Overview

• Archivists found dozens of sticky notes and a dedicated notebook for The Spectator in Bowie’s locked New York workspace, a project unknown even to close collaborators.
• The materials join roughly 90,000 objects in the V&A’s Bowie archive at the East Storehouse in Hackney Wick, where about 200 items will be exhibited at launch.
• Public viewing begins 13 September at the new David Bowie Centre, with broader access to the collection available by appointment for researchers and fans.
• Bowie annotated and rated essays from the 1711–1712 periodical The Spectator, sketching an 18th-century musical that explored satire, theatre and London’s criminal underworld.
• Notes reference figures such as Jack Sheppard and Jonathan Wild and the Mohocks gang, context scholars say reflects the era’s vibrant press and stark social contrasts.