Alistair Horne

Diary – 18 November 2006

I am speaking at the remarkable Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center - a place unknown even in Boston

In tandem with Asa Briggs, I am speaking at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center atop Boston University. This is a truly remarkable institution, yet, even in Boston, Mass., surprisingly few people know about it. Gotlieb himself was an extraordinary man; a Rhodes scholar, he began by collecting British archives over 40 years ago — then discovered that no one had ever shown an interest in Hollywood memorabilia. He cornered the market. Asa and I are transferring all our papers to it, in my case 150 boxes dating back to the 1950s. In some quarters there is protest at British papers finding their way to the US, but as Asa puts it, had he bequeathed his to an Oxford college, ‘they would lie mouldering in steel boxes in some cellar; nobody would see them; and they would bring in no funds’. Here at BU ours are lovingly preserved by keen young research students in white cotton gloves. On this occasion, speaking to an enthusiastic and packed auditorium on the art of biography, Asa and I were stunned to find extracts of our literary lives laid out immaculately in glass exhibition cases. Mine included handwritten notes from Jackie Kennedy, dating from work on my Macmillan biography three decades ago. I had almost forgotten about them. To see them now gave a sensation only to be described as pre-humous. But I can’t think of a happier fate than to have my scruffy mss laid to rest beside the letters of Bette Davis, Ella Fitzgerald’s handwritten scores and Fred Astaire’s dancing shoes, among the 2,000 other cherished ‘collectees’.

***

For the weekend in Kent, Connecticut, where my biographical ‘subject’, Henry Kissinger, and Nancy hide out, far from the pressures of Washington or New York.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in