Recent Acquisition Highlights

December 2002

Background

This report offers a review of recent major acquisitions of significance and trends in collection development activity in the National Library. It does not describe the large volume of acquisitions of both Australian and overseas materials that are routinely acquired through deposit, purchase or donation to build the collections. In the financial year 2001-2002 the National Library acquired 492,000 collection items in a wide range of formats.

A feature of acquisitions in the last six months has been the arrival of collections containing material in multiple formats. The Peter Sculthorpe collection, for example, enriched the Music, Manuscript and Pictures collections.

Another multi-format acquisition was the A. J. Campbell (1853-1929) collection of manuscripts, photographs, leaflets, sketchbooks and watercolours. Instrumental in the formation of the (Royal) Australasian Ornithologists Union, Campbell was President and, for thirteen years, co-editor of Emu, the official journal of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union. The collection contains an intriguing album of his photographs used to publicise the Wattle League, with maidens in gracefully slipping draperies posed against the appropriate vegetation.

At the auction of the Freycinet collection at Christies, London on Thursday 26 September, the Library purchased a highly significant map as well as a number of paintings. The manuscript map by Nicolas Baudin of the Derwent River, Tasmania was drawn in February 1802 during Freycinet's first voyage. The paintings date from his second voyage, and document an Aboriginal burial ceremony in 1819 and Australian birds.

Other acquisitions complement material already held. The addition to the Manuscript collection of Dr Margaret Spencer's papers relating to Papua New Guinea in the 1950s will support her collection of 35 mm slides of medical services in Papua New Guinea donated to the Pictures collection in 2001.

The Library's record of the life and work of Eddie Mabo was enhanced by the acquisition of five watercolours and a further consignment of his papers purchased from his widow, Boneta Mabo. The pictures include scenes in the Torres Strait Islands and a self portrait. The five boxes of further papers add to the existing collection held by the Library. Significant material in this new consignment includes personal correspondence between Mabo and his wife in letters which reveal a great deal about his character and their marriage, as well as his daily work as a fettler; there are also some detailed papers about Mabo's teacher training and early career as a teacher. One item of enormous symbolic value is the handwritten ten page speech by Mabo on land rights for Torres Strait Islanders, given at a conference at James Cook University, where he was employed as a gardener, in 1981. This was the beginning of the long journey which ended in the 1992 Mabo Judgement.

Further acquisitions to each of the special collections are described below.

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Australian Printed Materials

The National Library of Australia continues to acquire many early printed works associated with the European discovery and exploration of Australia. During the period under review, a larger than usual number of these highly priced items appeared for sale or at auction. Among the titles acquired were:

