MS 4967 Papers of Christina Stead (1902 - 1983)
Scope and Content Note
Papers
1919-1996
2.8m. (20 boxes)
Available for reference
Manuscript and typescript drafts of prose; notes, background material
and jottings relating to Steads literary output; correspondence with
Philip Harvey, Norman Rosten, Ettore Rella, William Blake, Cyrilly Abels,
Stanley Burnshaw and others; diaries, reviews, photographs and other papers.
The collection also includes literary drafts of other writers including Ettore
Rella, Mary Sarton, George Baxt, John Bright, Oliver Stallybrass, E. Louise
Mally, Jorge Ibarguengoitia, Elaine Kraf, Norman Rosten and Stanley
Burnshaw.
Provenance note
The Stead Papers were acquired in ten consignments between 1975 and
1999, mainly from Steads literary executor, Professor Ron Geering.
Related materials
Correspondence and other papers relating to Christina Stead are also
held other Manuscript Collection including MS 802 (H.C. Coombs, box 49, folder
377); MS 7168 (Jack Lindsay), MS 7228 (Ettore Rella), MS 7306, MS 7570 (W.H.
Pearson), MS 7666, MS 7840 (Donald A. Cameron), MS 8317, MS 8477, MS 8548
(Laurence Pollinger), MS 8617, MS 8645, MS 9244 (Hazel Rowley), MS 9351 (R.G.
Geering) and MS 9405 (Edith Anderson).
Biographical Note
Christina Ellen Stead was born in Sydney on 17 July 1902, the daughter
of the naturalist David Stead. She was educated at Bexley Public School, St.
George High School (Kogarah), Sydney Girls School and Sydney
Teachers College, where she graduated in 1921. Stead worked as a teacher
until 1924 and in office work until her departure from Australia in 1928. Stead
lived most of her life abroad, mainly in London (1928-29 and 1953-68) and Paris
(1929-33), where she worked as a secretary and translator and in the United
States of America, (1935-47).
During the 1930s Stead began writing novels. The Salzburg tales
and Seven poor men of Sydney were published in 1934 and her highly
praised novel The man who loved children appeared in 1940. Despite
critical acclaim she did not win a more general following in Australia until
the mid 1960s. After the death of her partner William Blake, Stead returned
briefly to Australia in 1969 as writer-in-residence at the Australian National
University. In 1974 she returned permanently to Australia, receiving the
inaugural Patrick White Award in the same year.
Stead died in Sydney on 31 March 1983.
Papers Received 31 October 1984
Box 1
Folder
| 1 |
More lives than one |
Uncompleted novel |
| 2 |
For love alone |
Notes and jottings |
| 3 |
The man who loved children |
Jottings |
| 4 |
House of all nations |
Odd pages |
| 5 |
The beauties and furies |
Fragments from early
versions |
| 6 |
The right-angled creek |
Novella, early version |
Box 2
Folder
| 7 |
Letty Fox |
Notes and fragments from
early versions |
| 8 |
Tales |
Story topics and
fragments |
| 9 |
The people with the dogs |
Notes |
| 10 |
Cotters England |
Early versions, fragments
Branch line: the northern engineer |
| 11 |
Cotters England |
Notes and parts of early
version Brother and sister |
| 12-14 |
Miss Herbert |
Corrected typescript (early),
slightly different final paragraph from that in the book |
Box 3
Folder
| 15-17 |
Miss Herbert |
A more recent corrected
typescript with changed ending |
| 18 |
Eleanor, Miss Herbert |
Notes and fragments of early
versions |
| 19-20 |
Fan Pearl |
