According to Times Online, the British Library has acquired thousands of manuscripts, scrapbooks, and letters- most of them unpublished- that made up the personal archives of Britain’s renowned dramatist and Nobel Laureate. Pinter was determined that his papers would not leave Britain after the hue and cry about losing historic archives to America, most notably those of Ted Hughes, the late Poet Laureate, and John Fowles, the novelist. British universities cannot match the large sums that American institutions can afford, as a result the works of many British authors, including J. M. Barrie, Graham Greene, D.H. Lawrence, and Evelyn Waugh, are held abroad. The Times Online article lists some notable collections that have left British shores for the United States of America:

• Salman Rushdie sold his personal archive, including diaries written during the decade that he spent in hiding from Islamic extremists, to Emory University in Atlanta for an undisclosed sum.
• Ted Hughes, the late Poet Laureate, sent his archive to Emory University for about £500,000.
• Julian Barnes, the author of Flaubert’s Parrot, reportedly sold his papers to the University of Texas at Austin for $200,000.
• Arnold Wesker, best known for his plays Roots and Chips with Everything, sold three tons of letters, manuscripts, and papers to the Texas university.