MS 2886 Papers of Keith Hancock
Summary
| Creator: |
Hancock, W.K. (William Keith), 1898-1988 |
| Title: |
Papers of Sir Keith Hancock |
| Date range: |
1950-1975 |
| Reference number: |
MS 2886 |
| Extent: |
2.1m. (15 boxes) |
Access
Available for reference
Provenance
The first part of this collection was donated by Sir Keith Hancock in
February 1963 when he gave his original manuscript of the first volume of his
biography of General Smuts to the National Library. He subsequently made
several large additions to the collection.
In October 1968 Sir Keith donated a further draft of his Smuts
biography, working notebooks, correspondence, and copies of excerpts from the
Smuts archives. Sir Keith destroyed his own personal papers and gave material
relating to the Australian National University to the Registrar of the
University. Any material he had retained on the British War History was sent to
the Australian War Memorial.
The corrected typescript of Attempting History was received by
the National Library in June 1969. The manuscript of Discovering
Monaro was donated by Sir Keith in August 1971, with the typescript
following in February 1972.
In August 1975 Sir Keith donated all his material on the Black Mountain
Tower and Fraser Island controversies. This included court transcripts,
correspondence, newspaper cuttings and other papers. These were supplemented by
further donations by Pam Coward (Hancock's secretary) in October 1976, Joan
Lynravn in 1978 and Stephen Foster in 1996.
Scope and Content
The collection consists of the drafts, typescripts and related material
of some of the later books written by Sir Keith Hancock, particularly his
biography of General J.C. Smuts. The material related to the Smuts biography
includes copies of letters by General Smuts and Sir Keith's correspondence with
various people while collecting material for the book. Correspondents include
Lord Trenchard, Professor P.G. H. Boswell, Piet Beukes, Sir Dougal Malcolm,
Professor D.W. Kruger, Dr W.J. de Kock, Professor K. Kirkwood, Lord Reith, Alan
Paton, Mrs M.C. Gillett, Professor L.W. Thompson, V.C.H.R. Brereton, Lord
Brand, J.C. Smuts and Clark Bancroft.
The material in the collection relating to the Fraser Island and Black
Mountain Tower controversies include the draft of the book on Black Mountain by
Hancock and his correspondence with various people over the issue.
Biographical Note
William Keith Hancock was born in Fitzroy, Melbourne on the 26 June
1898. The son of Archdeacon William Hancock, he was educated at Melbourne
Grammar School and later the University of Melbourne. At the age of nine he won
the Royal Humane Society's medal for rescuing another child from drowning in
the Mitchell River, Victoria.
As a Rhodes Scholar, Hancock went to Balliol College, Oxford in 1922. He
graduated in 1924 with a Bachelor of Arts with first class honours in Modern
History. He then became the first Australian to gain a Fellowship of All Souls
College, Oxford in 1923. After returning to Australia he was Professor of
Modern History at the University of Adelaide between 1924 and 1933. His highly
influential book Australia was published in 1930.
From 1934 to 1944 Hancock was the Professor of History at Birmingham
University and during this war period was also appointed to the War Cabinet
Offices. His Survey of British Commonwealth affairs was published in
three volumes in 1937-42. He was appointed Supervisor of the Civil History of
the War in 1941 and was thereafter editor of the series and the author of
The British war economy (1949). Between 1944 and 1949, he was Chichele
Professor of Economic History at the University of Oxford.
In 1949 he was appointed Director of the Institute of Commonwealth
Studies and he was the Professor of British Commonwealth Affairs at the
University of London until 1956. During this period he was sent as a government
expert to examine constitutional questions in Uganda in 1954. He also began to
write the biography of General Smuts, which appeared in two volumes in 1962 and
1968.
Hancock returned to Australia in 1957. He was Director of the Research
School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University from 1957 to
1961 and was Professor of History at the Institute of Advanced Studies, ANU
until his retirement in 1965. On his retirement he was made Emeritus Professor
(1968) and created the first University Fellow of ANU. Other positions he has
held were Chairman of the Editorial Board of the Australian Dictionary of
Biography from 1958 to 1965 and President of the Australian Academy of the
Humanities in 1970-1971.
Hancock was knighted in 1953 and made a Knight of the British Empire in
1965. He married Theaden Brocklebank in 1925; she died in 1960. He married
Marjorie Eyre in 1961. He died in Canberra in 1988.
