Concerns over the John Clare Collection at Northampton Central Library

Authors and academics have expressed concern regarding the future of the archives of the poet John Clare. The eminent names include Hilary Mantel, Alan Moore, Philip Pullman, Michael Rosen, Simon Armitage, Andrew Motion, and the poet’s biographer Jonathan Bate.  The writers and scholars - led by the editor of the John Clare Society Journal, Simon Kövesi - have written to the Guardian to explain their fears. In an article published on Wednesday 10 January 2018 the paper describes how planned funding cuts at Northamptonshire County Council will leave the branch’s resources stretched. The authors’ letter says that the library will be ‘hugely impacted by reductions in the number, seniority, qualifications and experience of staff that will be retained’ – a tragic state of affairs for the Clare Collection, which ‘has always been maintained by expert, attentive, scholarly librarians, who do their level best with scant resource to make this publicly owned collection available to readers and researchers of all kinds’.  The K-SAA reiterates these concerns regarding the future of the manuscripts, letters and books of an important 19th-century poet – described as an ‘increasingly significant’ writer in the authors’ letter. John Clare’s archives are held at this location because he was born in the Northamptonshire village of Helpston, and was a resident in the Northampton asylum from 1841 until his death in 1864.  Although the central library is apparently not threatened with closure, the letter emphasizes the potential damage that will occur if the collection is not carefully maintained and protected. We at the K-SAA hope that public recognition of the risk to the safety of the archive will help to alter the situation. Such treasures should be accessible to readers and researchers, and the preservation of literary heritage is a matter of paramount importance.  You can read the full letter here. We would also like to urge those living and/or working in Northamptonshire to consider writing to the council in support of this cause. Thank you.