Using the diaries for research
So who reads these diaries? And what for?
First and foremost, no matter if Anderson himself seemed uncertain of publication in his own writing, his diaries were published in 2004 by Methuen Drama who considered them ‘indispensable history’.
“[They] are at once the intimate record of a remarkable man fiercely opposed to the political and cultural establishment of his time; a candid account of his personal and public struggles, his visionary work and troubled relationships; and an indispensable history of the artistic revolution he helped to shape.”
Bloomsbury Publishing, https://www.bloomsbury.com/author/lindsay-anderson/
The University of Stirling’s own Film & Media department used the Lindsay Anderson Archive for a three-year research project called The Cinema Authorship of Lindsay Anderson. This was funded by the AHRC and ran from September 2007 – August 2010. The aims of the project were to re-evaluate Anderson’s work and the established public and critical perception of the director, and to investigate Anderson’s claim to the status of authorship.
The project used the whole archive to achieve these aims but certainly relied on detailed investigation not only of Anderson’s public statements about his work but also his private thoughts.
The project outputs included a major international conference held at the University, the complete and thorough cataloguing of the entire archive collection and a published book presenting the research undertaken by the project team. A full list of the resulting publications, presentations, blog posts and online resources can be found through the Archive’s libguides page.
But not all research results in a publication. In 2017 artist Stephen Sutcliffe used the Lindsay Anderson archive and particularly Anderson’s diaries to inform and develop a commissioned two-part video for the Talbot Rice Gallery in Edinburgh. This video was shown in the exhibition ‘Sex Symbols in Sandwich Signs‘ alongside books from Anderson’s personal library, video tapes, photographs and diary pages – all taken from the Archive.
The exhibition guide discusses the impact Anderson’s diaries had on this project and contextualises the use of the Lindsay Anderson Archive alongside other material.
‘Casting Through and Scenes from Radcliffe’ was informed by materials from the University of Stirling’s Lindsay Anderson Archive, particularly Anderson’s diaries, written during the period in which he worked with Harris. Sutcliffe has also chosen to include additional letters, including a chart Anderson made of his relationship with Harris and a letter from Harris to Anderson. Reflecting anger and frustration, the diaries show that like many figures of that era, including those who fascinate Sutcliffe and appear in his other works, such as Dirk Bogarde and Kenneth Williams, Anderson led a double life, repressing his homosexuality in public.’
Stephen Sutcliffe
Sex Symbols in Sandwich Signs, Exhibition Guide
Talbot Rice Gallery, 2017
