UEA Archives Blog

• KEY HIGHLIGHTS
• FORTHCOMING EVENT – UNCOLLECTED: POETS
• OPEN DAYS AND WELCOME EVENING
• ARCHIVE LED TEACHING
• PUBLICATIONS & BROADCASTS
• ENQUIRIES - TOPICS AND THEMES 
• STATISTICS - VISITS AND ENQUIRIES

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

UEA Archives’ Poet in Residence Jay Bernard at Great Yarmouth Library, 20 July

Our poet in residence Jay Bernard led a poetry workshop at Great Yarmouth public library as part of our Mellon Foundation funded project ‘Towards a Centre for Contemporary Poetry in the Archive’. Fourteen public participants engaged in reflecting on who makes history and wrote and shared some poetry of their own. Their work will be on display at The Enterprise Centre at UEA from 22 November when Jay Bernard returns to reflect on the outcomes of the project and read from a specially commissioned pamphlet.

Showcase Meeting with National Trust / Blickling Hall, 13 September

This interdisciplinary research meeting in The Enterprise Centre was held in order to extend UEA’s relationship with Blickling Hall, building on a range of projects already underway with them and with other National Trust venues.

Justine Mann gave a short presentation on Digital Technology: cataloguing, interpretation and engaging audiences. It is hoped that a broader formal partnership with the National Trust may be established, to underpin future research and innovation work.

Harwell Restoration Training - Effective Emergency Planning and Disaster Recovery, 20 September

Ditchley Park in Oxfordshire is an 18th Century manor house of splendid outlook and famous connections. A frequent haunt of UK Prime ministers with a stunning collection of art and heritage treasures it made the perfect setting for archivists to gather for training. Visitors to the archive are often surprised by our caution and protectiveness towards our collections, but it is less surprising when you see what could go wrong. Effective Emergency Planning and Practical Disaster Management is a fascinating and useful course on how to plan for and deal with every archivist’s nightmare. Harwell Restoration who ran the training have seen it all, flood, fire and civil unrest and gave us the tools we need to be ready, should disaster fall.

New microfilm machine

Our microfilm machine has been upgraded to a digital film scanner. Film can be scanned to a range of file formats including OCR PDF. Bookings can be made by email: archives@uea.ac.uk 

FORTHCOMING EVENT – UNCOLLECTED: POETS

Join us on 22 November 2023 at The Enterprise Centre (UEA) / livestream to celebrate the launch of our exciting new archive collections from four dazzling voices in contemporary poetry: Jay Bernard, Anthony Vahni Capildeo, Gail McConnell and Joelle Taylor.
 
The poets will read from a new collection of their writing inspired by UEA's ‘Towards a Centre for Contemporary Poetry in the Archive’ project which has been funded by the Mellon Foundation's Public Knowledge programme. The project aims to change the way archives collect contemporary poetry by widening the representation of different styles and voices and encouraging community involvement.

Visiting Poetry Fellow Will Harris will join the poets in conversation to discuss their response to the archiving of their work. Unique items from the poets' archives will be on display, alongside poetry by participants in the creative writing workshops they led for Norfolk public libraries during summer 2023.

Registration essential: https://tinyurl.com/uncollectedpoets

OPEN DAYS AND WELCOME EVENING

UEA Open Days, 7 July and 9 September

We were delighted to welcome 158 visitors across two UEA Open Days on 7 July and 9 September.

Prospective students and their parents enjoyed visiting our Reading Rooms on Floor 02 of the Library to view our current exhibition and some tantalising gems from the archive. They were also able to explore a specially tailored display of our unique collections that showcases student engagement with the archive and highlights the varied opportunities they have, to engage with our collections and our activities during their time at UEA – from volunteering for our Unboxed programme to discovering original primary source material that links directly to their studies.

Welcome Evening 'Getting to Know UEA', 20 September

On 20 September we joined UEA Library and the East Anglian Film Archive to welcome new students as part of a mini evening festival in the LCR. We shared opportunities to explore our collections and volunteer via the Unboxed scheme. It was great to see new faces and welcome students to the community, while sharing what’s in store when they visit us on Floor 02.

