Recent Acquisition Highlights

October 1995

This listing gives brief descriptions of some of the more significant items recently added to the National Library's collections. Included this month are items from the Manuscript, Oral History, Pictorial, Map and Asian collections. Collecting activity in the fields of electronic media, Commonwealth Government publications, and retrospective acquisition is also highlighted.

Australian Collections

Printed and Electronic Materials

  • Recognising the increasing importance of the use of electronic forms of publishing in Australia, the National Library has recently invested additional resources to enhance the overall effectiveness of its Australian acquisition program and to ensure that it secures access to that body of material which is published only in electronic form. The Australian Collection Development Unit now has a position dedicated half time to the monitoring and selection of electronic journals (e-journals) appearing on the Internet. Records of selected documents are being retained pending the development of formal selection criteria which are to be evaluated shortly by the Library's Collection Development and Management Committee. Further progress in this area will be reported as developments occur.

Commonwealth Government Publications

  • The remaining time of the position referred to above is being invested in an evaluation of the Library's success in acquiring Commonwealth Government publications, recognising that a greater proportion of these materials is now published and issued outside the traditionally highly centralised and controlled publishing environment previously offered by the Australian Government Publishing Service (AGPS). With increasing capabilities in desk-top publishing and a trend towards decentralisation of publishing activities, AGPS is controlling a decreasing proportion of the Commonwealth Government's publishing output. This situation has obvious implications for the deposit of government publications in libraries and for the long-term preservation of these publications.

  • The Library has recently completed a survey of the publishing activities of Commonwealth Government departments and agencies, not only in Canberra but in centres all round Australia including Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Brisbane, Townsville, Darwin, Perth and Adelaide. The survey was conducted by face-to-face interview. The Library's initiative in establishing personal contact was warmly welcomed, especially in the more far-flung regions, and it was apparent that many agencies were not aware of their obligation to deposit their published materials with the National Library. It is of interest that in the course of this survey alone, some ten kilos of material was collected and has since been formally taken into the Library's collection. It is expected that publications will continue to arrive as a result of the contacts established during this project. Further follow-up and monitoring will continue.

Retrospective Monographs and Serials

  • A continuing responsibility of the National Library is the acquisition of older and retrospective materials that have previously eluded its net. During the period under review, the Library acquired an interesting and diverse range of material, some highlights of which follow:
    • A collection of 72 items of Australian maritime ephemera from the 1920s and 1930s, including passenger lists, 'on-board' newsletters, price lists, menus, entertainment programs and itineraries from passenger liners sailing into Australian ports
    • A collection of foreign language translations of works by Australian romance fiction writer Emma Darcy, acquired from the author
    • A run (1950s-1960s) of the popular Australian magazine Pix
    • A collection of performing arts materials relating to a number of Australian performers, acquired from the dealer Karl Levett in New York. These include programs of stage performances by the actor Erroll Flynn from provincial theatres in the United Kingdom prior to the establishment of his film career in the United States.

Manuscripts

  • After two years of protracted and at times difficult negotiations, the acquisition of the papers of Lindy Chamberlain has been completed. The collection includes a great many personal and family documents of Ms Chamberlain, including letters, legal documents, cutting books, photographs, memorabilia and the drafts of her book Through my eyes. By far the largest component is the thousands of letters from members of the public, commenting on the Chamberlain case and expressing support or opposition. They cover a ten-year period and constitute an extraordinary record of public opinion, not only on the case itself but on the views of ordinary Australians on such diverse subjects as the Australian judicial system, the police, the media, religion (especially the Seventh Day Adventist Church), family relationships, death and grief.

  • Another Australian who achieved both fame and notoriety was Dr William McBride, who for over 20 years was the Director of Foundation 41, which carried out research into the causes of mental and physical handicap. Dr McBride has placed in the Library all the files of Foundation 41 together with his personal papers, including correspondence, research papers, records of legal proceedings, patients' records, photographs, press cuttings, notes, certificates and awards and the drafts of his autobiography Killing the messenger.

  • One of the finest personal collections on the Australian administration of Papua New Guinea has been received from the family of E.W.P. Chinnery. Chinnery, who died in 1972, first went to Papua in 1909 and served as a patrol officer. In 1923 he became the Government Anthropologist in the Mandated Territory and later the first Director of District Services and Native Affairs. He left in 1939 to head the Department of Native Affairs in the Northern Territory, where he remained until 1946. The papers cover his entire career and include diaries, reports, correspondence with anthropologists, officials and politicians, photographs, maps and publications.