Notes, background material;
sketches and other television projects |
| 21 |
Foxwarren Hall |
Memoirs, 1958 |
Box 4
Folder
| 22 |
Foxwarren Hall |
Memoirs, 1959-60 (?) See also
folder 22a in box 16 |
| 23 |
Four just men |
Rough version and suggestions
for a T.V. series |
| 24 |
Women |
Womens Movement
letters, notes |
| 25 |
Doctor |
Notes for a nouvelle |
| 26 |
Albania |
Notes, sketches, fragments of
a nouvelle |
| 27 |
Spanish |
Handwritten passages |
| 28 |
Cards and cryptography |
|
| 29 |
The student lovers part 2: The student of
Naples |
Parts of an early
nouvelle |
Box 5
Folder
| 30 |
Yiddish |
Dialogue, notes and sketches |
| 31 |
The talking ghost |
Fragments of stories and notes |
| 32 |
Miscellaneous I |
| 33 |
Miscellaneous II |
| 34 |
Miscellaneous III |
| 35 |
Miscellaneous IV |
| 36 |
Miscellaneous V |
| 37 |
Miscellaneous VI |
Box 6
Folder
| 38 |
Lydham, early Sydney, family |
|
| 39 |
Miscellaneous VII |
|
| 40 |
Miscellaneous VIII |
Early fragments, The
Wraith and the Wanderer, Verse, Under Capricorn |
| 41 |
Miscellaneous IX |
|
| 42 |
Miscellaneous X |
|
| 43 |
The travellers bed and breakfast, St
Prex |
|
| 44 |
Marionettes I |
Nello |
| 45 |
Marionettes II |
Jan Callowjan |
Box 7
Folder
| 46-47 |
On Literature I |
| 48-49 |
On Literature II |
| 50-51 |
Letters |
| 52 |
Answers to questionnaire (a) International Association of
Writers for the Defence of Culture, 1937 (b) Interview by Jonah
Raskin |
| 53 |
On Virginia Woolf |
| 54 |
On David Smiths Medals for Dishonour |
Box 8
Folder
| 55 |
On Stanley Burnshaw |
|
| 56 |
Stanley Burnshaw. |
Caged in an
Animals Mind |
| 57 |
Stanley Burnshaw. |
Poems |
| 57 |
Stanley Burnshaw. |
The Hero of
Silence |
| 58 |
Stanley Burnshaw. |
Uriel Da
Costa |
| 59 |
Ettore Rella. |
American
Portifolio With comments |
| 60 |
Ettore Rella. |
(i) Smiley the
Guru With comments (ii) The Real Imitation |
| 61 |
Vietnam |
Printed matter |
| 62 |
Women in Love |
Sapphire Films |
Box 9
Folder
| 63 |
(i) Mary Sarton. (ii) George Baxt. |
The Leopard
Land The Curse of the Golem Original story and
screenplay, 1958 |
| 64 |
John Bright. |
City of
Angels |
| 65 |
(i) Oliver Stallybrass. (ii) E. Louise Mally. |
I. 2 Track Mind
The Hunter of Kentucky |
| 66 |
Jorge Ibarguengoitia. |
The Dead
Girls |
| 67-68 |
Elaine Kraf. |
The House of
Madelaine |
| 69 |
John Bright. |
The Paper
World |
| 70 |
American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters,
1981-83 |
Addition 10 October 1986
Box 10
Folder
| 71 |
Correspondence from Philip Harvey, 1961-1980 |
| 72 |
Correspondence from Stead to Philip and Leah Harvey,
1968-1984 |
| 73-78 |
Early versions of material published in Ocean of
Story |
Box 11
Folder
| 79 |
Unpublished articles and notes |
| 80-83 |
Book reviews |
| 84 |
Workshop in the novel |
| 85-86 |
Im dying laughing - background material |
Box 12
Folder
| 87 |
Im dying laughing - notes and background
material |
| 88-94 |
Im dying laughing - early versions |
Box 13
Folder
| 95-99 |
Im dying laughing - early versions |
| 100-102 |
Im dying laughing - final draft |
Box 14
Folder
| 103-107 |
Im dying laughing - final draft
Le Grand Véfour menu |
Addition 9 September 1988
Box 14
Folder
| 108 |
Three typescripts (n.d.): Extracts from a Spanish
diary (2 p.) Notes on character observation (2 p.)
Clarification of the plot - how to approach and write the great
scene (2 p.)
