A network of writers

As I work my way through Peggy’s client files I’m realising that the archive brilliantly captures the network of relationships that grew up around Margaret Ramsay Ltd. It’s been really interesting to see which writers got on well together and which fell into opposing camps. One example that brings this to life is the furore caused by John Arden and Margaretta D’Arcy’s frequent disputes with the theatre establishment. When Arden and D’Arcy picketed the RSC protesting about authors’ rights, Peggy received a flurry of letters from her other clients. Opinion was split: Robert Bolt defended Arden; John Bowen didn’t feel he could lend his support to the campaign; and David Hare and John McGrath were motivated to form a new writers’ union. There are many other occasions when clients wrote to Peggy about other playwrights. Some wrote in praise of other’s work, some gave accounts of meetings with other writers or passed on knowledge of contacts or opportunities which might benefit others. It’s particularly interesting to see what the old guard thought of the new generation of playwrights and there are plenty of mentions of Joe Orton, perhaps because Peggy made it clear to her clients how excited she was about her new find.

 

Wracking my brain for specific examples, I found it difficult to remember exactly where I’d found these titbits. So often the mention of other clients is tucked away in post scripts and asides to the main business. A catalogue can only give a partial sense of the relationships between clients: names of correspondents will be key-word searchable; subjects will be indexed and our new cataloguing system allows us to make links between related items. Mapping the influence that clients had on each other will not be straight-forward but hopefully the catalogue will help researchers who want to uncover these connections.