The Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham Papers consist of correspondence, a critical manuscript, several photographs, and newspaper clippings. The collection is arranged in three series: Correspondence, Manuscript, and Printed Material.
The Correspondence series consists of letters to and from Cunninghame Graham, and several letters relating to George Matthew Adams' collection of Graham material.
The Manuscript series consists of a single manuscript by David Garnett entitled "An Appreciation of Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham."
The Printed Material series consists of one folder of clippings and miscellany relating to Cunninghame Graham.
One photograph of Robert Cunninghame Graham several of Gabriela Cuninghame Grahame can be found in the William Henry Hudson Papers.
In addition to this finding aid, the Special Collections Library holds a more extensive inventory of the papers.
Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham was born Robert Bontine in London in 1852. His family was aristocratic, tracing its lineage back to ancient Scottish nobility. His maternal grandmother was Spanish, though, and as a child Robert learned Spanish language and culture. At age 16, he traveled to Argentina, where he lived with relatives on a cattle ranch. At that time, he took an older form of his family name, adding Cunninghame Graham to Robert Bontine. His young adulthood was spent traveling and working in South America, Mexico, and Texas. In 1879 he married the Chilean poet, Gabriela de la Balmondiere.
His father, William Cunninghame Graham Bontine, died in 1884, and Graham returned to England to manage the family estate. In England he became active in politics, serving as a Labour M.P. from 1886 to 1892. He was a follower of William Morris's socialist philosophy, and also was a supporter of nationalist movements in Scotland and Ireland. In addition to his political activities, he began writing fiction, history, and travel accounts during this period. After his wife's death in 1906, he began writing more prolifically, producing many studies of South America. For the rest of his life, he continued to travel, write, and participate in politics, but he was probably better known as an adventurous and romantic figure than as a writer or politician. He was said to have furnished the model for characters in George Bernard Shaw's Captain Brassbound's Conversion and Arms and the Man. He died in Buenos Aires in 1936.
