Recent Acquisition Highlights
July 2000
Australian Printed Materials
The Library continued to enrich its collections of theatre and performing arts material through the acquisition of a number of programs from the early 1880s documenting the early Australian career of a charming soprano called Mrs Armstrong, later to be known as Nellie Melba.
The Librarys success at a London auction resulted in the acquisition of a small broadside describing the display of indigenous inhabitants, including Australian Aboriginal people, in Berlin in the 1830s. There is no recorded copy of such an item in an Australian institution and only a very few recorded in German libraries. The German broadside described the Indigenous Australians as Indian Bush people from New Holland. Nothing is known so far of the promoter of the display, Herr Heinrich Hill, who justifies the display on grounds of authenticity according to the racial theories of the period and promises his audiences entertainments such as dancing, war manoeuvres and ceremonies.
A recent Australian auction accounted for the purchase of Songs of the Kelly Gang, (Hobart Town: T W Allen, n.d.) containing several ballads lauding the achievements of bold Ned Kelly and his gang. The sympathies of the composer are obvious from verses such as the following:
Tis sad to think such plucky hearts in crime should be
employed
But with great persecution theyve all been muchly
annoyed
Revenge is sweet, but in the bush they can defy the law
Such
stickings up and plunderings Colonials never saw
The matter may be serious, Pat, but sure I cant but
laugh
To think the tales the Bobbys told should all amount to chaff
They
said they had them all hemmed in they could not get away,
But they
did turn up in New South Wales, and made their journey pay
Manuscripts and Personal Papers
An 18th century manuscript acquired by the Library is a transcript of the account by Alvaro Mendana of his voyage into the western Pacific in 1567-68. The expedition sailed from Callao and spent some time exploring the Solomon Islands before returning to Peru. Another two centuries were to elapse before Europeans again sighted the Solomon Islands. The original journal is lost, and while there are a few transcripts in European archives it is pleasing that one of the earliest copies is now held in the Pacific region.
Lady Derham, the daughter of General Sir Brudenell White, has donated the remaining White papers. They form an unusually comprehensive collection, covering his career from the 1890s until his death in 1940 and including letters from Australian and British political and military leaders and other public figures. They complement the papers of Sir John Monash, already held in the Library. Papers have also been received of modern public figures, such as the judge and Governor-General Sir Ninian Stephen, the public servant and diplomat Sir Neil Currie and the businessman and political activist John Valder.
In recent years the Library has made an effort to collect papers of Australians who took part in expeditions to the Antarctic in the twenty years after World War II. The major collection received has been the papers of Phillip Law, who led many of the expeditions. In addition, papers and photographs of John Bechervaise, Fred Elliott and Alex Brown, who were all members of expeditions in the 1950s, have been added to the collection.
The Library has purchased two notebooks of Kenneth Slessor containing drafts of some of his last poems, including Beach burial. The most extensive of the recent literary acquisitions are the papers of the poet, novelist, musician and arts administrator Rodney Hall. They extend from 1960 to the present and comprise drafts of books and poems, correspondence, research notes, and many files on the Australia Council. The novelist and biographer Drusilla Modjeska has added a fine series of diaries and other records to the papers already held in the Library. The papers of the historians Marilyn Lake and John Barrett have also been received.
Pictorial Materials
The Librarys documentation of prominent Australian politicians and business people was furthered by the donation of a collection of 72 modern political cartoons by cartoonist Ward ONeill. They depict such Australian and international figures as Malcolm Fraser, Paul Keating, John Howard, Graham Richardson, Peter Reith, Alan Fels, Rupert Murdoch, Alan Bond, Bill Clinton and Bill Gates.
Two other collections of cartoons have been presented to the Library. The 377 original cartoons and 29 graphic prints of Arthur Horner represent the bulk of his political works, illustrations and caricatures published in Australian and British newspapers following World War II. The 104 cartoons of William Ellis Green (WEG), dating from the 1970s and 1980s, document popular opinion on a wide range of social themes such as the anti-smoking campaign, sexual harassment, divorce reform, gays, glue sniffing, sex education, metrification, Saturday shopping, in-vitro fertilisation, petrol shortages and inflation.