ARCHIVE LED TEACHING

Diss High School visit, 4 July

In July we were delighted to welcome a group of 11 A-Level year 12 students from Diss High School. They were embarking on their non-exam independent studies and wanted to see first-hand the manuscripts of Naomi Alderman. Getting to know the author, learning about how ‘The Power’ was written and finding out about what it’s like to study literature and creative writing at university made for an exciting afternoon on campus. Attendees:11.

City of Norwich School visit, 18 July

Year 12 A-Level students from CNS visited BACW to get inspired about literary archives. The group were introduced to the writing and personalities of Doris Lessing, Lee Child, Naomi Alderman and Sara Taylor through their archives. The students got to see what it takes to produce brilliant creative work and found out more about studying literature at UEA. Who says geography gets all the good field trips! Attendees: 24.

MA Crime Writing, 7 September

In September it was our privilege and pleasure to meet the final year crime writing MA students. As authors on the brink of publication themselves, examining the archive of Lee Child’s best selling Jack Reacher novels has particular meaning and significance. They were joined by Lee Child expert Elspeth Latimer who helped them navigate the brilliance and complexity of Child’s archive. Attendees: 9.

PUBLICATIONS & BROADCASTS

Lessing’s Early Letters: A Prolific Personal Voice by Nonia Williams. Critical Quarterly. Online, 9 July 2023. Originally presented at a special panel about Doris Lessing 100 at English Futures Conference 2022 (Manchester Met Uni).
Lessing’s Early Letters: A Prolific Personal Voice - Williams - Critical Quarterly - Wiley Online Library

Lessing’s Legacy Explored Through her Personal Archive by Justine Mann. Critical Quarterly, 23 Aug 2023. Based on the paper Mann delivered in Manchester 2022 at English Shared Futures, the article focuses on the Doris Lessing 100 exhibition and how the archive came to be provided in two tranches.
Lessing's Legacy Explored Through Her Personal Archive - Mann - Critical Quarterly - Wiley Online Library

ENQUIRIES - TOPICS AND THEMES 

BACW COLLECTIONS

DORIS LESSING comparison of female authors like Ruth Prawer Jhabvala NAOMI ALDERMAN ‘The Power’ WG SEBALD recorded interviews

OTHER COLLECTIONS

PRITCHARD PAPERS the 1930s Penguin donkey bookcase; design blueprints by Marcel Breuer; the work of photographer Edith Tudor-Hart; the 1930s Isobar restaurant and Half Hundred dining club; the development plan for flats in Birmingham by Water Gropius and Maxwell Fry (1936) TINKLER & WILLIAMS THEATRE COLLECTION seaside entertainment UEA COLLECTION rock band U2; Edward Cave (founder of The Gentleman’s Magazine) and his work for the Norwich Post; UEA Drama Studio ZUCKERMAN Scientific Manpower Committee and mid-fifties brain drain.

STATISTICS - VISITS & ENQUIRIES

Archives: 141 (48 remote): UEA 48; UK 77; Int’l 16
Special Collections: 10

•    KEY HIGHLIGHTS
•    ARCHIVE LED TEACHING
•    VISITING FELLOWS
•    PUBLICATIONS & BROADCASTS
•    ENQUIRIES - TOPICS AND THEMES 
•    STATISTICS - VISITS AND ENQUIRIES

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

Symposium: Poetry, Representation and the Archive, 25 May

As part of our Mellon Foundation funded project to build a pioneering collection of underrepresented poetries in the British Archive for Contemporary Writing (BACW) at UEA, we held a one-day symposium in the Training and Enterprise Centre that brought together fifty researchers working in the UK and internationally to discuss the kinds of questions such a project raises. The acclaimed and prize-winning poet, Bhanu Kapil, delivered the keynote, which will be available on our website soon. The symposium was followed in the evening by a public event with drinks reception and poetry readings to mark the launch of the archive of UEA alumna Sarah Maguire: feminist poet, critic, and founder of the Poetry Translation Centre. Further information: Events - Towards a Centre for Contemporary Poetry 

