The Byron Society of America was founded in 1973 by Marsha M. Manns and Leslie A. Marchand to further the study of the life and work of Romantic poet George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824). Subsequently, in 1995, Manns and Marchand also founded the Byron Society Collection, which represents a material history of Byron literary and cultural studies from the 19th century to the present day. Conceived as a living collection to which Byron Society members and friends could contribute their own collections, it has grown significantly over the decades, and now includes the books and papers of the two most significant Byron scholars of the twentieth century, Leslie A. Marchand and Jerome McGann. It is housed in Drew University's special collections.
Among the collection’s holdings are:
- Many early editions of Byron's works
- Letters and autograph materials of Catherine Gordon Byron, Thomas Moore, Edward Trelawny, Lady Byron, and others
- Books and material objects from the collection of Michael Rees, former Secretary of the International Council of Byron Societies
- Visual representations and portraits, such as Rembrandt Peale’s 1825 lithograph of Byron, as well as busts and Staffordshire figures, medals and plaques, drawings and engravings, and decorative and other material objects that demonstrate the impact of Byron’s life and works on his readers, both past and present
- Papers, correspondence, books and photographs from the collection of the late Leslie A. Marchand, author of the definitive three-volume Byron: A Biography and editor of the thirteen-volume Byron’s Letters and Journals.
- Byron-related papers of Jerome McGann, scholar of 19th century literature and culture, and editor of Byron: The Complete Poetical Works. This collection includes McGann's working files for the OET Byron edition, a large set of facsimiles of Byron MSS and associated Byroniana, and scholarly and critic materials used in his work on Byron and the historical period.
- The archives of the Byron Society of America
By nature the collection is interdisciplinary and is situated at the institutional intersection of the library and the museum. It is being developed for scholars, students, and individuals interested in the Romantic period in literature, in the Greek Revolution, in publishing history, in the decorative arts, and in cultural studies.