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Axel
Poignant (19061986)
Harold White 1950s
photograph
Pictorial Collection
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The
postwar period, from the late 1940s until the early 1960s, saw a dramatic
increase in the number of formed collections acquired by the National
Library. In 1947 Harold White took over from Kenneth
Binns as Head Librarian. The diversity of the collections acquired
under White’s administration are a tribute to his remarkable foresight.
From Asian studies through to the papers of feminist Bessie
Rischbieth, White ensured that little was overlooked that one
day might be thought to be of historical and cultural significance. The
collection policy of this period, however, also reflects the urgent need
of the Library to fulfil its charter as a research library of distinction.
An obvious way to rapidly build the collections was to acquire formed
collections.
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Lady
Casey 1960s
photograph
Pictorial Collection
Lady Casey’s Papers are held in the NLA Manuscript Collection
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In
1939 the Library first heard about the important collection of Rex Nan
Kivell through the writer and patron Maie Casey. A New Zealand-born London
dealer, Nan Kivell had collected material relating to the discovery and
settlement of lands in the South Seas. However, it wasn’t until 1962 that
the Library was able to secure the purchase of the collection.
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Keast
Burke (18961974)
Portrait of Sir John Ferguson (18811969)
colour photograph
Pictorial Collection
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In
1946 the Library acquired the first stage of the Ferguson Collection
of books, manuscripts and pictorial material, nearly a decade after Sir
John Ferguson's presentation of newspapers and periodicals (1937). The
Ferguson Collection consists of 34 000 items and is the largest private
collection in the Library’s possession. It covers many areas relating
to Australia and the Pacific, including sociology, publishing history,
poetry, and economics. Among the treasures of the collection is the manuscript
of the journal kept by James Burney on Captain Cook’s second voyage to
the Pacific. After Ferguson's death in 1969, the remainder of the collection
was purchased by the Library from the trustees of the estate.
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