Sir, The implication in Will Pavia’s article (Times2, Mar 9) that the Harry Ransom Center (HRC) is somehow plundering Britain’s literary heritage is unfair. The HRC buys the papers, often enough, of living authors at a time when money is most useful to them and access to them most interesting to scholarship. Such purchases in this country are, typically, post-mortem. The HRC gives generous fellowships to British scholars wishing to study the manuscript materials they lovingly curate. Anyone requesting similar financial assistance from Britain’s great repositories will get a dusty response. I write as a scholar who has gratefully received such assistance from the HRC.
John Sutherland
Emeritus Lord Northcliffe professor of modern English literature, UCL