  • Bellingshausen, Thaddeus von, 1778-1852. Atlas K'Puteshestuyu Kapitana Bellingsgauzena v Yuzhnom Ledovitom Okeana I vo Krug Sveta 1819, 1820, 1821. [Atlas to the Voyage of Captain Bellingshausen in the South Antarctic Ocean and around the World in 1819, 1820 and 1821]. St. Petersburg: 1831. This very rare atlas complements the Library's Antarctic holdings as well as its significant holdings relating to the early exploration of the Pacific. It also provides some balance to the English/French works on the Pacific whilst acknowledging the significant contribution the Russians played in the discovery and exploration of the Pacific and the Antarctic.
  • Botero, Giovanni. Le relationi universali di Giovanni Botero Benese: divise in sette parti ...Venetia: Presso Alessandro Vecchi, 1622 [with] Aggiunta alla Quarta parte dell'Indie... Venetia: Apresso Alessandro de'Vecchi, 1623. An early geographical work upon which subsequent works in the forthcoming centuries built their knowledge of the geographical world. There appear to be no holdings of this 2nd edition of Vecchi in Australia. The significance of these two works together is the mix of geographical fact with ethnographical fantasy.
  • Harris, John. Navigantium atque itinerantium bibliotheca: or, a compleat collection of voyages and travels: consisting of above four hundred of the most authentick writers...London: Printed for Thomas Bennet, John Nicholson and Daniel Midwinter, 1705. 1st ed. The Library has the 2nd and 3rd editions of this work and purchasing this edition greatly enhances the national collection.
  • [Quiros] Megiser, Hieronymous. Septentrio novantiquus, oder die newe Nortwelt... Leipzig: Henning Grosse, 1613.
  • Suarez de Figueroa, Cristoval. Plaza universal de todas las Ciencias y Artes, parte traduzida deToscano, y parte compuesta por... Perpignan: Luys Roure Librero, 1630.
  • Sparrman, Anders. Reise nach dem Vorgebirge der Guten Hoffnung, den sudlichen Polarlanden und um die Welt, hauptsachlich aber in denn Landern der Hottentotten und Kaffern in den Jahren 1772 bis 1776. Berlin: Haude und Spener, 1784. First edition in German. Sparrman joined Cook's 1772-1775 expedition in South Africa. The Library holds a microfilm version of this work, and the French edition.
  • Sparrman, Anders. A voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, towards the Antarctic Polar Circle, and around the World: but chiefly into the country of the Hottentots and Caffres, from the year 1772 to 1776. Translated from the Swedish original. Second edition. London: G.G.J & J Robinson, 1786. The Library holds the 1st English edition and this 2nd edition on microform. This acquisition complements the Library's other English language editions.
  • Findlay, Alexander G. A Directory for the navigation of the South Pacific Ocean; with descriptions of its coasts, island. Etc. from the Strait of Magalhaens to Panama, and those of New Zealand, Australia, etc., its winds, currents and passages. 3rd edition. London, Richard Holmes Laurie, 1871. The acquisition of this edition consolidates the Library's existing holdings of the 1st edition (1851), 2nd edition (1863), 3rd edition with additions (1874), 4th edition (1877). The Library now lacks only the 5th edition (1884).
  • Franklin, Sir John & Maconochie, Capt. Alexander. Copy of a despatch from Lieut. Governor Sir John Franklin to Lord Glenelg ...[and] Report on the state of prison discipline... Hobart Town: William Gore Elliston, 1838. The Library holds London editions of both reports. This is a rare Hobart printing of an influential paper from Franklin and an early paper from Maconochie on the same issue. The Library also holds a microfilm of Sir John and Lady Franklin's journals written during this period, containing entries on this subject.

A number of books related to Australia and previously not held in the Library's collections have been received. These include nineteenth and twentieth century imprints.

  • Lear, Edward. The owl and the pussy cat and other nonsense songs. London: Cundall & Co., 1872. The edition consists of actual photographs mounted on thick paper with interleaves. It includes "The Duck and the Kangaroo" which is illustrated with quite lifelike drawings of kangaroos. There are no other recorded copies.
  • Brown, Nugent Wade. Memoirs of a Queensland Pioneer. Sandgate, Qld : L. Wade Brown, 1944. Privately published reminiscences covering 1850-1919.
  • After work: home reading for the family circle. London, [1883]. Includes "Doings and dainties of the Aborigines of South Australia, by an eye witness" over ten instalments.
  • Alphabet des animaux. Paris, Bernardin-Bechet, c.1840. 15 hand coloured lithograph panels joined and folding out to 18 cm x 20 cm. Includes illustration of a 'kanguroo'.
  • Melville, Harden S. A boy's travels round the world, or the adventures of a griffin on a voyage...London, Bell & Daldy, c.1871. Ferguson lists 1st (1867) edition but has no mention of this 1871 edition until now held only in a microfiche copy. A rare unrecorded variant of a voyage narrative, republished with a revised title after the success of Samuel Smiles' A boy's voyage round the world.
  • Hogan, Inez. About Peter Platypus. New York: E.P.Dutton, 1948. 1st edition. This item was listed on the Library's BookSearch listing of children's books. There are no recorded holdings on Kinetica.
  • Murray, Arch. Forged: a life drama; of English and Australian interest, in four acts. Sydney: Beard & Holmes, 1873. A rare Australian play. No recorded holdings on Kinetica.
  • Ogilvie, W.H. Fair girls and gray horses: with other verses. Sydney: The Bulletin Newspaper, 1898. 1st edition. The Library holds later editions but not the first edition.
  • Herbert, Xavier. Terciopelo Negro. Barcelona: Luis De Carlat, 1960. A Spanish edition of Capricornia.
  • Goring-Thomas, A.R. The strong heart: being the story of a lady. London: John Lane, 1914. This is one of four novels by this Sydney born author, who moved to London about 1900. No recorded holdings on Kinetica.
  • Upfield, Arthur. Cake in the hat box. London: Heinemann, 1955. First British edition. A crime novel published as Sinister tones in the USA in 1954. No recorded holdings on Kinetica.
  • White, Patrick. Happy valley. New York: Viking Press, 1940. 1st US edition.
  • Mesnards, B des. Le neveu du squatter. Rouen: Megard, 1894.
  • Ergil, Francis. Aventures de deux jeunes Anglais en Australia. Tours: Alfred Cattier, [1888]
  • Franc, Maud Jeanne. Golden gifts: an Australian tale. Adelaide: E.S. Wigg & Son, 1874. 2nd edition.
  • Some interesting pulp fiction titles from the late 1940's to late 1950's were received, including 19 titles by Marc Brody and 4 titles by Carter Brown.
  • Mackinnon, Bob. 7 titles in the Kings of the turf series of horse racing novels. These titles were produced during the late 1940's.

