MS 7935 Papers of Olaf Ruhen (1911-1989)
- 1926-86
- 10 metres (70 boxes + folio package)
- Available for reference
Olaf Ruhen was born in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1911 and served with the
RNZAF during the Second World War. In 1947 he moved to Sydney and worked as a
journalist for eight years. He became established as a freelance writer during
the 1950s, having a number of short stories published in the Saturday
evening post. From then until his death in 1989 he published a prolific
quantity of documentary and fictional writing, based largely on his extensive
travels in Australia, New Guinea and the South Pacific.
His books include five novels, Naked under Capricorn (1958),
Whiteman's shoes (1960), The Flockmaster (1963), The Broken
wing (1965) and Scan the dark coast (1969); documentary accounts of
New Guinea, Mountains in the clouds (1963), of the South Pacific,
Tangaroa's godchild (1962) and of the whale hunters of Tonga, Harpoon
in my hand (1966); an account of a Japanese shipwreck in the South Pacific,
Minerva Reef (1963); a novel for children, Corcoran's the name
(1967); and a manual for writers, Writing: the craft of creative fiction
(1964).
Series List
- Correspondence, 1926-86
- Photographs
- Subject files, 1938-85
- Newspapers cuttings, 1938-1980s
- Literary drafts, 1940s-1980s
- Printed material, 1947-81
SERIES 1 CORRESPONDENCE
BOX 1
Family letters, 1926-7
Letters to wife and son, 1942-3
BOX 2
Letters to wife and son, Dec. 1943-1945
Letters received from various people, 1941-5
Letters to sister Doris, 1943-82
BOX 3
Correspondence with first wife, 1950s
Papers re death of first wife (1958), including letters of sympathy
Letters from son Carl, 1951-66
Letters from and photographs of Adrienne Germaine, 1952-6
Miscellaneous correspondence with friends, 1947-67
BOX 4
Letters from friends, 1968-86
Miscellaneous correspondence, 1953-83
BOX 5
Correspondence with friends in the USA, 1971-84
Correspondence re Papua New Guinea, 1972-82
Correspondence with universities and libraries, 1972-86
Correspondence with Australian governments, 1974-83
Correspondence re teaching activities, 1963-6, 1972-81
BOX 6
Miscellaneous correspondence, 1957-63
Fan mail, 1956-69
Correspondence re films of Ruhen's work including Naked under
Capricorn
BOX 7
Correspondence with publishers and agents including Laurence Pollinger,
Sanford Greenburger, the Saturday evening post, William Sloan, Little Brown
and Co.,
McDonald Chesire, Minerva Bookshop and Lippincott, 1950s-1960s.
BOX 8
Correspondence with publishers, 1960-71, including Sun Books, Rigby,
National geographic and The Writer.
BOX 9
Correspondence with publishers and agents, 1970-86, including Cassell,
William Collins, Curtis Brown, Greenburger (some 1960s), Hodder and
Stoughton, Viking Press, JCA Associates, Angus and Robertson, Readers Digest,
Rigby, Pollinger and the Encyclopedia Britannica.
BOX 10
Melbourne Harbour Trust, 1963-77
Joanne Greenberg, 1979-84
Australian Society of Authors, 1985-6
Miscellaneous literary correspondence, 1972-86
SERIES 2 PHOTOGRAPHS
BOX 11
Second World War photographs depicting squadron personnel and aerial views of
bombing missions, family photographs and other photographs taken in the
course of Ruhen's travels.
SERIES 3 SUBJECT FILES
N.B. Some files include correspondence
BOX 12
Personal biographical miscellania, 1938-67
Bread Loaf Writer's Conference, 1957
Financial papers, including taxation records, 1953-63
Travel documents and papers re overseas trips, 1960s-70s
Archaelogy of dinosaurs
Port of Melbourne Centenary presentation folder
Melbourne Harbour Trust report on National War Organisation,
typescript with photographs, 1944
USA Copyright certificates, 1957
Sketch book of M Smith, 1896-98
P.E.N. Congress, 1977-8
Select Committee on the Encouragement of Australian Productions
for Television, 1963
BOX 13
The Soka Gakkai, Japan, 1968-80
Roseville Writing Group, 1968 Anthology
University of Sydney Dept. of Adult Education Creative Writing
Course, 1968-9
Notes on the Myall Lakes, 1977
R.M. Williams, 1980-85
Air Force and aeronautics, 1940s
ACLAS Conference, Fiji, 1980
BOX 14
Trobriand Islands, 1945-71
Papua New Guinea, 1940s and 1950s
Tonga, 1971-83
New Hebrides, 1967
Fiji, 1967
Solomon Islands, 1967
SERIES 4 NEWSPAPER CUTTINGS
BOX 15
1938-1950s, including reviews of Ruhen's books and articles by and about Ruhen
BOXES 16-17
Miscellaneous cuttings, 1960s
BOX 18
Cuttings and reviews re Minerva Reef, 1960s-1970s
BOX 19
Miscellaneous cuttings, 1970s-1980s
SERIES 5 LITERARY DRAFTS
BOX 20
Typescript and handwritten drafts on 14 X 22 cm. sheets of reporters' paper,
circa 1940s. Includes "Roof of dreams" and an autobiographical work on
Ruhen's time in the RNZAF.
