State Secrets and the Public Archive: Cold War Spycraft and the Literary Heritage of British Espionage

Intellectual Framework: The aim of this project is to consider the relationship between Britain's National Archives and the ways in which previously classified, newly-released state secrets pertaining to British Cold War espionage have been archived and disseminated in the post-war period. The project will explore crossovers between the archival history of British espionage during the Cold War and its cultural afterlife within the spy/thriller genre. The aim of this project is to understand the ways in which both archival material and literary fiction overlap in Britain's cultural memory of the Cold War, a particularly vital concern in the contemporary, so-called 'posttruth' era in which British politics has become a sort of mediated public 'fiction' in itself, and in which a new kind of Anglo-Russian 'cold war' seems to be at play - evidenced, in part, by the 2018 Novichok poisoning of former Russian GRU agent Sergey Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury.
TNA contains numerous files, letters, and previously classified documents on a number of historically important British spies and defectors to Russia which have helped to shape the perception of the Cold War, including John Vassall, Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, Kim Philby, and Anthony Blunt. It also contains material holdings on the Portland Spy Ring, the Profumo Affair, and the Soviet spy Klaus Fuchs. MI5 documentation includes recognition protocols, surveillance reports, and intercepted phone calls. Furthermore, the archives house a great deal of material on spycraft and gadgetry, documentation concerning disinformation and propaganda, and Foreign Office material relating to the Secret Intelligence Service from 1939-1951. The archives also hold various files pertaining to a number of salient British literary figures whose work is prominent within the spy/thriller genre, including Ian Fleming's Civil Service Commission (CSC) files and documentation on the 30 Assault Unit; documentation on Information Research Department-funded novels (George Orwell); and Department of Information intelligence and propaganda material (John Buchan). The Official Histories in the Cabinet Office (CAB) series also contain a great deal of background and contextual material concerning intelligence histories.
Developing the Archive: The student will be expected to develop a framework for interpreting this archival material in the context of the Cold War's cultural afterlife in Britain, as well as devising ways to promote this rich spectrum of archival sources for both scholars and the general public. The student's development of the archive, through sustained research dissemination (including enhanced catalogue descriptions) and public engagement (both actual and virtual), will ensure that the project has its own afterlife beyond the PhD.
Public Engagement and Impact: As part of the expanding public engagement agenda of TNA, the student will work with the archives to develop public engagement opportunities, including contributing to a major exhibition on MI5, organisation of research discussions and talks, and schools and educational outreach programmes. TNA also provides placement activities, during which the student will be supported to develop their own employment skills and contribute to education and engagement initiatives in line with the goals of TNA around widening participation.