The Library is constantly seeking Australian periodicals not represented in the national collection, or individual issues missing from its sets. Among the most recent acquisitions are:

  • Queensland folk monthly publication of the Queensland Folk Federation. Maleny, Qld.: Queensland Folk Federation. Issues received from no. 10 October 1988 - no. 155 October 1993. No. 155 was the last issue of the journal. There are no recorded holdings on Kinetica.
  • The World's news. Sydney: Watkin Wynne, 1901-1955. Received issues for no. 819 August 25 1917; no 821 September 8 1917; no. 855 May 4 1918; no. 859 June 1 1918; no. 907 May 17 1919. These issues fill gaps in the Library's holdings.
  • The boy: a fortnightly magazine for young Australians. Sydney: Printed for the Model Flying Club of Australia by new Century Press Ltd. Vol. 1, no. 1 October 20, 1933 to Vol. 1, no. 3 December 1, 1933. There is no record on Kinetica for this journal.
  • Moores Australian almanac for the year 1874. Sydney: J.J. Moore, 1873. This acquisition fills a gap in the Library's holdings of this early almanac.
  • South Australian musical journal. Adelaide: South Australian College of Music, 1895-1896. Vol. 1, no. 1 October 1895 - Vol. 1, no. 4 July 1896. A complete set of this periodical. Only holdings for the State Library of South Australia are on Kinetica.
  • Natures path to health. Melbourne. Issues for April/May 1946 - Aug/Sept 1946; Feb/Mar 1947; Dec/Jan 1947/48; Feb 1950. These issues fill gaps in the Library's holdings.
  • South Australian deaf news Vol I, no. 2, no. 7, no. 8, no. 11 for 1915 and Vol. II no. 2, no. 7 - no. 11 for 1916. The Library previously did not hold this journal and only holdings for State Library of South Australia are listed on Kinetica.

Australian documentary heritage is also represented by more ephemeral or insubstantial material, and the National Library collects a varied selection documenting aspects of Australian life.