A highly unusual acquisition has been a board game, Courtship and marriage, produced in Melbourne by the National Game Company in about 1900. The game features nine vignettes of incidents in the ordeal of 19th century courtship, such as meeting at a picnic, the croquet party, flirtation, offended parents, parents charmed, a proposal and breach of promise. The winner of the game is rewarded with a Happy Wedding.
The Library has purchased 500 vintage photographs from Wolfgang Sievers. They include details of factories, mines, industrial and mining processes, offices and working conditions. Of particular interest are the interior scenes. Interior scenes are difficult to acquire and are a strength of this collection. The acquisition complements two previous acquisitions of Sievers photography.
Oral History
An array of public figures have been interviewed for the oral history collection. They include the former politician John Brown, trade unionist George Crawford, journalists Sam Lipski and Graham Freudenberg, former RSL president Alf Garland, barrister Tom Hughes and university administrator Professor David Penington. The arts have also been well represented, recordings being made of the composers Donald Kay, Helen Gifford and James Cotter, writers Susan Kurosawa and Ruby Langford Ginibi, theatre director Jim Sharman, photographers Wolfgang Sievers and Greg Weight, ballet master Colin Peasley and the legendary entertainer Herbert Smoky Dawson. Other interviewees have included the mathematician Max Neutze, scientist John Stocker, wrestler Ron Miller and doctor and public servant Sir William Refshauge.
The Bringing Them Home Project has considerably strengthened the oral history holdings relating to indigenous history. So far 134 interviews have taken place in all States recorded by a team of 24 interviewers. The Project aims to record a total of 300 interviews and in doing so will have implemented one of the major recommendations of the 1997 Report of the Human Rights Commission.
Maps
In the period under review the Library has acquired three world maps of considerable rarity. The earliest is a double hemisphere map Nova totius orbis geographica ac hydrographica tabulus, produced in Paris by Melchior Tavernier in 1643. It fails to record any of the Dutch discoveries of Australia and New Zealand and omits New Guinea. It differs significantly from another double hemisphere map produced five years later by Cornelis Danckerts of Amsterdam and entitled Orbis terrarum typus de integro in plumiris emandatus auctus, et icunculis illustratis. Previously unrecorded, it is one of the first maps to record the discoveries made by Abel Tasman in his voyages of 1642-43 and 1644.
The third world map is in Ottoman Turkish and was issued by the Turkish cartographer Raif Afandi in Vienna in 1803. It is based on a similar map produced by the English cartographer William Faden in 1798.
Electronic Sources
A considerable number of electronic reference sources have recently been added to the research and information services provided in the Librarys reading rooms. MacquarieNet is an online encyclopedia from the publishers of the Macquarie Dictionary. It provides a range of Australian and international reference information including general and specialized subject encyclopedias and dictionaries, selected historical texts, an atlas, photographs, and a news archive. Originally designed for home reference requirements (such as school projects), MacquarieNet nevertheless provides a valuable range of general information from an Australian perspective. Encyclopaedia Britannica online provides the full text of the well-known encyclopedia along with updates and links to selected high quality web sites.
In addition to these two encyclopedias, three serial indexes cover the social sciences, the humanities, and librarianship. ASSIAnet (Applied social sciences index & abstracts online) is a database indexing approximately 600 social sciences serials. Commencing its coverage in 1987, ASSIAnet includes over 215,000 records. BHInet (British Humanities Index online) is an international abstracting and indexing tool for research in the humanities from 1984. LISAnet (Library and Information Science Abstracts online) covers over 550 periodicals in the library and information field.
Three electronic directories provide access to a range of information. Ulrichsweb is an international periodical directory. It lists nearly a quarter of a million serials by title or broad subject category. Business whos who of Australia online is a directory of Australian companies along with biographical details of Australian company directors. World Guide to Libraries PLUS combines the K.G. Saur World Guide to Libraries with the R.R. Bowker American Library Directory to provide directory information on more than 82,000 libraries in 192 countries.
Finally, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) online provides enhanced access to the online equivalent of 23 printed volumes, as well as the opportunity to keep up with the ongoing revision of this major reference work on the English language.
