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.
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:
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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