The personal archive of the late award-winning journalist Robert Fisk and his wife Nelofer Pazira-Fisk has been donated to the Trinity College Library for conservation.
Fisk, renowned for his coverage of the Middle East throughout his journalistic career, covered several of the region’s major conflicts from the ground, including the Lebanese Civil War and the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Fisk, who worked as a foreign correspondent for The Times and The Independent in the UK, completed a PhD in political science in Trinity in 1985 and was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2008. He passed away in Dublin in 2020.
The Robert and Nelofer Pazira-Fisk Archive & Library encompasses material from Robert Fisk’s first posting in Belfast in 1972 for the London Times up until the posthumous publication of his final book, The Night of Power: Betrayal of the Middle East earlier this year.
The archive includes notes from Fisk’s famous interviews with Osama Bin Laden in the caves of Afghanistan in the 1990s, along with an extensive collection of notebooks, research notes, photographs, audio files of interviews, drafts for published works, and correspondence of letters and emails from his 50-year journalistic career.
College has received €200,000 in funding from the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) to support the conservation of the personal archive.
The Minister of Higher Education, Patrick O’Donovan, announced the funding earlier this month at the Eavan Boland library with Nelofer Pazira-Fisk, Provost Linda Doyle, and College Archivist Helen Shenton in attendance.
Minister O’Donovan said he was “thrilled” to announce the funding
“The funding announced today will provide Trinity with the necessary resources to undertake an essential two-year conservation project. The availability of these materials will undoubtedly enrich the academic experiences of students and researchers alike.”
In the public announcement online, College stated that the collection will be open for access by readers and researchers “as soon as possible”.
“There is extensive work involved in cataloguing, conserving and preserving, and digitising an archive of such significance,” it said.
College Librarian and Archivist Helen Shenton added that it will be available through the Research Collections Study Centre and online through the Virtual Trinity Library programme.
Fisk’s wife Nelofer Pazira-Fisk, who donated the archive, expressed gratitude towards the people of Ireland for “their moral stand against oppression and injustices – and to the Irish government for this kind financial support”.
She also highlighted the dangers within journalism and the subsequent importance of this preservation of this work
“Robert said we must bear witness and record what we see, so no one can say that they did not know. At a time when a dark curtain of censorship is extending across the Western democracies, when journalism is under attack, reporters face death and targeted assault, false labels and accusations undermine the work of anyone who dares speak out. The preservation and dissemination of information has become more pressing…knowledge of history enables humanity to say no to violence of all kinds.”
“Robert had an affinity with Ireland and a great admiration for Trinity College as a place of knowledge. I am pleased that TCD has agreed to be the custodian of this collection.” Pazira-Fisk finished.
