NUI Galway will today be presented with a rare collection of director, writer and actor John Huston’s papers and recordings at a special ceremony in the University. The evening event will see the Huston Archive launched in the presence of John’s son, Tony and daughter, Allegra. The Archive contains extensive material such as draft scripts, recording and publicity materials relating to a number of his films and the collection will centre on the making of ‘The Dead’
The Archive will also include an early version of a script written by Jean-Paul Sartre for the film ‘Freud: the Secret Passion’. Sartre visited Huston in St. Clerans, his home near Craughwell, in 1958. Visitors will also be able to see documentation Huston wrote up for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles including the Oscar winner’s personal copies of various books that he adapted and their screenplays. There will also be recordings of music used in his films, publicity materials, photos and magazines, press cuttings and legal documentation on display.
Other rare material includes a Scottish television interview with Huston conducted by film scholar, Charles Barr, at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 1975 and items donated by Teresa Grimes, Paul Balbirnie and Joe Dillon. The archive materials are being made available to the university by Tony Huston and the Universtiy Foundation.
John Huston’s daughter and Oscar winning actress, Anjelica Huston has voiced her delight and in the opening of the NUIG-based collection, a statement from the actress reads: "I regret that due to my current filming schedule I will miss the launch of the Huston Archive at NUI Galway. It gives me great satisfaction to see that these extensive archives, including remarkable materials relating to ‘The Dead’, have found a permanent place in their rightful home in Galway and will be made widely available to scholars, including those who enter the Huston School's doors for future generations to come."
The Huston Archive will be held in the James Hardiman Library at NUI Galway, which is already home to a range of theatre, literary, historical and political archives including the archives of the Druid and Lyric Theatres and of Taibhdhearc na Gaillimhe. A new Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Research Building, adjoining the Library, is currently under construction which will eventually include facilities for access to, digitisation and storage of, archives and special collections.
NUIG’s Director of the Huston School of Film & Digital Media, Rod Stoneman commented on the arrival of the collection, saying: “Bringing this material into the public domain through its availability online and in the library at NUI Galway, is an exciting development for those interested in John Huston’s work. It is at the intersection of American cinema and Irish culture.”
Joined by his sister Allegra, Tony Huston will present NUI Galway with the Huston Archive at a special ceremony at the Bailey Allen Hall, NUI Galway, this evening at 5.30pm.
