Amy Roberta (‘Berta’) Ruck (1878-1978) was a popular and prolific romantic novelist. She produced numerous novels, short stories and serials, as well as several autobiographical works. She also had an earlier career as an artist and illustrator.
Berta Ruck had strong family connections with Merionethshire and lived in Aberdyfi from 1939 until her death in 1978, aged 100. Her husband was the novelist Oliver Onions (1873-1961).
The National Library of Wales holds the largest group of Berta Ruck manuscripts and papers. They are catalogued on our Main Catalogue (click on 'archival tree' to see the full archive).
The archive consists of:
Literary manuscripts in the archive comprise mainly drafts of autobiographical works, including
There are often drafts of, and notes for, her novels in her notebooks. However these mainly consist of journal entries concerning
The notebooks also contain notes, for instance on
The correspondence (mostly pasted into her notebooks) includes letters from friends and acquaintances such as
Her career as an illustrator is represented by various sketches and drawings, 1900-1920. There are also miscellaneous sketches to be found in her letters and journals.
The National Library also holds:
Other notebooks of Berta Ruck, 1928-1937, are at University of Delaware Library
For further biographical information see the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography