Guide to the Papers of Dame Mary Gilmore

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MS 1662

National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record

Collection Summary

Creator
Gilmore, Mary, Dame, 1865-1962
Title
Papers of Dame Mary Gilmore
Date Range
1893-1960
Collection Number
MS 1662
Extent
0.15 metres (4 folders + 1 volume)
Language of Materials
English
Repository
Special Collections (Manuscripts)
Sponsor
This finding aid was revised and published with the assistance of the Ray Mathew and Eva Kollsman Trust.

Introduction

Scope and Contents

The collection comprises drafts of poetry, letters to W.A. Woods, Mrs Gollan Lewis, Mrs W.A. Woods, correspondence received by W.A. Woods from A.G. Stephens and Rose Webster concerning Mary Gilmore and press cuttings concerning Mary Gilmore.

Conditions Governing Access

Available for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred Citation

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Dame Mary Gilmore, National Library of Australia, MS 1662, [series/file number]'.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The collection was donated to the Library by Mrs Gollan Lewis in 1966.

Papers of Dame Mary Gilmore are also held at MS 727, MS 1695 and MS 8766; diaries of Mary Gilmore, 1940-1949 are held at MS 614 (copies: originals held by Mitchell Library, Sydney). Small collections of letters by Mary Gilmore are held at MS 633, MS 1728, MS 1888, MS 2685 and MS 5644.

Other collections containing letters and papers of Mary Gilmore include the following: Kate Baker (MS 1533); W.P. Bluett (MS 4714); J.H. Catts (MS 658); Alec Chisholm (MS 1880), M. Condon (MS 2375); Ralph De Boissiere (MS 8402); Harold W. Eather (MS 2015); Edward Findley (MS 2111); Annie Louise Green (MS 8574); Elioth Gruner (MS 8965); Clement Hosking (MS 2680); Norman Jeffery (MS 1948); Marie McNiven (MS 2012); and W. Farmer Whyte (MS 970).

The Library also holds records of the Mary Gilmore Centenary Committee, 1964-65 at MS 1696.

Separated Materials

Other papers of Dame Mary Gilmore are held by the Mitchell Library, Sydney; the Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra; and Charles Sturt University Regional Archives.

Biographical Note

Mary Cameron, poet and journalist, was born at Mary Vale, Woodhouselee, near Goulburn, NSW, on 16 August 1865. She was educated at Brucedale, near Wagga Wagga, and later at Wagga Wagga Public School. Between 1877 and 1895 she taught in a variety of schools in New South Wales. She became involved in the New Australia movement and on 31 October 1895 resigned from teaching and sailed to Paraguay on the Ruapehu. Cameron remained at the Cosme settlement in Paraguay until 1899. She married fellow colonist and Victorian shearer William Alexander Gilmore (1866-1945) in 1897 and their only child William Dysart Cameron Gilmore (1898-1945) was born at Villarica, near Cosme. Before returning to Australia in 1902, she taught English in Rio Gallegos in southern Patagonia and wrote for Buenos Aires papers.

Gilmore's verse first appeared in the Australian Worker in 1902, and from 1908-31 she edited the women's page of this newspaper. Her first published volume, Marri'd and other verses appeared in 1910. Other publications include The passionate heart (1918), Hound of the road (1922), The tilted cart (1925), The wild swan (1930), The rue tree (1931), Under the wilgas (1932), Battlefields (1939), and Fourteen men (1954).

In 1937, in recognition of her contribution to Australian literature, she was made a Dame of the British Empire - the first woman to receive this award for services to literature. Dame Mary was a founder of the Lyceum Club, Sydney, a founder and vice-president in 1928 of the Fellowship of Australian Writers, an early member of the New South Wales Institute of Journalists and life member of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Dame Mary Gilmore died on 3 December 1962.

