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The John Grierson Archive
The John Grierson Archive provides a comprehensive account of the career of one of the key figures in the history of documentary filmmaking. The Archive includes notebooks in which Grierson wrote drafts of correspondence, lectures and articles and planned various projects; correspondence with filmmakers, politicians and civil servants; scripts and production notes for films directed, produced and overseen by Grierson including Drifters (1929); notes for, and transcripts of, talks and lectures given by Grierson; articles written by Grierson on film and other subjects; drafts of proposed books written by Grierson on film, education and propaganda; press cuttings; papers relating to various organisations for which Grierson worked including the Empire Marketing Board, the GPO Film Unit, the Imperial Relations Trust, the National Film Board of Canada, Group 3 Film Company, UNESCO, the Association Internationale des Documentaristes; Films of Scotland Committee and Scottish Television.
The archive is divided into 8 chronological sections corresponding to different periods of Grierson's career:
- G1 Apr 1898 - Jan 1927 (early life; university career; travels in America)
- G2 Feb 1927 - Sep 1933 (Empire Marketing Board)
- G3 Oct 1933 - Oct 1939 (GPO Film Unit; Imperial Relations Trust; setting up of the National Film Board of Canada)
- G4 Oct 1939 - Nov 1945 (Imperial Relations Trust; National Film Board of Canada)
- G5 Nov 1945 - Dec 1950 (travel in North America and Europe; Unesco; Central Office of Information)
- G6 Jan 1951 - Oct 1957 (Group 3)
- G7 Oct 1957 - Feb 1972 (Association Internationale des Documentaristes; McGill University, Montreal; Films of Scotland Committee)
- G8 1957 - 1972 (Scottish Television - This Wonderful World )
There are also additional sections relating to material about Grierson, other filmmakers and documentary films in general:
- GA Posthumous and general papers on John Grierson
- AA Papers on other filmmakers and documentary in general
The archive also includes a collection of periodicals and c 500 photographs of Grierson and stills from various films. A card catalogue of these photographs is available in the University of Stirling Library.
The collection was catalogued in 1978. A note on the principles of classification and a key to abbreviations used in the list provide further information on the arrangement and description of the collection. For many years H Forsyth Hardy was Honorary Advisor to the Grierson Archive. He wrote a very useful introduction to the collection which also provides a detailed summary of Grierson's career.
Page last modified on 16 June, 2006