Poet in Residence writing workshops throughout Norfolk

Our Mellon Foundation funded poets in residence - Anthony Vahni Capildeo, Joelle Taylor and Gail McConnell - have inspired the public to write and share poems as part of series of June writing workshops held in Cromer, Thetford and King’s Lynn public libraries. The participants’ work will feature in library exhibitions during July-August, and at UEA in November, and will be archived alongside the poets' archives at UEA. The poet Jay Bernard will hold their workshop ‘What Gets Remembered?’ in Great Yarmouth Library on 20 July. Further information: What Gets Remembered Workshop 

Event co-ordinators, Justine Mann (UEA) and Eve Mathews (Norfolk Library and Information Service) spoke to BBC Radio Norfolk about the events on 16 June. Angelle Joseph - Sam Day sits in - BBC Sounds [40:19-50:16]

ARCHIVE LED TEACHING

Digital Media Theory and Practice Workshop Seminar UG, 9 May

A session looking in depth at the risks, challenges and opportunities presented by archival material; looking at the dangers of the obsolescence of analogue formats and how the archival community is learning to navigate digitising the unique material presented to them and preserving them for the future. Students handled archive originals and looked at case studies delving into the heritage sector from a practical perspective. Attendees: 4.

Publishing MA Module Seminar, 10 May

A session examining what the archive can tell us about the publishing industry. With examples of publisher - author relationships from the archives of Lee Child, Graham Greene, J.D. Salinger, Tash Aw, Roger Deakin, Mark Cocker and many more. Students examine every step of an author’s journey from first approach through to drafting and editing a work. Alongside supporting the creative process, we see the publisher’s role in marketing, publicity, managing intellectual property and rights for translations and adaptations. Taking the rough with the smooth, students see the role of publishers in the business of being a writer. Attendees: 7

Creative Writing MA. Writers and Archives Guest Speaker Panel: Creative Writing Research Methodology Day, 24 May

An all-star panel of archival authors came to speak to LDC MA students on the role of archives in their work. Sara Taylor author of The Shore and The Laura’s, Fiona Sinclair Writer in residence at BACW and Nonia Williams Academic Curator of the Doris Lessing Archive were joined by Justine Mann from BACW speaking about the new frontier of digital preservation. We heard about archives as inspiration, detail and a source of paid work and discussed what the future looked like for writer’s archives. Attendees: 72.

VISITING FELLOWS

In June we welcomed international visiting fellow Maya Kucherskaya from the University of Moscow. Maya has spent a month researching the development of creative writing courses starting with Malcom Bradbury’s archive at UEA. Further information on Archives and Collections Visiting Fellowships.

PUBLICATIONS & BROADCASTS

'The Swimmer: the Wild Life of Roger Deakin’ by Patrick Barkham

This wonderful biography, published in May, draws from Deakin’s notebooks, diaries, letters, recordings, published work and early drafts.

“The archivists have been fantastically helpful, and I thank them for giving me access to this fabulous trove in a time of coronavirus, for retrieving so much, and for making the UEA library a pleasure to work within.” [Patrick Barkham].

‘Great British Railway Journeys’

The literary archives at UEA featured in this recently aired BBC2 TV programme (series 14:9). Michael Portillo meets Jean McNeil (Professor of Creative Writing) and is shown some of the manuscripts deposited by former students of the celebrated MA Creative Writing course. He also participates in a creative writing workshop.

ENQUIRIES - TOPICS AND THEMES 

BACW COLLECTIONS

AP WATT publishing agents TASH AW Unpublished stories DORIS LESSING 1940s love letters to John Whitehorn; rights for a new foreign translation ROGER DEAKIN photographs 

OTHER COLLECTIONS

JOHN HILL ARCHIVE Sotherton, Suffolk HUBERT LAMB ARCHIVE Funding of climate change research PRITCHARD PAPERS Business management in the 1930s; the Long Chair; image rights SOLLY ZUCKERMAN The merger of Bedford College with Royal Holloway; the Bernstein Israeli Trust STEFAN MUTHESIUS ARCHIVE University of Lancashire architecture TINKLER & WILLIAMS THEATRE ARCHIVES Great Yarmouth Hippodrome & Gilbert’s Circus

STATISTICS - VISITS & ENQUIRIES

Archives: 172 (28 remote): UEA 121; UK 28; Int’l 23
Special Collections: 12 (1 remote)
Microfilm: 1

•    KEY HIGHLIGHTS
•    ARCHIVE LED TEACHING
•    UNBOXED
•    SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
•    APPOINTMENTS
•    ENQUIRIES - TOPICS AND THEMES 
•    STATISTICS - VISITS AND ENQUIRIES

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

Visitors are Welcome!