Reference
Low, D.A., ed. Keith Hancock; the legacies of a historian,
Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 2001
Series List
Series Title
1 Papers relating to Smuts biography
A. Smuts
B. Correspondence about Smuts, 1951-1967
C. General correspondence and speeches on Smuts, 1951-1960
D. Smuts ‑ general correspondence and speeches
2. Discovering Monaro
3. Attempting History
4. Selections from the Smuts Papers
5. Papers relating to the Black Mountain Controversy, 1973-1974
A. The Battle of Black Mountain
B. The Campaign
6. Fraser Island Controversy, 1975
7. Miscellaneous items
Series Description
Series 1 Papers relating to Smuts biography
Subseries 1A Smuts
This subseries includes the first draft, notes and original manuscript
of Hancock's biography of the South African soldier and Prime Minister, Jan
Christian Smuts (1870-1950). It was published in 1962 (vol.1) and 1968 (vol.
2). Correspondence with Cambridge University Press relating to the publishing
of the book has also been included.
Subseries 1B Correspondence about Smuts,
1951-1967
This second subseries contains letters written between Sir Keith
Hancock and various people relating to the collection of information on General
Smuts for his book. The correspondents included Lord Trenchard, Professor
P.G.H. Boswell, Piet Beukes, Sir Dougal Malcolm, Prof. D.W. Kruger, Dr W.J. de
Kock, Professor K. Kirkwood, Lord Reith, Alan Paton, Mrs M.C. Gillett,
Professor L.M. Thompson, V.C.H.R. Brereton, Lord Brand, J.C. Smuts (son of
General Smuts) and Clark Bancroft. A list of the files in this subseries is
contained in Appendix 1.
Subseries 1C General correspondence and
speeches on Smuts, 1951-1960
This subseries contains Hancock's general correspondence including
correspondence relating to Smuts' article on Walt Whitman and Hancock's
correspondence with various people about biographies other than Smuts. The
drafts of some lectures given by Hancock on Smuts are also part of this
subseries.
Subseries 1D Smuts ‑ general
correspondence and speeches
The subseries comprises copies of a small number of letters of Smuts,
written between 1924 and 1949, including letters to Dr John Hutchinson, a
botanist, for whom Smuts wrote the forward to his book A Botanist in South
Africa. Other correspondents include Sarah Millin, General Sir
Charles Crewe and Lord Hankey. Smuts’ speeches were addressed to
various audiences including the United Party Congress (October 1944), a BBC
broadcast (May 1946), some addresses at Cambridge and on the occasion of his
receiving of the Freedom of Johannesburg (May 1950).
Series 2 Discovering
Monaro
This series contains Hancock's plans, notes, progress reports, drafts
and typescripts of his book Discovering Monaro,which was published in
1972. Correspondence with the publisher, Cambridge University Press, regarding
the book is also part of this series.
Series 3 Attempting History
Attempting History was the title of the University Lectures
which Hancock delivered at the Australian National University in 1968.
The first draft of the book, comprising the original four lectures and a proof
copy of the book, make up this series. The book was published by the ANU Press
in 1969.
Series 4 Selections from the Smuts
Papers
This book, edited by Hancock and Jean van der Poel, was published in
four volumes in 1966 and covered the years 1886-1919. The drafts of each volume
and some of the working notes for the book are contained in this series.
Correspondence with the publisher, Cambridge University Press, relating to the
book has also been included.
Series 5 Papers Relating to the Black Mountain Controversy,
1973-1974
Series 5A The Battle of Black
Mountain
This subseries contains notes, drafts, and typescripts of Hancock's
book The Battle of Black Mountain, which was published in 1974. The
comments on the manuscript of the book by Hancock's contemporaries has also
been included in this subseries. Some of Hancock's correspondence with the
publisher, Melbourne University Press, also comprises part of the series.
Series 5B The Campaign
There is a wide variety of material relating to the unsuccessful
campaign, in which Hancock played a leading role, to prevent the construction
of a telecommunication tower on Black Mountain in Canberra. Hancock
collected many newspaper clippings, extracts of meeting minutes and a vast
amount of correspondence with other leading activists, including Bruce Kent,
and many personal notes on the subsequent events of the controversy.
Also includes two folders of papers relating to the Black Mountain
controversy of 1973‑1974, which were added in 1996. These papers include
newspaper clippings and copies of correspondence of the Committee to save Black
Mountain, collected by Ross Hohnen. There are also two copies of the judgment
of Justice Smithers of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory
(31 October 1973) and a copy of Hancock's book, The battle of Black
Mountain: an episode of Canberra's environment history, Canberra 1974.
