Archives & Collections
LUX
Waterlow Park Centre, Dartmouth Park Hill, London N19 5JF
LUX hold many of Tait’s films in addition to two film programmes which are available for hire. They are also the publisher of Subjects and Sequences: A Margaret Tait Reader (2003) and the DVD, Margaret Tait: Selected Films: 1952-1976.
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND MOVING IMAGE ARCHIVE
National Library of Scotland, Kelvinhall, 1445 Argyle Street, Glasgow G3 8AW
The central archive for Tait’s films. Viewing copies of most of her films are available and various paper archives relating to Tait and the Films of Scotland Committee. Their website provides full details for her films, including archivists’ viewing notes and allows visitors to view selected films.
ORKNEY LIBRARY AND ARCHIVE
The Orkney Library & Archive, 44 Junction Road, Kirkwall, Orkney KW15 1AG
Over forty boxes of material relating to Margaret Tait, including drafts of manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, notebooks diaries, and production and promotional material. Additional notebooks and letters were added to the archive in 2015. The archive also holds viewing copies of Tait’s films, including her feature film, Blue Black Permanent. Recordings of Tait reading her poetry and a short film documenting the removal of material from her studio after her death are also available for study purposes.
The British Film Institute distributes her feature film Blue Black Permanent (1992) and Arsenal – Insitute for Film and Video Art, Berlin, hold a few 16mm prints for distribution.
Other relevant collections include the British Artists’ Film and Video Study Collection at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London, (various letters, paper documents and recorded talks); National Library Scotland, Edinburgh (letters from the MacDiarmid Collection); Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, (letters from Richard Demarco archive); BFI Library, London, (viewing copies of the two television profiles); The University of Stirling (letters from the John Grierson and Lindsay Anderson archive), and Pier Arts Centre (a selection of Tait’s films and other art work, as well as Tait and Pirie’s personal collection of books).