  • Melba, Dame Nellie. Melba concert tour, 1902: programme. Under the direction of Mr George Musgrove at Sydney Town Hall. First concert Saturday, October 11, 1902. Sydney: The Atlas Press, 1902. This program adds to the Library's extensive holdings on Dame Nellie Melba. The Library also holds the programme of the Fourth concert held in Sydney in 1902.
  • Anthony Hordern & Sons. Spring & summer catalogue. Sydney: Anthony Hordern, 1929/30 and 1930/31. These acquisitions add to catalogues of 1933/34 and 1963/64-1964/65, which are already held.
  • Hamilton & District Trotting Club. Opening meeting Saturday February 28 1920. Hamilton Racecourse. 100 pounds in stakes. [Poster] Melbourne, F.W. Niven. 57 x 61 cm. The Library does not have strong holdings of posters on horse racing and particularly not for this period. The poster provides details of the program and handicaps.
  • Collection of programs for the 1948 Tour of Australian Kangaroos to Britain. 20programs in total and includes the programs for the 3 Test matches. The Library's holdings of Rugby League programs are very sparse and this is an excellent acquisition as it covers the entire tour by the Australian team.
  • Third Australasian ChampionshipsNSW Amateur Athletic Association. Second day Monday October 4 1897. This item fills a valuable gap in the Library's collection. The Library holds the first and second day of the 1st championship in 1893. The second championship was held in New Zealand. Programs of this nature and for this period of time are very rare.
  • Cole Bros. Circus: the great Con Colleano, world's greatest wire artist performing forward and backward somersaults on the wire. United States: Cole Bros Circus, 1945. 1 poster, 107 cm. This is an outstanding poster of Con Colleano, an Aboriginal master of the high wire, and complements other material in the collection including a biography published in 1993 as well as a number of oral history interviews with members of Colleano's family.

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Australian Electronic Publications

The Library's Electronic Unit seeks out and archives significant Australian websites and other electronic documents as a way of preserving this aspect of Australia's published heritage material. The following examples of items recently archived show the diversity of the material being collected and preserved.

  • Bali Bombing

    This is the ABC Newsonline web site's coverage of the bombing in Bali. It includes ABC news stories, photo galleries, feature articles and eyewitness accounts and tributes submitted by the public. Archived on 22 October 2002.
    http://nla.gov.au/nla.arc-31710
  • GovOnline.gov.au

    This was a component of the National Office for the Information Economy web site which was formed in 1998 and designed as a portal to bring together the then existing Commonwealth IT-policy units. It was discontinued in November 2002 and its content was merged into the NOIE web site. The GovOnline.gov.au portal was included in PANDORA to document the Prime Minister's 1997 commitment to put all appropriate Government services online by 2001. It provides information about government online strategies, standards, services and e-procurement. Archived on 31 August 2002.
    http://nla.gov.au/nla.arc-30556
  • Global Summit on Online Knowledge Networks: connecting the future

    The Summit was held in Adelaide in March 2002 and brought together leaders, specialists and policy makers from Australia and around the world to explore the future development and management of online learning, education and training networks. It includes the full text of more than thirty papers from the Summit. Archived on 30 September 2002.
    http://nla.gov.au/nla.arc-30570

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Asian Collections

Asian newspapers on CD-ROM

The National Library has strong holdings of newspapers from Asia. While most titles are in traditional paper format or on microfilm, some major newspapers are now on CD-ROM. For example the Library has just purchased Ren min ri bao wu shi nian shu ju guang pan, the full text and index to fifty years of the People's Daily, the leading newspaper in the People's Republic of China. There are 20 CD-ROMs covering the years 1946 to 2000. Another recent acquisition is Nihon nishikie shinbun shusei, a CD-ROM of late nineteenth century illustrated Japanese newspapers, searchable by keyword on articles, writers, artists and newspaper names.

North Korea

The National Library of Australia holds by far the largest and most significant Korean language collection in the country. While most titles are from the Republic of Korea (South Korea), there is also a significant Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea) component. In recent years it has become difficult to obtain publications from the latter, but the National Library continues to seek materials from and about this important East Asian state. New acquisitions relating to the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea include Choson taebaekkwa sajon, the 30 volume encyclopedia of North Korea; Choson munhak, a 128 volume compilation of North Korean literature from 1947 to 2000; Pukhan inmyong sajon: 2001-yon kaejong, chungbop'an, a biographical dictionary of North Korea and Pukhan chongbo chongnam, a guide to North Korea.

