www.robertgraves.org

[notarius]

The Research Projects Team at the University of Reading Library, England, has recently completed work on a Supplement to the Location Register of 20th-Century English Literary Manuscripts and Letters, which is now available online at http://www.library.rdg.ac.uk/colls/projects/locreg.html.

This is the latest product of a research programme extending over three decades. The original (printed) Location Register of 20th-Century English Literary Manuscripts and Letters [located in the UK] was published in two large volumes by the British Library in 1988. This was followed in 1995 by the publication by the British Library of the Location Register of English Literary Manuscripts and Letters: 18th and 19th Centuries. The printed volumes, edited by Dr David Sutton, won a number of awards and prizes, and led the Royal Society of Literature to present Dr Sutton in 2002 with its Benson Medal for Outstanding Services to Literature.

Searching the Location Register will enable scholars to access a database that includes all of the 20th-Century literary material, combining updated versions of the records published in 1988 with all the new records in the 2003 Supplement.

A search of the online Location Register for "Robert Graves" (no quotation marks required), stipulating "Words or Phrase" in the left hand column, currently produces 129 results. A search for "Robert Graves" as "author" produces slightly fewer results. A drawback of the new online register is that it only covers (at present) manuscripts, letters and diaries physically located in the UK: Nevertheless, it reveals some new items that appear to have been previously unknown to the Robert Graves Trust or Society; but will no doubt be added soon to the Trust's own location register!

This is a welcome addition for researchers to information on the location of Graves's letters, diaries and manuscripts and can also be used to search for those, located in the UK, of other authors. The research for the online Location Register was funded by charitable and cultural bodies including the Strachey Trust, the British Library, British Academy, Arts Council, Royal Literary Fund, Newby Trust and the Royal Society of Literature. A new grant from the LASER Foundation (administered by The British Library) will make possible updating and maintenance of the database into the future.

Patrick