room. However, the schedules of other archives with which we share space, and the library as a whole, may mean that we cannot host you when you’d like. Also, we insist that groups looking at original material in the study room follow its regulations. We will hold group leaders responsible for the behaviour of group members – please be aware of and plan for this, especially with groups of children. If you would like more information, you can find our guidelines for group visits and a booking form on the Visiting the Archive page.

The E.H. Shepard Archive is extremely short-staffed, as are the university’s other special collections with whom we share space and resources. Also, archival material is precious and irreplaceable – so archive staff have to be present and watching when visitors are viewing it. Booking visits in advance allows us to plan and use our time most effectively: the alternative would be extremely restricted opening hours. The study room regulations (on our Visiting the Archive and Policies and Procedures pages) exist because archives are precious and irreplaceable: following them means that you help us protect the documents for future visitors to use and enjoy. We’d also ask that you remind other users of the importance of these regulations.

A commercial researcher is someone who is undertaking research which generates income, either directly or indirectly. “Income generation” is defined very broadly: the FAQ issued by the British Library and the Copyright Licencing Agency, at http://www.cla.co.uk/assets/91/bl_cla_faq.pdf, gives more information and examples. In particularly, please note that anyone undertaking research for a book or film, or a newspaper/magazine article for which they are being paid, is a commercial researcher.

The E.H. Shepard Archive is keen to expand its holdings in accordance with our collection policy, which is available to view or download on our Policies and Procedures webpage. In general, the archive welcomes donations of personal papers, artwork, and other records. However, we reserve the right to refuse items on preservation grounds, and to guide donors to more appropriate repositories if necessary. We welcome additions to our reference library of books, articles, and other scholarly material discussing E.H. Shepard’s life, career, and artwork. If you have used the archive in your research, we would especially appreciate a copy of the finished work. Electronic copies are completely acceptable. Except for additions to our reference library, we accept books and objects on an exceptional, case-by-case basis, as these properly belong in a library or museum. We reserve the right to offer books to the University of Surrey Library in lieu of taking them. We do not accept commercially-available objects featuring the characters of Winnie-the-Pooh or The Wind in the Willows.