Japanese women at home, in the US and Australia

Several interesting works have been obtained recently about Japanese women during and after the Second World War, including those who became war brides. These include Sensho to josei zasshi: 1931-1945, research on women during World War II as reflected in Japanese womens' magazines; Senso hanayome: kokkyo o moeta onnatachi no hanseiki, a history of Japanese women who married US and Australian soldiers and officials during the Occupation; and Senso hanayome 50-nen o kataru : kusa no ne shinzen taishi, a compilation of biographies of Japanese war brides in the US and Australia.

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Overseas Printed Materials

Research materials in microform

The last six months have seen the acquisition of a number of valuable microform collections that will greatly enhance the research collections of the Library. The major one is Early English Newspapers, which comprises more than 6,000 reels of microfilm and provides access to more than 1,300 17th and 18th century newspaper titles. The Library now holds the complete collection, which will be extremely significant to scholars and researchers not just in the areas of political, social and intellectual history but also as a record of the development of newspaper printing.

Other microform collections recently purchased or added to include:

  • China through western eyes: manuscript records of traders, travellers, missionaries & diplomats, 1792-1942
  • Confidential U.S. State Dept central files. China: subject-numeric files, February 1963-1966
  • Confidential U.S. State Dept central files. Indonesia: internal affairs and foreign affairs, 1960-January 1963
  • Early English books 1475-1640
  • East meets west: original records of traders, travellers, missionaries and diplomats to 1852
  • Foreign Office files. USA, Series two: Vietnam, 1959-1975
  • French books 1601-1700
  • French books before1601
  • German books before 1601
  • Historical gazetteer of London before the Great Fire
  • Nuclear disarmament after the Cold War

Rare Books

Rare books received recently include A Collection of the sufferings of the people called Quakers ... by Joseph Besse and printed in London in 1753. This two volume work was donated by the Religious Society of Friends (Canberra). Another rare book received, which was also printed in 1753, is Employment for the microscope by Henry Baker. This work was donated by Dr Ruth Bright who inherited it from her father, the late Francis Ockenden, an electrical engineer who was also President of the Queckett Microscopical Society in London. Miss Sheila Atkinson kindly donated nine rare books published between 1559 and 1829, ranging from literary works by Ben Jonson, Euripedes and Michael Drayton to Hebrew and Greek works by Johann Buxtorf and Andrew Dalzel respectively, and works by Frederic Schoberl, Johannes Leusden and Victorinus Bythner.

Malta

The Library has been fortunate to receive some valuable overseas books by donation. The Prime Minister of Malta visited the Library and generously donated 69 Maltese publications, many of which are concerned with Maltese culture and history. A number of the books contain magnificent illustrations and are beautiful works of art in themselves. Embassies play a significant role in contributing to the Library's collections with gifts of national publications.

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Manuscripts

The bulk of manuscript acquisitions comprised personal papers of notable Australians in various walks of life. They included further papers of the politician and businessman E.G. Theodore; a major addition to the papers of Sir John Gorton; papers of Sir John Thurston, Governor of Fiji and High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, 1887-97; scrapbooks and photograph albums of Lord Stonehaven, Governor-General 1925-31, and Lady Stonehaven and papers of business leaders Alex Dix and Sir Robert Southey. Sir Robert was a former Chairman of the Australian Ballet Foundation and his papers complement existing holdings of records of the Australian Ballet and the Liberal Party.

Papua New Guinea was a strong theme in recent Manuscript acquisitions, with the arrival of further papers documenting the career of Sir Donald Cleland, the former Administrator of Papua New Guinea, and his wife the conservationist Dame Rachel Cleland. Patrol reports kept by C.E.T Terrell were also received. Diaries of two Antarctic expeditioners were acquired, those of Fred Elliott on Heard Island in 1954-55 and S.J. Kelly on the ANARE station at Wilkes in 1966-68.