The Eastern Daily Press released a Video tour of UEA's British Archive for Contemporary Writing | Eastern Daily Press (edp24.co.uk) featuring Dr Helen Busby and Dr Jeremy Noel-Tod highlighting our collections and issuing a warm invitation to the public to make an appointment to come and visit us! More information on Planning a Visit - British Archive For Contemporary Writing - Library (uea.ac.uk)

Research Libraries UK, 23 March

Project Archivist, Justine Mann, shared a ‘Shaping Inclusive Libraries’ panel session with colleagues from Waikato Library, New Zealand; Auckland University and Cambridge University Library at the RLUK Annual Conference 2023. Justine’s paper focused on our community led approach to building inclusive collectives of diverse poetry in the archive at UEA as part of our Mellon Foundation funded project. Watch the session: RLUK23 | Shaping Inclusive Libraries - YouTube. 245 attendees.

UEA Snoo Wilson Prize for Scriptwriting 2023, 23 March

Congratulations to the winners and shortlisted scriptwriters of this year’s Snoo Wilson Prize for Scriptwriting judged by Steve Waters, Adam Taylor and Claire Slater. The winners were revealed to a packed house at The Garage in Norwich following readings of extracts from all of the shortlisted plays. Snoo Wilson’s widow and former Time Out critic, Ann McFerran, attended and gave insightful critiques.

The winners were:
•    Jonathan Massey (BA) - 'Leave a Part of Yourself Here' - a subtle study of characters in a Norfolk café during the lockdown year 
•    Kevin R. Carey (MA) - 'On Rainbow River' - a rich and personal drama about the death of a young man in a declining Scottish town
The other shortlistees were: 
•    Reena Denhardt (MA) - 'Guerillaz' - a sinister, satiric and lyrical play about climate change and race 
•    Claire Sullivan - (BA) 'We'll Call You' - a very funny film about two sisters from Northern Ireland trying to make it in their various spheres

ARCHIVE LED TEACHING

Time flies when you’re having fun, and that’s exactly what we’ve been doing this spring with a wide range of teaching sessions taking place in the Archives and online. We have welcomed 168 students across the semester, introducing them to treasures in our collections.

Creative Writing (UG) visit from University Centre Peterborough – ‘Sara Taylor’ novels, 10 January

Undergraduates had a fascinating time exploring the archive of Sara Taylor and the process behind Taylor’s first draft of a short story written as an undergraduate through its evolution into a published chapter in her first novel, ‘The Shore’. 8 attendees.

History (UG) visit.  The Kenney Papers ‘History of Controversy & Debate’ (8 sessions) (UG), 27 Feb – 3 March 

Asking a question at a political hustings in 1905 earned Annie Kenney 3 days in prison. History undergraduates visited the archive to discover her story as part of their module The History of Controversy and Debate. 88 attendees.

Creative Writing (UG) Sara Taylor archive, 8 & 9 March

19 attendees.

MA Contemporary Fiction (Tash Aw archive), 23 March

LDC students have spent time with BACW discovering the creative process of Tash Aw and Sara Taylor. Seeing the multiple drafts, publisher’s comments and correspondence gives an insight into the business of being a writer. 8 attendees.

Digital Archiving

“When is it going online?” this semester we busted digital archive myths with students from AMA and HUM PhD students visiting the archives for a cultural heritage knowledge injection

•    Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age (PGT) Lecture and Workshop, 21 & 24 February 
      7 remote lecture attendees; 8 workshop attendees.
•    Digital Media, Theory & Practice Lecture (online), 20 March
      4 attendees.
•    Digital Archives (PPD session with Grant Young), 21 March
      6 attendees.