BOXES 21-28
Unsorted drafts of miscellaneous short stories and articles.
BOX 29
Angels tread lightly
Australia: this changing land, 1972
BOX 30
Australian fisheries, 1968
Australia 200, 1969
BOX 31
Australia 200, 1969
Battleground South Pacific, 1970
BOX 32
Beneath whose hand: the Autobiography of R.M. Williams, 1984
BOX 33
Beneath whose hand, 1984
Broken wing, 1965
BOX 34
Broken wing, 1965
Corcoran's the name, 1967
BOX 35
Bullock teams: the building of a nation - research material, 1978-9
BOX 36
Bullock teams - drafts, 1979-80
BOX 37
The Flockmaster, 1963
Guardian angel, 1968
BOXES 38-42
Freebooter: the notorious life of the Pacific's Bully Hayes, 1984
(includes research material)
BOX 43
A Harpoon in my hand, 1964 -6 (includes correspondence)
BOX 44
Land of the Dahori, 1957
The Last paradise
Look at him clearly
BOX 45
Laurence Hargrave: explorer, inventor and aviation experimenter,
1977
Macquarie's five towns, 1970
Mountain ranges of Papua New Guinea, article for Encyclopedia
Britannica, 1970 (includes correspondence)
BOXES 46-47
Minerva Reef, 1963
BOX 48
Mountains in the clouds, 1963
Naked under Capricorn, 1958
BOX 49
Opening the oceans, 1983
Port of Melbourne: 1835-1976, 1976
BOXES 50-51
Port of Melbourne: 1835-1976, 1976
BOX 52
Rigby Sketchbook series: Historic buildings of Sydney, 1972
Balmain sketchbook, 1974
Sydney sketchbook, 1977
BOX 53
Sailing free around the world, by Laurence Le Guay, as told to
Olaf Ruhen
Scan the dark coast, 1969
Shark attacks and adventures, 1974-5
BOX 54
South Pacific adventure, 1966-8
BOX 55
South Pacific, 1967-8
The Stockman, 1982-3
BOX 56
Syd's pirates: a lifetime with Cathay Pacific, by Charles Eather
[ghosted by Ruhen], 1982
BOX 57
A Swimmer in the surf, 1961
The Traders of Teleia, 1984
BOX 58
Tangaroa's godchild, 1962
BOX 59
White man's shoes, 1960
Writing: the craft of creative fiction, 1964
BOXES 60-61
Book reviews by Ruhen
SERIES 6 PRINTED MATERIAL CONTAINING WORK BY OR ABOUT RUHEN
BOX 62
The Bulletin, 1958-81 (see also folio run for The Bulletin, 1947-56)
BOXES 63-64
People, 1950-69, includes typed index to volume 1 by Ruhen
BOX 65
Saturday evening post, 1954-62
BOX 66
Pix, 1949-58; John Bull, 1954-63; Australian women's weekly, 1959-64; Lektyr, 1959
BOX 67
Various literary magazines, 1957-80
BOX 68
Man, 1956-70; Adam, 1964-6
BOX 69
Clubman, 1950s; Chance international, 1970s; Miscellaneous periodicals
BOX 70
Miscellaneous publications
Box 71
Addition 28 December 1995
South African Defence - Aid Fund, 1963-72
Naked Under Capricorn, - correspondence, 1958-80
Personal correspondence, 1957-59
Contracts, 1935; 1961-75
Contracts, 1968-83
Typescript draft
Addition 6 February 1996
Letters to Ruhen's son Carl, 1957-61
BOX 72
Addition 20 June 2002
Letters from Joanne Greenberg to Ruhen (1984-87), letters from publishers and royalty statements (1984-86), papers on Bread Loaf Writers, 1957 |