Among the academics and scholars whose papers were added to the collection were philosophers David Armstrong, Quentin Gibson and David Monroe; political scientists Thelma Hunter, Herbert Feith and Robert S. Parker; lawyer and academic J.G. Starke and scientist and dance historian Shirley Andrews. Writers and artists were also represented, with the acquisition of letters of Sir Russell Drysdale to art critic Paul Haefliger and further papers of the expatriate poet Ray Mathew, writer Geoffrey Dutton and novelist Morris West. Papers of Phyllis and Guy Boyd were also received. Guy was a sculptor and brother of Arthur Boyd. Phyllis was active in many organisations and campaigns.

Organisations which transferred archival records to the Library included the Australian Conservation Foundation, Australian Ballet, Australian Olympic Committee, the Institute of Cultural Affairs (Australia) and the Australian Council of National Trusts.

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Maps

In addition to the 1802 Freycinet map of the Derwent River, two rare and unusual German world maps were acquired. The mathematician and astronomer Franz Ritter's: Sundial map of the world, published in 1607 views the world from the North Pole as if projected across the table of a sundial. Land masses are drawn to scale in proportion to their distance from this point. In contrast, George Moritz Lowitz's Die verfinsterte Erdkugel d.i. geographische Vorstellung der Sonnen-od Eer-Finternis den 25ten Julii A. ,1748 , published in Nurenberg simply shows, over three maps the passage of a solar eclipse across the world in July 1748. An accompanying booklet gives more information on the extent of the eclipse.

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Oral History

Professor Graeme Clarke was interviewed by Diana Giese in Melbourne in October. Professor Clark, with a team based at the University of Melbourne, pioneered the development of the bionic ear for children and adults. Awarded many academic honours, he was also chosen as Senior Australian of the Year in 2001.

The Hon. Justice Dr Marcus Einfeld AO, QC was interviewed by Frank Heimans at Woollahra in June. A distinguished lawyer, Justice Einfeld was a judge of the Federal Court of Australia, Foundation Chairman of the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, and National Vice-President of the Australian section of the International Commission of Jurists. He was also active in the campaign for East Timorese independence. In this five hour interview he talks passionately on his life as a barrister, his views of past and current Australian political policy and practice, his role in persuading the Soviet Government to allow Russian Jews to emigrate and his concerns for social justice, particularly for refugees and Indigenous people.

Gae Pincus was interviewed by Sara Dowse in May. She speaks of her interest in the law, social policy and social justice and recalls her law studies at the Australian National University, her work in the Federal Office of Women's Affairs and as an Associate for High Court Justice Lionel Murphy; law reform issues within various government departments; the establishment of the National Food Authority and her field work for the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

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Pictures

The major pictorial acquisition in the last six months was the first part of the Wolfgang Sievers archive, which records aspects of Australian architecture, industry, manufacturing, construction, mining, transportation, shipping and power generation from 1938 to 1993. Sievers photographs were taken while on assignment for companies such as Shell, Ford, GMH, Alcoa, Comalco, ICI, APPM, Broken Hill Associated Smelters, and John Holland Constructions. Sievers has an international reputation as a photographer and the acquisition of this collection is something of a coup for the Library.

Other photographic acquisitions included an album of 135 photographs recording the visit of the Federal Parliamentary Party to the Northern Territory in April-May 1912, shortly after the territory's separation from South Australia, and fourteen exhibition prints of Australian Chinese in the 1990's by William Yang, with subjects ranging from a Chinese Australian wedding to a break-up feast at a Darwin 'Saturday School'. The Library also sent staff photographer Damian McDonald to photograph the newly constructed Baxter Detention Centre in Port Augusta. A relatively minor, but very striking acquisition, was Jim MacFarlane's photograph of Miranda Coney and Albert David in the Australian Ballet and Bangarra Dance Theatre production of Rites, 1997. It was snapped up within days of its arrival for reproduction on the cover of the October issue of National Library News.

Four drawings by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin were purchased at the Shapiro's auction on 9 May 2002, including the large drawing on silk: Reverend Cheok Hong Cheong house, Castlecrag, NSW, circa 1921. These items are a timely acquisition given the rise in research interest in the Griffins. Another significant acquisition was a large ST Gill watercolour of Charlton Station near Mount Remarkable, Adelaide, which was acquired at auction in London.

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