Unfinished stories in typescript (no dates but some appear circa
early 1940s): The bearded lady Lafe Tilleys haunted
house Haunted cars The talking ghost George
eccentricities MMs ghost |
| 109 |
Correspondence between Christina Stead and Norman Rosten, 1967-82
Includes poems by Rosten sent to Stead. |
|
NB: There is also Stead material held at MS 802/Box 49/Folder 377
- Correspondence with H.C. Coombs, 1972-82 (Restricted) |
Addition 7 June 1991
Box 15
Folder
| 110 |
Diary First days of a modern Monte Christo, Belgium,
August - October 1936 |
| 111 |
Diary The travellers bed and breakfast,
Switzerland and France, September 1950 - April 1951 |
| 112 |
Diaries, Paris, United States, Spain, Belgium, London,
1929-40 |
| 113 |
Miscellaneous typescripts (See Appendix I) |
| 114 |
Photocopies of letters of Harry Bloom, 1949-74 |
| 115 |
Letters of Ettore and Jessie Rella, 1944-82 |
| 116 |
Stead's letters to Ettore Rella, 1967-82 |
| 117 |
Poems by Ettore Rella |
| 118 |
Correspondence with Philip Harvey, 1958-78 |
Box 16
Folder
| 119-120 |
Correspondence with William Blake, 1929-68 |
| 22a |
Record of life at Foxwarren, 1959-60 (Added 23 June 1975) |
Addition October 1993
Box 17
Folder
| 121-123 |
Correspondence of Christina Stead and William Blake 1930-81
Correspondents include Eldon Branda, Richard Kopely, Aida Kotlarsky, Nadine
Mendelson, W.H. Pearson, Norman Rosten, Eva Schumann, Catherine Stead, Gilbert
Stead, Philip Van Doren Stern, Neil Stewart, Gwen Walker-Smith, Hyrell and
Judah Waten and Asa Zatz. |
Addition 6 February 1996
This addition consists mainly of correspondence with Christina Stead and
her husband, William Blake, and a folder of portrait photographs 1930-82.
Box 17
Folder
| 124 |
Correspondence of Christina Stead, 1957-82 Correspondents
include Dymphna Cusack, A.D. Hope, Hal Porter and Patrick White. |
| 125 |
Correspondence of Christina Stead and William Blake,
1946-73 Correspondents include H. Grossman, Dymphna Cusack, Tella Friedmann,
Stanley Burnshaw and Oliver Stallybrass. |
| 126 |
Miscellaneous typescripts including some correspondence,
1933-77 |
| 127-128 |
Correspondence with Cyrilly Abels, 1965-75 |
Box 18
Folder
| 129 |
Condolences to Christina Stead on the death of her husband,
William Blake, 1968 |
| 130 |
Portrait photographs, mainly of Christina Stead and William
Blake, c.1930-80 |
| 131 |
Correspondence between Christina Stead and William Blake |
Addition 28 January 1999
Folder
| 132 |
Photocopies of Christina Steads letters to Stanley
Burnshaw, 1937-69 |
| 133 |
Photocopies of Christina Steads letters to Stanley Burnshaw
and others, 1965-82 |
Addition 16 July 1999
Folder
| 134 |
Photograph of the family farewell to Christina Stead, at Hopetoun
Avenue, Chatswood, March 1928, before Stead left for England |
Addition 3 August 1999
Folder
| 136 |
Wooden plaque given to Christina Stead as a book prize |
Addition 7 December 1999
Folder
| 135 |
Copies of two family photographs. The first was taken at a family
welcome home in 1919 for Steads cousin Sidney Stead, and includes both
Stead and her father. The second is of Steads half siblings, taken on the
waterfront at Boongarre in 1919. |
Appendix I
Addition 7 June 1991 - Box 15 Folder 113
- The 36 classic dramatic situations
- Bookbinding ateliers of Paris
- A few points
- Decline of the bourgeois audience in England
- Overland - fragments on childhood, voyage to
Europe
- Why I am an expatriate - fragments of various
versions
- Obsession
- Workers and writers
- Terror in La Ciudad Imbecila
- Reverberations from Spain
- Guns along the Bidasoa
- Virginia Woolf - Quentin Bell
- Senor Armino - notes on The Man Who Loved
Children
- Notes on Letty Fox and Teresa
- Notes on Jack Brame and family
- Love affairs - Letty Fox and For Love
Alone
- The Fausts
- Journal of "The Blackmailer"
- From a radio interview
- The doctor and Vietnam
March 1997 Amended May 2000
|