Sir Arthur C Clarke

Arthur C Clarke

Official Website

Arthur C Clarke Archive
(The Clarkives)

The Arthur C Clarke personal archive (which he playfully called ‘The Clarkives’) comprises the manuscripts, research notes, other working papers as well as audio, video and computer files of late Sir Arthur C Clarke. A disciplined writer and a methodical person, he had carefully preserved decades of papers and other material in his home in Colombo. Some material was stored in his home town in Taunton where his brother looked after the collection.

The two collections were merged in 2010, after Sir Arthur’s demise, and the Arthur C Clarke Trust negotiated with the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington DC for the latter to take custody of the archive and preserve it for posterity.
In December 2014, 74 boxes containing the archive were shipped from Colombo to the Museum’s archival facility at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. For the next few months, the Smithsonian’s archivists, restoration specialists and other staff worked on sorting, indexing and preserving the collection. In early 2016, the collection was made available to researchers and students.
20 April 2015: Sir Arthur C. Clarke Collection Arrives at National Air and Space Museum

4 May 2015: Archiving the Arthur C. Clarke Collection, by Patti Williams, acquisition archivist

27 May 2015: Finding Treasures in the Arthur C. Clarke Collection, by Patti Williams

24 February 2016: Arthur C. Clarke Collection of Sri Lanka Now Publicly Available, by Martin Collins, Space History Department

The Museum’s summary for the collection reads:

Contains personal and business correspondence, manuscripts of most of Clarke’s fiction works in various draft states, short stories, articles, addresses, speeches, movie outlines, Apollo 11 broadcast material, datebooks & notebooks, reference materials, business cards of visitors & contacts, photos & slides. There is some material by people other than the creator such as manuscripts and film/TV scripts.

Please contact the facility directly if you are interested in studying any of this material.

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Archives Division
14390 Air & Space Museum Parkway
Chantilly, VA, 20151
Phone: +1 703-572-4045
Email: [email protected]

Official Website