W F Harvey and the Weird Tale

William Fryer Harvey (1885-1937), a son of Leeds and member of a prominent Leeds Quaker family is best known today – if he’s known at all – as a writer of weird tales. The most famous of these is ‘The Beast with Five Fingers’ was adapted for film in 1946 and has some claim to being the origin of ‘Thing’ in The Adams Family series. In this talk, Ruth Robbins, who has been working with archivists at Leeds University’s Special Collections, holder of the Harvey family archive, discusses Harvey’s life and work and her adventures in that archive. Ruth Robbins was, until her retirement, Professor of English Literature and Director of Research at Leeds Beckett University. She has many books and articles, with a focus on short fiction, feminism and the late nineteenth century (and sometimes all three of those things together). She is also a trustee for the Leeds Library and chairs its Collections and Research Committee. The Leeds Library is one of Leeds’ oldest institutions, founded in 17