Item Descriptions

Series 1. Drafts of poetry, 1893-1898

Drafts (File 1)

'Aye he's dee'in, our boy is dee'in', n.d. (Item 1_2)
'Here's wishin's', n.d. (Item 3)
'The cows kep' flying' up, boys', 2 Sept 1893 (Item 4)
'A sin is sin, whoever sins', 1 September 1894 (Item 5)
'The tide is at the full', 30 November 1895 (Item 6)
'I don't know whether 'tis well to love', 2 December 1895 (Item 7)
'It's gettin' in an' gettin' out', 7 December 1895 (Item 8)
'My love is great as the ocean', 9 December 1895 (Item 9)
'Give us a kiss, sweet heart', 5 February 1898 (Item 10)
'Us is out, her an' me', 6 February 1898 (Item 11)
'Us ain't made to snap and snarl', [6 February 1898?] (Item 12)
'O, singer in brown', 1 July 1903 (Item 13)

Series 2. Letters of Dame Mary Gilmore, 1909-1960

Subseries 2a. Letters to W.A. Woods, 1909-1936

Letters (File 2)
Letter, n.d. (Item 14_15)
Letter, 30 November 1909 (Item 16)
Letter, 15 January 1910 (Item 17)
Letter, 1 March 1910 (Item 18_20)
Letter, 26 November 1911 (Item 21_23)
Letter, 14 November 1936 (Item 24_25)

Subseries 2b. Letters to Mrs Gollan Lewis, 1939-1960

Letters (File 2)
Letter, n.d. (Item 26)
Letter, 9 March 1938 [i.e. 1939] (Item 27_29)
Letter, 9 February 1940 (Item 30_31)
Letter, 4 June 1940 (Item 32)
Letter, 5 April 1949 (Item 33_34)
Letter, 2 Sept 1949 (Item 35_36)
Letter, 1 August 1953 (Item 37_38)
Letter, 2 October 1959 (Item 39_40)
Letter, 22 Sept 1960 (Item 41_42)

Subseries 2c. Letters to Mrs W.A. Woods, 1952

Letters (File 2)
Letter, 25 January 1952 (Item 43_44)
Letter, 26 February 1952 (Item 45_46)
Letter, 14 March 1952 (Item 47_48)

Series 3. Letters concerning Dame Mary Gilmore, 1897-1899

Subseries 3a. Letters from A.G. Stephens to W.A. Woods, 1897-1899

Letters (File 3)
Letter, 2 December 1897 (Item 49)
Letter, 3 April 1899 (Item 50_51)
Letter, 14 April 1899 (Item 52)
Letter, 25 September 1899 (Item 53)

Subseries 3b. Letters from Rose Webster to W.A. Woods, 1897-1899

Letters (File 3)
Letter, 30 Sept 1899 (Item 54_55)
Letter, 15 October 1899 (Item 56_57)

Series. Press cuttings concerning Dame Mary Gilmore, 1895-1953

Drafts (File 4)

'Then she went' Bulletin, n.d. (Item 58)
'In the city', n.d. (Item 59)
'Goodnight, beloved!' [Democrat], n.d. (Item 60)
'Because of the daughters' [Women's Voice], n.d. (Item 61)
'Two Souls', n.d. (Item 62)
'The wrong breed', n.d. (Item 63)
'The little ones' Clipper 21, 1895 (Item 64)
'Because of the daughters' Women's Voice, 10 August 1895 (Item 65)
'Honey-sweet, de babby', 8 April 1903 (Item 66)
'Poets do honor to a poetess' Sunday Sun, 13 August 1933 (Item 67)
'My fleece is white as snow' Sydney Morning Herald, 18 June 1949 (Item 68)
'Wind and wars will swamp police state' Tribune, 29 July 1953 (Item 69)
'Cities, universities in U.S.S.R. 'dead heart'' Tribune, 29 July 1953 (Item 70)

Series 5. Miscellaneous, 1942-1943

Drafts (File 5)

Photograph of Mary Cameron, n.d. (Item 71)
Hegmonay card, 1942-1943 (Item 72)

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