UNBOXED (Volunteer blogging programme)

Our volunteering programme got off to a fantastic start with inductions and a blog writing training session from journalist, academic and author Dr Claire Hynes. Students from a wide range of disciplines are currently researching material and will be publishing their articles in the coming months. 
•    Induction 30 & 31 January 
      14 attendees.
•    Blog Writing training with Claire Hynes 7 & 8 February
      11 attendees.

SPECIAL COLLECTIONS

Process and Product in Translation, 23 March (Group visit)

Consultation of: Tom Phillips’s ‘A Treated Victorian Novel‘. 8 attendees (1 statistic).
Students discussed the translation process in Phillips’ work and began the process of translating poetry. They also looked at poetry translation in the Sarah Maguire Archive. 

The Roman Empire, 24 March (Group visit)

Consultation of Cicero manuscript. 27 attendees (1 statistic).
We enjoyed a wonderful morning sharing our 15th century Cicero manuscript with several groups of enthusiastic Y2 History students. 

APPOINTMENTS

We are delighted to announce the appointment of four Curatorial Researchers, funded by the Mellon Foundation as part of our project: ‘Towards a Centre for Contemporary Poetry in the Archive’. They are UEA PGR students: Jake Reynolds; Vyvyan René; Libby Hamling; Viv Kemp. The researchers will work during April and May with recent archive deposits from Joelle Taylor, Anthony Vahni Capildeo and Gail McConnell to develop physical and digital exhibits for display at the launch of the Centre in November 2023.

Georgina Colby – Writer, Researcher, Academic was appointed as Senior Research Associate as part of the Mellon Foundation Poetry Archives project. Georgina is working on the project for six months. Her role is to research small poetry archives and present recommendations as part of the project's final report.

ENQUIRIES - TOPICS AND THEMES

BACW COLLECTIONS

LEE CHILD The novel ‘Killing Floor’ NAOMI ALDERMAN ‘The Power’ SARA TAYLOR The novel ‘The Shore’ SNOO WILSON plays: ‘HRH’ and ‘The Grass Widow’ TASH AW Unpublished short stories.

OTHER COLLECTIONS

GS CALLENDER photo of amateur meteorologist supplied for a MOOC on climate HH LAMB weather and famine PRITCHARD PAPERS Impington Village College architectural design; modernist furniture design ROGER DEAKIN wild swimming; Oliver Bernard (poet &translator) TINKLER COLLECTION Gilbert’s Circus and Gt Yarmouth Hippodrome UEA COLLECTION Earlham Estate; University Challenge 1973-74; Concrete student newspaper; the Students’ Union ZUCKERMAN aviation engines in WWII; defence regulations in 1939 and their effect on civil liberties in Hull; the German retreat across the Seine, 1944; the TSR-2 strike & reconnaissance aircraft; 1930s primate research at the Zoological Society of London.

STATISTICS - VISITS & ENQUIRIES

Archives: 280 (62 remote): UEA 209; UK 61; Int’l 10
Special Collections: 26 (3 remote).
Microfilm: 2

The Jack Reacher crime thriller series has attracted many fervent fans, from presidents to prisoners, young teens to pensioners. Their enthusiastic letters speak from the heart. They paint for us a picture of popular American and British readership of the thriller form. We learn of the fan’s reactions to Reacher’s character, development and performance; and we are introduced to a genuinely caring author.

Brought together, the mail fills 6 boxes (from around 650 individual correspondents) and includes a wonderful array of handwriting, personalised stationery, drawings, photos and typed letters. The mail mainly comes from the US and UK and spans 1996-2018.

The arrangement now settled on is A-Z by correspondent. This imposes a manageable order, facilitating retrieval. It means that all 100 letters from Jack Hutcheson are brought together in one box - a fan who became a firm friend.

Separated off are the many letters requesting autographed copies of books, photographs and gifts. Fans routinely send copies of their books to LC for signing. They also ask him to insert personal messages for their friends and loved ones. There is plenty of evidence, in their many thank you letters, that LC wrote back. Readers are often thrilled with his response: Paula thanks LC for signing a book for a hospital’s charity auction; he compassionately sends a signed book as well as words of encouragement to Diana’s husband who has cancer; and he tells Franklin ‘I will write faster.’

