The Nigel Frith Archive Catalogue was originally created in 2012 by William Man as part of his dissertation for a Masters degree in Information Management. The full catalogue of Frith’s personal papers is included here primarily to give the visitor an idea of his oeuvre. This section of the website provides access to the Catalogue and selected items from the archive. It is hoped that, over time, more archival material will be made available on this page as part of ongoing digitisation.
It should be stressed that this catalogue is at present out of date, reflecting the archive as it existed in 2012. The archive has subsequently accrued further material as Frith continues to produce material in his life and work, Pangaian and otherwise, that have been retained by him permanently. It should also be noted that this catalogue was originally produced as part of an academic exercise interrogating theoretical and methodological orthodoxies of archiving. Limited time and resources imposed certain constraints on the practical processing of Frith’s personal papers and it should therefore be noted that the catalogue does not represent the entirety of Frith’s personal archive. For instance it is significant that the catalogue includes only analogue material, thus excluding Frith’s preserved digital files. Equally, Frith removed any sensitive personal and financial material prior to the start of the 2012 archival processing.
As part of the original dissertation project Frith was asked to provide an introduction to the archive catalogue. He responded by producing ‘The Expedition into the Disciplines’, an account of his life-story in which he explains the origins of Pangaia and the development of his ‘epic mind’. ‘The Expedition into the Senses’ demonstrates the significance of Frith’s scholarship and artistic and literary endeavour (the records of which are preserved in his archive) to the emergence of Pangaia and panhistorical thought.
The full text of ‘The Expedition into the Disciplines’ is available here.
The Nigel Frith Archive Catalogue is available in full here.