PhD student Matt tells us about his time spent studying material within the world-renowned Samuel Beckett archive, and the archive of actor Billie Whitelaw.

A selection of Billie Whitelaw’s copies of Beckett scripts (BW A/2/4, BW A/3/2 & BW A/4).

I am researching the production histories of Samuel Beckett’s drama in London as part of my PhD attached to the AHRC Staging Beckett project in the Department of Film, Theatre & Television. This research has involved a significant amount of archival explorations in a number of UK and international repositories including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Library, the National Theatre Archive and the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas. Luckily for me, Reading has excellent resources relating to Beckett’s theatre in performance through the Beckett Collection and the James and Elizabeth Knowlson Collection and as a result I have spent numerous hours in the Reading Room at MERL viewing theatre ephemera ranging from programmes and reviews to photographs and interviews.

One collection that has made an interesting contribution to my research and interest in Beckettian performance is the recently acquired Billie Whitelaw Collection. Whitelaw and Beckett closely collaborated on significant performances of Play, Not I, Footfalls, Happy Days and Rockaby in notable London theatres and this collection contains Whitelaw’s working scripts for these productions. These colourful and heavily annotated typescripts epitomise the detail and diligence given to these texts by Whitelaw during the many arduous hours she and Beckett spent in rehearsals together. This collection also includes some handwritten notes by Beckett when he supervised or directed Whitelaw in her plays. On the page Not I, for example, may appear like a nonsensical monologue of words or phrases, though through Beckett’s notes it is possible to see how the narrative of this unnamed woman has more of a structure than meets the eye, as he has carefully organised the play into acts noting its repetitions, interruptions, memories of the past and stream of thoughts. They offer a snapshot of Beckett’s creative process and his meticulousness as a director, which continues to fascinate and intrigue scholars and practitioners of his work.

To learn more about the archive of Samuel Beckett click here, and you can find out more about the Billie Whitelaw archive here.

The Billie Whitelaw archive is a relatively recent acquisition and you can read more about its arrival at Reading in a previous blog post.

For the second in our Reading Readers series, Jenny tells us about the exciting discoveries she has made about the world of publishing in the Chatto & Windus letter books.

Jenny recording details from one of the many Chatto & Windus letter books.

I started working as a volunteer in the Special Collections about two years ago, my task being to join the team transcribing the archive of letters from the Chatto and Windus publishing house. I began with letters from the 1860s. Time moves on, and I am now working on volumes of letters from the 1890s. The objective remains to record the names of the recipients, together with the page number on which the letter appears in each volume. The fragility of the tissue on which the letter copies were made means the pages need to be turned carefully, and quite often the use of a magnifying glass is required to assist in reading the elegant but indistinct copperplate writing.

The letters reveal that the daily business practices of a publishing house have not changed so much over time; potential authors are sent rejection letters, suppliers are sent orders, debts are pursued, remuneration cheques are issued to successful writers. Most of the correspondence is the routine stuff of office life. What fascinates, however, is that occasionally a letter appears addressed to a familiar name; an author or a member of nineteenth century society now recognised by posterity. I have come across letters concerning Mark Twain, Jerome K Jerome, the poet Algernon Swinburne and the composer Arthur Sullivan. There was delight in finding a note telling a Mr J E Millais that his illustrations were not of sufficient quality to be used. I wonder if the future Sir John Everett Millais kept that note. It was interesting to find a short letter to Victor Hugo, sending him a cheque for sales of the translation into English of the first parts of Les Miserables.

The letters are all out-going and very seldom have replies, but once in a while there is a response tucked between the pages. My most exciting find was just such a reply. The outgoing letter was addressed to a Mr A. Conan Doyle, and expressed concern that one of his tales had been used to advertise and market a book of short stories not published by Chatto and Windus. The publishers were asking his advice as to how they should react. And there, between the tissue, was a hand written reply from Conan Doyle himself, in crisp black ink, very clear and easy to read. It was not one of his best stories, he says, but since the book is out and for sale, he prefers to take no action. A wonderful find on a nineteenth century sales problem – one which still seems relevant to business today. And I had in my hand a letter from Arthur Conan Doyle!

You can find more details about the Chatto & Windus archive here.

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Our Reading Room Supervisor, Adam Lines, introduces a new feature for the University of Reading Special Collections blog.

On a daily basis, members of the public, students and academics from around the world use our extensive and varied collections. In the Reading Room at one time, researchers can be consulting manuscripts from the Samuel Beckett archive, looking at engineering drawings as part of an engine restoration project, or exploring our photographic collections as part of a local history study. They play such a key role in our understanding of the things under our care. They bring with them specialist subject knowledge and shed light on aspects of archives that enriches our understanding of them.

The view of the Reading Room from the supervisor’s desk.

With this in mind, I decided it was time we shared some of the fascinating research carried out in our Reading Room. My colleagues and I hear about the research taking place on a daily basis, but a lot of it is too interesting not to share.

As part of ‘Explore Your Archives’ week, we will be sharing some examples. This will be the start of a regular feature on the Museum of English Rural Life and University of Reading Special Collections blogs, and through the eyes of our researchers we hope to share the potential for discovery in our collections.

Look out for more Reading Readers posts this week, and in the future.

To find out more about accessing the archives, click here.

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