  • Other acquisitions in the area of public life have included the papers of Frederick Osborne, Gavan Schneider and Barry Maddern. Frederick Osborne, who held a number of portfolios in the Menzies Government and was later president of the New South Wales Division of the Liberal Party, has added an important group of files to a collection originally presented to the Library twenty years ago. They contain extensive correspondence relating to the affairs of the Liberal Party from the 1960s to the 1980s, as well as papers relating to its business and legal activities. Gavan Schneider was active in the Australian Democrats Party in the 1980s and has presented the first substantial collection of records of the Australian Democrats so far received by the Library. Barry Maddern was a leading industrial advocate and president of the Industrial Relations Commission. His widow has donated a small but useful collection of speeches, letters, cuttings, photographs and other documents.

  • The Library has considerable strength in records of Australian theatre and this part of the collection has been growing rapidly in recent years. An interesting manuscript, recently purchased, was written by Humphrey Hall and Alfred John Cripps in about 1911 and is entitled 'The Romance of the Sydney Stage'. It chronicles in great detail theatrical performances in Sydney and the activities and rivalry of theatre managers from the 1790s to about 1860. Currency Press, the leading publisher of Australian plays, has made a substantial addition to the collection of its archive already in the Library, including correspondence and drafts of many playwrights and papers of its co-founder Katharine Brisbane. It complements another acquisition, the extensive archives of the Australian National Playwrights' Centre. The Centre is responsible for the annual National Playwrights' Conference, which started in 1973 and has become well established as an important venue for the workshopping and refinement of unpublished Australian plays, many of which have gone on to achieve professional presentation and, in some cases, national success.

  • Also in the sphere of organisational archives, the Australian Council for Overseas Aid transferred to the Library records dating back to its foundation in 1965. Included are correspondence, minutes, reports, files on particular countries and member agencies and material on the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development.

  • Other acquisitions can only be mentioned briefly. The Library has purchased a letter of the novelist Joseph Conrad, written in 1924, that refers to his visits to Australia while serving in the merchant navy. Brenda Niall has donated papers relating to her biography of the writer Martin Boyd (complementing the large collection of his personal and literary papers already held), while the papers of his nephew, the sculptor Guy Boyd, have been presented by Mrs Phyllis Boyd. Useful collections of papers have been received of the broadcaster Muriel Howlett, the poet John Tranter, the writer Gillian Bouras and the mathematician Peter O'Halloran. A valuable series of albums documenting the life and work of the Aboriginal tenor Harold Blair have been placed in the Library by his widow. The Canberra writer Anne Edgeworth has passed to the Library a collection of family letters covering three generations of her family, including some papers of the eminent geologist Sir Edgeworth David.

Oral History

  • Major interviews were recorded with eminent Australians in the fields of law, science, religion, the performing arts, publishing and book selling, diplomacy, librarianship, education, journalism, public administration and architecture. Interviewees included Professor Geoffrey Sawer, Justice Michael Kirby, Sir John Cornforth (UK), Lady Cornforth, Bishop John A. Morgan, Maggie Fink, John Iremonger, Richard Walsh, Frank Thompson, Sir Peter Lawler, Alison Crook, Dr Jean Blackburn, Archbishop James Gleeson, Brian Toohey and Glenn Murcutt.

  • Development of the social history segment of the collection saw a number of interesting and valuable additions of material. Interviews were received in the fields of whaling (through collaboration between the Battye Library in Perth and the National Library), jazz in Australia (a series of interviews collected by the Australian poet Geoff Page pursuing a deep private interest), environmental history (being further material received from Gregg Borschmann), feminism (interviews collected by the historian Ann Turner) and radical politics (interviews collected by Wendy Lowenstein, one of Australia's leading oral historians). Projects proceeding but to date not yet transferred to the Library, include Ros Bowden's interviews with rural women in Australia and Peter Parkhill's interviews with residents of the Illawarra district (NSW).

  • Collection development of the Library's folklore holdings resumed their customary high level of activity following the brief lull reported last time. Ann Turner recorded a very detailed interview in England with Martin Wyndham-Reid, one of the best known performers of traditional Australian songs. Peter Ellis completed two field recording trips in the Bendigo district, focussing on traditional dance music. Jennifer Gall completed the first phase of a project to document the folklore and musical heritage of the Richmond River district (NSW). Dave de Hugard, a well-known performer and collector, deposited 32 hours of field recordings from the Glen Innes district (NSW). Dr Barry York and Dr Edgar Waters deposited the first 14 hours of field recordings made with members of the Maltese-Australian community in the Blacktown district (NSW).

