Thought his official web site is down, Publishers Weekly is reporting that comics icon Chris Claremont is donating his archives to Columbia University’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Calvin Reid writes “During his 17 years writing for the [X-Men] series, Claremont is credited with both developing strong female characters as well as introducing complex literary themes into superhero narratives while turning the X-Men into one of Marvel’s most popular series.”
Karen Green is Columbia University’s Ancient/Medieval Studies Librarian and Graphic Novel Librarian. She has been instrumental in building a graphic novel collection at Columbia, and said the acquisition of Claremont’s archive will form the basis for establishing a research center for New York City-based cartoonists and comics writers. She said “We hope this is the first of more comics papers to come to the University. We want it to be a magnet for these kinds of archives in New York City, where the comics medium was born.”
To celebrate the donation, Columbia is planning to hold a conference to be called, Comic New York, which will be organized by Green, comics writer and editor Danny Fingeroth, and professor Jeremy Dauber. The event will be 24-25 March 2012 at Columbia’s Low Library, with more details forthcoming.
The papers being donated cover all of Claremont’s major writing projects over the last 40 years, including notebooks with story ideas, as well as drafts of short stories, plays, novels, and comic books. Also included are materials from Claremont’s early training in the theater and his career as an actor. Green described Claremont as a “meticulous archivist” and said the collection is comprised of “neatly organized folders” with “his notes, correspondence, drafts and finished drafts, notebooks as well as programs from auditions from his acting and theater background.”
Claremont’s long-time editor, Louise Simonson, said, “his papers will provide many clues, not only to the evolving way comic books are created and presented, but also how they are perceived, licensed, bought and sold in America and around the world.”