It quickly becomes apparent that there’s a common beef amongst the fans - the unsuitability of Tom Cruise to play Jack Reacher. With so many letters on the same theme, they warranted their own sub-folder. Some readers are so upset that they vow not to watch the film, or worse, never to read another Reacher book.

Roma asks if LC has lost his mind as Reacher’s stature is no more than a hobbit’s. Some fans, like Ruth feel sold out and ask for compensation: ‘what belligerent truckers or inebriated soldiers are going to be stared down and cowed by Tom Cruise?’

Plenty of suggestions were made of who might more suitably be cast: John Cena, Nathan Fillion, David Morse, Liam Neeson, Matthew McConaughey, ‘The Rock’ (Dwayne Johnson), Ray Stevenson, etc.

It was not possible to individually describe every correspondent’s letter/s, instead we chose to describe those which are most representative, or which were saying something unique. This amounted to around 300 correspondents. The rest are filed together under ‘secondary’ correspondence.

LC’s books are enjoyed by readers of all ages: Edward (10) sends a Reacher poster he designed on a computer; another Edward is too old to read the hardbacks because his wrists tire easily.

Although Killing Floor was only published in 1997, there were some early reactions to the proof copy the year before. Andi, a bookseller in Illinois, was one of those who’d read the advance copy - and then found it hard to contain her enthusiasm from her customers until the actual book came out.

Early readers of Killing Floor can be congratulated for recognising a winner in this debut novel. Their uninfluenced critiques point to a measure of savviness: Barry is convinced that it would make a terrific film; Billie thinks the book was brilliant and is fascinated how Reacher never steps out of character; Gary writes: ‘What a great read Killing Floor was. It left Grisham for dead. Let’s hope we see more novels from Lee.’

Jack Hutcheson, LC’s most longstanding fan, writes in his first letter to LC: ‘Frankly you have the opposition in a cocked hat. Reacher of course is ace, larger than life, resourceful, confident, a little distant, yet human... I pray you never run dry.’

There are those who are in love with Reacher, or with LC or both: Genista (a published author) rather likes the thought of LC taking her book to bed; Christine writes ‘I really am in love with my slow cooker and Jack Reacher.’

Mostly they love his sense of freedom and unencumbered lifestyle and are intrigued as to how LC developed Reacher’s character.

Tom describes Reacher as an ‘elemental force’ who works best when opposed by nature - he is referring to Reacher being in extremely cold weather in South Dakota in 61 Hours.

Joanne is a little amused ‘I always smile because he’s so implausible – but you make him so believable. Every man wishes he were Reacher, and every woman wishes she’d meet one.’

Temp would like to meet LC and share his ideas on converting Reacher from ‘a natural to a spiritual man’.

Reluctant readers are so grateful they’ve discovered LC’s books. They’ve been gripped from page one and have gone on to develop their reading and even venture into other genres. This is particularly true for school children: Noah, a 7th grader, went from not liking reading to becoming a reading addict ‘My advice to you is to keep on writing these Reacher novels.’ LC went on to write for another eight years.

Some fans offer small suggestions, or elaborate and intricate plots of their own, giving LC licence to use them if he wishes.

The physicality and survival skills of Reacher have particular appeal for those who have fallen foul of the law. Angie writes from inside a Virginia prison - LC’s books had got her through hard times. On the other side of the world, ‘G’ writes from within a New Zealand prison.

Veterans and those with military backgrounds easily identify with Reacher’s escapades. Michael is a military policeman who spent his tour in Qui Nhon, Vietnam. He’s pleased LC chose to write about an Army veteran and not a Marine: ‘Marines get way too much coverage (deservedly).’

Mostly, fans are curious as to how LC seems to know so much about the military.

Law enforcers, the police and an FBI Special Agent all write to LC. They offer praise and advice or tell him they have friends in the right places who could help him write about the workings of the police.

Denise works in a Crime Unit for the Metropolitan Police and loves LC’s work ‘… anyone who can make the trajectory of a bullet fascinating has to be admired.’