Pictorial Collection

  • Following the establishment of the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in 1994 under the management of the National Library, a greater and more systematic emphasis has been placed on the acquisition of portraits both to meet the needs of the NPG's exhibition program and to contribute to the documentation of the work and contribution of distinguished Australians in a range of disciplines. Portraits are acquired in a range of media, but with the major emphasis being placed on paintings and photographs. Recent acquisitions include a further selection of portrait photographs by the Sydney photographer Greg Weight, who has made a specialisation of recording leading Australian artists (a substantial collection of Greg Weight's portraits of artists was purchased in 1993). The latest consignment includes portraits of Charles Blackman, Arthur and Yvonne Boyd at Bundanon, Cressida Campbell, Rosalie Gascoigne, Louis James, Reg Mombassa, William Robinson, Martin Sharp, Joshua Smith, Imants Tillers and leading Aboriginal artists Emily Kngwarreye, Billy Morton and Angelina Knarle. Eight portrait photographs by the late Max Dupain were purchased from the son of this great Australian photographer. This collection comprises portraits of Peter Finch, Jean Bellette, Emeritus Professor Charles Blackburn, Sir William Dobell, John Dease, the sculptor Tom Bass, Sir Lorimer Dods and the curator and historian Ian North. Fifteen exhibition prints of eminent Australians were purchased from the photographer Henry Talbot. They include portraits of artists Judy Cassab, Louis Kahan and Mirka Mora, the medical scientist Professor Ron Penny and the Melbourne photographer Athol Shmith. A portrait of Henry Talbot by Athol Shmith is included with this acquisition.

  • A number of oil portraits were also acquired. These include two portraits by the Sydney painter George Gittoes, the dancer Ronaldo Cameron and the photographer William Yang. A bronze bust of the forensic scientist Dr John Birrell was presented to the Library by its sculptor Ethel Reynolds. A portrait of the Queensland art critic, the late Dr Gertrude Langer, by Nan Paterson was purchased. An outstanding portrait of the Australian composer George Dreyfus by Brian Dunlop was acquired. Apart from its high visual appeal, this portrait complements the National Library holding of the papers of George Dreyfus. Also of interest is the portrait by Aileen Dent of the politician and diplomat Sir Frederick Eggleston, whose substantial collection of papers is held in the National Library. A portrait in pastel of Surgeon William Brougham Monkhouse who accompanied Captain James Cook on the voyage of H.M.S. Endeavour (1768-1771) was purchased in Sydney. This portrait adds to the rich body of Cook-related materials already held in the National Library.

  • Although the acquisition of portraits has assumed considerable importance, the Library has taken care to maintain an overall balance in its collecting program. A wide range of acquisitions has been made which document various aspects of Australian life from a national perspective. Further photographs of Australian towns were acquired as part of the Regional Cities and Major Towns Project, which has been reported on previously. Latest acquisitions include materials that document Benalla and Bendigo in Victoria, Armidale in New South Wales, and Albany, Bunbury, Broome, Carnarvon, Geraldton and Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. This project is continuing. Other acquisitions include the copying of a large collection of photographs of the late Professor Manning Clark and his family lent by Mrs Dymphna Clark. These photographs complement the extensive collection of Manning Clark's papers held in the Manuscript Section. Another collection lent for copying was that of the ballerina Peggy Sager who danced with the Kirsova Ballet and later the Borovansky Ballet in Australia. This collection of 72 photographs adds further strength to the Library's outstanding collections relating to ballet in Australia. A large signed photograph of Sir Donald Bradman in action at the Adelaide Oval circa 1934 was purchased from an Adelaide dealer. An album of 89 colour photographs documenting the lives of Maltese immigrants in Sydney was donated by Dr Barry York. This material complements a collection of oral history interviews with members of the Maltese community recently completed by Dr York and Dr Edgar Waters.

Map Collection

  • A number of interesting Australian map acquisitions were made during the period under review. These include the following:
    • Sketch map on butter paper of section of the barracks adjacent to Cockle Bay, Sydney, dated 22 October 1858.
    • Map of Sydney and suburbs showing tramway lines and stopping places. Sydney: McCarron, Stewart and Co. [1920-1929].
      Later edition of a series of maps issued by this company since the 1890s showing the development of Sydney's transport services.
    • Polynesien (Insewelt) oder der Funfte weltheil. [Vienna]: Daniel Djurberg, 1789.
    • First Viennese edition of Djurberg's map of Australasia and the Pacific, which was originally published in Stockholm in 1780. The 1780 edition saw the first use of the word 'Ulimaroa', understood to be a Maori description of Australia.
    • Crisp Estate, Cooma, 1882.
    • Photographic facsimile size copy of a rare original sales plan of the former Crisp estate, Cooma, NSW.

Asian Collections

  • Following consultation with the Australian National University Library as part of a coordinated approach to collection development, the National Library is acquiring from Archive International in Neufchatel, Switzerland the publication Japan and dependencies: political and economic reports 1906-1960. This 20 volume work comprises British political and economic reports on Japan and its former colonies, including Korea, Taiwan and mainland territories in the then province of Manchuria. The original documents upon which this publication is based are located in the Public Record Office in London and in the Cambridge University Library.

Last updated 15 March 1996

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