British actor Daniel Day-Lewis shown in 2008 when he received an Oscar for There Will Be Blood, is the son of British poet laureate Cecil Day-Lewis. British actor Daniel Day-Lewis shown in 2008 when he received an Oscar for There Will Be Blood, is the son of British poet laureate Cecil Day-Lewis. (Kevork Djansezian/Associated Press )

British actor Daniel Day-Lewis is donating papers belonging to his father, the poet Cecil Day-Lewis, to Oxford University.

The archive, which fills 54 boxes, includes early drafts of the poet's work, as well as letters from actor John Gielgud and famous literary figures such as W.H. Auden, Robert Graves and Philip Larkin.

Cecil Day-Lewis, an Anglo-Irish writer who studied classics and became poetry professor at Oxford, was appointed the U.K. poet laureate in 1968. He also wrote mystery novels and stories under the name of Nicholas Blake. He died in 1972

Daniel Day-Lewis, an Oscar winner for There Will Be Blood, stars this year in the much-anticipated film Lincoln, about the assassinated U.S. president. He and his sister, Tamasin, a documentary filmmaker, said Tuesday they are thrilled that their father's papers will be housed at Oxford's Bodleian Libraries and become accessible to students and researchers.