The letters show that fans are not afraid to point out technical errors or misinformation.

James describes the close-range firing of a Glock – ‘This is an easy proposition to test using a moderately heavy object with a yielding surface. Maybe Tom Cruise would volunteer.’

Then there is the impossible sucking of jet fuel some 200 feet below the surface in 61 Hours; and the manner in which counterfeit dollar bills are printed in Killing Floor.

Steven, a Professor of Electrical Engineering, corrects LC’s interpretation and calculations on kinetic energy and acceleration in Personal.

It seems no detail is left unscrutinised. After reading Make Me, Scott offers to provide fact-checking to LC’s future accounts of railroad services and operations: ‘Oklahoma City has no passenger service to the north (i.e. into wheat growing regions) ... Probably not a place where Mr. Keever could buy newspapers from other cities!’

Mary is a speech pathologist who picks up on Reacher’s broken nose, in A Wanted Man. She describes to LC the differences between being hyponasal, hypernasal and pre-nasal.

Others are more concerned with grammar and style. Robert suggests LC uses too many sentence fragments. ‘Your last book Personal was the most inelegantly done.’

Putting all this fascinating detail aside, Jack Reacher has been a gripping distraction for many. Through illness, loneliness, life changes and bereavement he has been there for his readers.

Cal writes to tell LC how much his writing has impacted his life after losing his sweetheart of 66 years. He is struck by the deep insight in Tripwire where LC writes ‘People live, and then they die, and as long as they do both things properly, there is nothing much to regret.’

James became a Reacher fan following surgery and reading Killing Floor. It took away the aches and pains.

Cora found Reacher a comfort and inspiration as she travelled the world. As she set off her father handed her Die Trying. Through lonely and sometimes scary situations she would ask herself ‘What would Jack Reacher do?’

There’s a sensitive side to Reacher: Andi enjoyed the deep and complicated relationship between Reacher and his brother Joe and she thought it was a perfect touch that LC dedicated Die Trying to his own brothers.  

Walter thought The Enemy topped them all: ‘the mix of the hard-boiled Reacher exterior and the warmer, more human person as he deals with Joe and his mother and her eventual death.’

There’s opposition to LC expressing his religious views through Reacher. Eo thought Reacher should not have been so offended as to take another airline, after the one he boarded included scripture cards on the food trays.

James did not like LC using Reacher to espouse his own liberal views and the US’s policies on Iraq, in Nothing to Lose.

Disappointment sets in when things don’t go as expected. The ending of 61 Hours is concerning for many who can’t imagine how Reacher is going to get out alive. Patricia asks LC bluntly why he has killed Reacher. This aside, 61 Hours gains resounding approval. Walter sums it up ‘This novel was just as vibrant and suspenseful as any you have written. Three hundred pages tightening the screws and then all hell breaks loose.’

There are many thank you letters from fans who are just starting out writing their first book, to those who are accomplished authors. LC encourages, mentors, or simply inspires.

There are some familiar names among the correspondents: Bill Clinton, Barack and Michelle Obama (the Democrats thank LC for his support), Yoko Ono, Oliver Stone, Donald Sutherland and Rolf Harris.

Interestingly, there’s correspondence from the real Frances Neagley and Terry Villanueva, people who have won charity auctions for a character in the series to bear their name: Frances in Without Fail and Terry in Persuader.

Clear distinctions between fans, friends and colleagues are hard to make. Fans and colleagues become friends. Friends and family can also be fans. How the fan’s letters influenced LC and shaped the Reacher series is a significant topic, not covered here. But it’s clear that they must have had some bearing, and certainly, without the fans and readers there would be much less Reacher.

What is surprising and touching is how deeply personal these fan letters are. Reacher’s escapades and LC’s craft, engages, challenges, inspires, transports and moves them. They eagerly await each new book, then can’t put it down. And finally, when it ends, they need to connect - so they reach out for a pen, or settle down in front of a keyboard, and pour forth.

For catalogue records on this series of Fan Correspondence (LC10), visit the Lee Child Archive at the British Archive for Contemporary Writing.