George Orwell archives added to Unesco Memory of the World register

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The personal archives of George Orwell, containing the author and journalist’s first phrasing of the sinister slogan from Nineteen Eighty-Four, “War is Peace. Ignorance is strength. Freedom is slavery”, have been added to Unesco’s register of the world’s most significant documents.

The Memory of the World register is the archival equivalent of Unesco’s world heritage sites, listing unique historical documents from the Diary of Anne Frank to Magna Carta, with the intention that they be “fully preserved and protected for all”. University College London, which houses the manuscript notebooks, diaries, letters and photographs that make up the Orwell papers, said it underwent a highly competitive selection process to win a place on the list, and that Unesco’s selectors had recognised the “world significance and outstanding universal value” of Orwell’s writings.

Related: George Orwell’s idea of a better England is stirring again today | Fintan O’Toole

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