The web contains a vast mass of unco-ordinated files which have a more or less limited life. Subject Gateways which point to only currently available information resemble catalogues of books in print: more useful is the library which maintains successive editions of useful works, and which holds transient publications in its collections.
There are projects under way which have the aim of archiving the entire contents of at least the public portions of the web. The cost of storage is now so low that this is not as overweening an ambition as it might seem: the real difficulty is in the logistics of such a massive capture of data.
This site is an attempt to develop a subject gateway, focussed on the author Robert Graves, which has temporal depth, in addition to a global range of links. During the past four years many documents on the web relating to Robert Graves have been archived (as well as a substantial number of relevant electronic documents). Some, such as the audio files made available by Harper Collins as promotional materials via the much missed Internet Town Hall, seemed until recently to have gone altogether. This was a substantial publication at the time (40 minutes of audio files of Graves reading from his own works, among dozens of other audio files relating to other writers), but by the early spring of 1998 there was very little on the web to indicate that this publication took place. These files are now available again (see below). Items noted on this page have been archived in a number of formats: mostly as zip and tar files. Archived files held by the Robert Graves Archive are not available via the web.
The listing is in two sections: first, web resources, and second, non-web electronic resources.
The main sites dealing with Robert Graves have been archived. The most recent downloads are listed here, together with some earlier ones.
- The Robert Graves Society Information Centre (http://www.nene.ac.uk/graves/graves.html): pages archived in December 1997. Zip file: 101297_rgarchive_1.zip
- The Robert Graves Society Information Centre (http://www.nene.ac.uk/graves/graves.html): pages archived in April 1996. Tar file: 170496_rgarchive_1.tar
- Focus on Robert Graves and His Contemporaries : pages archived in December 1997. Tar file: 011297_rgarchive_2.tar
- The Robert Graves Archive (http://www.presence.co.uk/hippeis/ELA/gravesw.htm): pages archived in May 1998. Tar file: 310598_rgarchive_1.tar
- The Robert Graves Archive (http://www.presence.co.uk/hippeis/ELA/gravesw.htm): pages archived in June 1996. Tar file: 030696_rgarchive_1.tar
- The Robert Graves Archive (http://www.bath.ac.uk/~lispjh/graves/): pages archived in May 1998. Tar file: 310598_rgarchive_2.tar
- Cosma Shalizi's collection of Graves poems. Archived in 1996. File: rgarchive_010596_1.zip
Four audio files published by Harper Collins in 1994 on the Internet Town Hall (1993-6), an experimental web site. Archived in the original download format (au, the Sun audio format, which was the predominant format before the advent of wav files). Two other formats were available at the time, but the au files alone came to nineteen megabytes, and space was at a premium. Each of the files runs for ten minutes. The first is of Robert Graves reading extracts from The White Goddess (1946); the three others are of Robert Graves reading selections from his poetry. Archived in the spring of 1995.
At the end of April 1998 it became apparent that the Internet Town Hall site was being reconstructed as an archive of files. The files are now available again via the audio section of the Robert Graves Archive.
- Part 1, file: 052394_harp_01_ITH.au
Robert Graves reads an excerpt from "The White Goddess"
- Part 2, file: 060794_harp_01_ITH.au
Robert Graves reads his poems "The Hills of May," "Angry Samson," "In Procession," "Warning to Children," "The Cool Web," "Song of Contrariety," and "The Presence."- Part 3, file: 072594_harp_01_ITH.au
Robert Graves reads "Flying Crooked," "Any Honest Housewife," "A Jealous Man," "The Cloak," "Time," "Ogres and Pygmies," "To Bring the Dead to Life," and "Like Snow."
- Part 4, file: 080394_harp_01_ITH.au
Robert Graves reads his poems "To Juan at the Winter Solstice," "The Death Room," "My Name and I," "The Survivor, " The Foreboding," "Cat-Goddesses," "The Blue Fly," "Sirocco at Deya," and "Leaving the Rest Unsaid."
The complete text of Bill Thomas' 1981 thesis (File: 290694_rgarchive_1.tar) on Robert Graves poetry, minus the footnotes, archived in June 1994 in Microsoft Word format (four files). This is a reverse variorum edition of all Graves poems: whereas it is normal practice to give the latest version of a poem, and indicate the variants which preceded the final form in the footnotes, Thomas printed the earliest version, and indicated the later variations in the footnotes. The reason for this departure from the practice of the ages is unknown to me. It is however the only complete electronic collection of Graves poetry which is accessible to scholars. Originally acquired from the Oxford Text Archive, to which it was donated after salvage from a Cambridge computing laboratory. The tape which contained the footnotes did not accompany the tape of the texts at the time. Shortly after Lou Burnard of the OTA drew my attention to the existence of this file, Patrick Quinn attempted to locate the second tape in Cambridge, but it had been dumped literally days before his inquiry.
Inquiries about access to the file of poems should be directed to the Oxford Text Archive.
- The Robert Graves Trust Database Project Report, September 1994: Tar file: 300994_rgarchive_1.tar
- Assorted files from the Robert Graves International Centenary Conference, St. John's College Oxford, August 1995: Tar file: 280995_rgarchive_1.tar
- Transcription of the correspondence between Robert Graves and William Graves. 3 files, including an inventory of references within the correspondence. The files were originally transcribed and prepared by William Graves. Converted to Microsoft Word: Tar file: 010494_rgarchive_1.tar
- Discussion Document on the Robert Graves Trust Database Project, July 1994 . 1 file, Zip file: 140794_rgarchive_1.zip
- Project Description for the Robert Graves Trust Database Project, December 1994. This document is a modification of a description prepared in November 1994 for a funding application. The modified document was created in response to a request from Dr. Devindra Kohli. Tar file: 141294_rgarchive_1.tar
Page updated 27 Sept 1998
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