Series 6 Fraser Island Controversy,
1975
This series of material collected by Hancock related to controversy
over sand mining on Fraser Island in Queensland. The papers includes letters
from Hancock to E.G. Whitlam and H.C. Coombs, and letters received by Hancock
from Judith Wright and J.G. Mosley. A few newspaper clippings on the subject
were also collected by Hancock.
Series 7 Miscellaneous Items
This series contains miscellaneous items such as a list of General
Smuts papers held at Irene, a draft of the speech made by Hancock at the
launching of P. Mander-Jones' book Manuscripts in the British Isles
relating to Australia. New Zealand and the Pacific, and Hancock's notes on
the Afrikaans language.
Material added in March 1978 includes drafts of Hancock's autobiography Professing
history and correspondence with H. Duncan Hall, Professor J.D.B. Miller
and R.G. Menzies (1957-1961). Hancock's annotated copy of Buganda and
British Overrule by D.A. Low and R.C. Pratt (1960) was added in 2003.
Appendix 1
Correspondence Files in Subseries 1B
Amery, L.S.
Baylen, J.O.
Beresford, Frank
Beukes, Piet
Boswell, P.G.H., Prof.
Bradley, Joan
Brand, Robert, 1st Baron
Brereton, V.C.H.R.
Brincker, Dr I.A.H.
Brown, Ethel
Bunting, A.H.
Churchill, Sir Winston
Clark, Bancroft
Clay, Sir Henry
Cohn, Alfred
Cooper, J.A.B. see Syfret's Trust
Curtis, Lionel
Davenport, Rodney
Davis, T.B., Dr
D'Egville, Sir Howard
De Kock, W.J., Dr
Elliot, G., Prof.
Egeland, Leif
Enock, A.G.
Farrer-Brown, Leslie see Nuffield Foundation
Flower, J.C., Rev.
Frewer, Lousis B.
Fry, Ruth
Gillett, M.C., Mrs (2 files)
Harvey, G.E.
Hayman, J.D.
Hobbs, M.G., Mrs
Howarth, O.J.R., Dr
Huxley, Sir Julian
Hutchinson, J., Dr
Inman, Peggy
Kirkwood, K., Prof.
Kruger, D.W., Prof.
Lamont, T.S.
Lane, E.F.C.
Lean, P., Mrs
Legum, Colin
Le May, G.H.L., Prof.
Le Roy, Jean
Lewin, G.L. see Cohn, Alfred
Lloyd, A.W
Lloyd George, David
Lovell, Colin R.
Malcolm, Sir Douglas
Macdermot, T.W.L.
Mackworth-Young, Robin see Windsor Castle Archives
Malhermot, E.G., Prof.
Marais, J.S., Prof.
Meinertzhagen, R., Col.
Meldrum, L.W.
Millin, S.G., Mrs
Moore, Daphne, Lady
Morshead, Sir Owen see Windsor Castle
Archives
Murray, Gilbert, Prof.
Nuffield Foundation
O'Dowd, C.
Oppenheimer, Sir Emest
Paton, Alan
Parkin, G.R.
Pearn Pollingham and Higham
Raath, E.A., Mrs
Radcliffe‑Brown, A.R., Prof.
Raven, C.E., Canon
Reith, Sir John, 1st Baron
Rennell, Francis, 2nd Baron
Richardson, S.
Roberts, H.V.
Robinson, R.
Rockefeller Foundation
Salter, Sir Arthur
Schonland, Sir Basil
Smuts, J. C. (Jannie)
Steed, Wickham
Stein, L.
Steytler, F.A.
Syfret's Trust
Thompson, Kenneth see Rockefeller Foundation
Thompson, L.W., Prof.
Trenchard, Hugh, 1st Viscount
Waverley, Ada, Viscountess
Wayland, E.J.
Whyte, L.L.
Windsor Castle Archives
Miscellaneous letters
|
Box |
Series |
|
1 |
1A |
|
2 |
1A |
|
3 |
1A |
|
4 |
1B |
|
5 |
1B |
|
6 |
1B |
|
7 |
1C, 1D |
|
8 |
2 |
|
9 |
2-3 |
|
10 |
4 |
|
11 |
4 |
|
12 |
4 |
|
12A |
4 |
|
13 |
5A, 5B |
|
14 |
5B, 6, 7 |
1977. Last updated July 2002.
|