John Berger donates archive to British Library

Applications sought for doctoral award to study John Berger archive

The eminent writer, critic, and thinker John Berger (right) has donated his archive to the British Library.

The archive of previously unseen ‘put-aside objects' (Berger's description of archives in his collection Here is Where we Meet) has been transferred to the care of the British Library from its former home in a remote French Alpine village.

Jamie Andrews (below), Head of Modern Literary Manuscripts at the British Library, set off to that very village on 20 June 2009 to help sort through the Berger papers – previously stored in an old stables – and bring them back to the climate-controlled storage areas in the heart of the British Library's St Pancras building.

Jamie recorded his journey to retrieve the archive from the mountain-top village on the British Library Twitter feed.

He also posted sound updates on the AudioBoo website documenting his progress.

“John Berger's archive contains over 100 file boxes of drafts, scripts, reviews, and correspondence and I'm hoping to discover some surprises when I get there. John has asked for some help with the hay harvesting while I'm over there, so it should be a unique experience collecting a wonderful new addition to our pre-eminent literary collections,” said Jamie before he left.

AudioBoo
Hear from Jamie on his trip to meet John Berger in the French Alps and view his photos on AudioBoo. For example, Jamie boos from Geneva below, and discusses John's views on the nature of archives and libraries. More boos

Google map of boos

Press coverage
The Guardian 20 June 2009 General article
BBC news website 22 June 2009 General article
The Guardian 23 June 2009 Early surprises from the archive
Le Monde 23 June 2009 La générosité de John Berger
BBC Radio 4 25 June 2009 (start at 19:01) Jamie interviewed on You and Yours

More audio
Geoff Dyer podcast Exclusive interview with Geoff Dyer (right) – novelist, writer, and author of Ways of Telling: the Work of John Berger – who discusses John’s work and archive (MP3, 24min 46sec)
John Berger reads 'The Accordion Player' A short story – unpublished at the time of this reading and here entitled 'A Jar of Wild Flowers', but later published under the title 'The Accordion Player' in Once in Europa – recorded at the ICA on 23 May 1985 (MP3, 66min 26sec)

Links
British Library Press Release An Alpine Acquisition Adventure
John Berger Official site from 2005 London Berger season ‘Here is Where We Meet’
Booker Prize John Berger page
Bloomsbury The publisher's John Berger page with extracts and reviews
British Library Sound Archive Search for recordings relating to John Berger

Other acquisitions
Find out about other recent archival and manuscript acquisitions