Guide to the Papers of Olaf Ruhen

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MS 7935

National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record

Collection Summary

Creator
Olaf Ruhen
Title
Papers of Olaf Ruhen
Date Range
1926-1986
Collection Number
MS 7935
Extent
10 metres (72 boxes, folio package)
Language of Materials
English
Repository
National Library of Australia

Introduction

Conditions Governing Access

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn133357).

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Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions.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 Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.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 Olaf Ruhen, National Library of Australia, MS 7935, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Bibliography

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).

Biographical Note

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.

Item Descriptions

Class [unnumbered]. Original consignment

Series 1. Correspondence, 1926-86

Family letters, 1926-7 (File) - Box 1
Letters to wife and son, 1942-3 (File) - Box 1
Letters to wife and son, Dec, 1943-1945 (File) - Box 2
Letters received from various people, 1941-5 (File) - Box 2
Letters to sister Doris, 1943-82 (File) - Box 2
Correspondence with first wife, 1950s (not sighted 2010) (File) - Box 3
Papers re death of first wife (1958), including letters of sympathy (File) - Box 3
Letters from son Carl, 1951-66 (File) - Box 3
Letters from and photographs of Adrienne Germaine, 1952-6 (File) - Box 3
Miscellaneous correspondence with friends, 1947-67 (File) - Box 3
Letters from friends, 1968-86 (File) - Box 4
Miscellaneous correspondence, 1953-83 (File) - Box 4
Correspondence with friends in the USA, 1971-84 (File) - Box 5
Correspondence re Papua New Guinea, 1972-82 (File) - Box 5
Correspondence with universities and libraries, 1972-86 (File) - Box 5
Correspondence with Australian governments, 1974-83 (File) - Box 5
Correspondence re teaching activities, 1963-6, 1972-81 (File) - Box 5
Miscellaneous correspondence, 1957-63 (File) - Box 6
Fan mail, 1956-69 (File) - Box 6
Correspondence re films of Ruhen's work including Naked under Capricorn (File) - Box 6
Correspondence with publishers and agents including Laurence Pollinger (File) - Box 7
Sanford Greenburger, the Saturday evening post, William Sloan, Little Brownand Co., McDonald Chesire, Minerva Bookshop and Lippincott, 1950s-1960s (File) - Box 7
Correspondence with publishers, 1960-71, including Sun Books, Rigby, National Geographic, and The Writer (File) - Box 8
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 (File) - Box 9
Melbourne Harbour Trust, 1963-77 (File) - Box 10
Joanne Greenberg, 1979-84 (File) - Box 10
Australian Society of Authors, 1985-6 (File) - Box 10
Miscellaneous literary correspondence, 1972-86 (File) - Box 10

Series 2. Photographs, 1938-85

Second World War photographs depicting squadron personnel and aerial views ofbombing missions, family photographs and other photographs taken in the course of Ruhen's travels (File) - Box 11

Series 3. Subject files

Note: Some files include correspondence

Personal biographical miscellanea, 1938-67 (File) - Box 12
Bread Loaf Writer's Conference, 1957 (File) - Box 12
Financial papers, including taxation records, 1953-63 (File) - Box 12
Travel documents and papers re overseas trips, 1960s-70s (File) - Box 12
Archaeology of dinosaurs (File) - Box 12
Port of Melbourne Centenary presentation folder (File) - Box 12
Melbourne Harbour Trust report on National War Organisation, typescript with photographs, 1944 (File) - Box 12
USA Copyright certificates, 1957 (File) - Box 12
Sketch book of M Smith, 1896-98 (File) - Box 12
P.E.N Congress, 1977-8 (File) - Box 12
Select Committee on the Encouragement of Australian Productions for Television, 1963 (File) - Box 12
The Soka Gakkai, Japan, 1968-80 (File) - Box 13
Roseville Writing Group, 1968 Anthology (File) - Box 13
University of Sydney Dept. of Adult Education Creative Writing Course, 1968-9 (File) - Box 13
Notes on the Myall Lakes, 1977 (File) - Box 13
R. M Williams, 1980-85 (File) - Box 13
Air Force and aeronautics, 1940s (File) - Box 13
ACLALS Conference, Fiji, 1980 (File) - Box 13
Trobriand Islands, 1945-71 (File) - Box 14
Papua New Guinea, 1940s and 1950s (File) - Box 14
Tonga, 1971-83 (File) - Box 14
New Hebrides, 1967 (File) - Box 14
Fiji, 1967 (File) - Box 14
Solomon Islands, 1967 (File) - Box 14

Series 4. Newspaper cuttings, 1938-1980s

1938-1950s, including reviews of Ruhen's books, and articles by and about Ruhen (File) - Box 15
Miscellaneous cutting and reviews, 1960s (File) - Box 16-17
Cuttings and reviews re Minerva Reef, 1960s-1970s (File) - Box 18
Miscellaneous cuttings, 1970s-1980s (File) - Box 19

Series 5. Literary drafts, 1940s-1980s

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 (File) - Box 20
Unsorted drafts of miscellaneous short stories and articles (File) - Box 21-28
Angels tread lightly (File) - Box 29
Australia: this changing land, 1972 (File) - Box 29
Australian fisheries, 1968 (File) - Box 30
Australia 200, 1969 (File) - Box 30
Australia 200, 1969 (File) - Box 31
Battleground South Pacific, 1970 (File) - Box 31
Beneath whose hand: the Autobiography of R. M Williams, 1984 (File) - Box 32
Beneath whose hand, 1984 (File) - Box 33
Broken wing, 1965 (File) - Box 33
Broken wing, 1965 (File) - Box 34
Corcoran's the name, 1967 (File) - Box 34
Bullock teams: the building of a nation - research material, 1978-9 (File) - Box 35
Bullock teams - drafts, 1979-80 (File) - Box 36
The Flockmaster, 1963 (File) - Box 37
Guardian angel, 1968 (File) - Box 37
Freebooter: the notorious life of the Pacific's Bully Hayes, 1984(includes research material) (File) - Box 38-42
A Harpoon in my hand, 1964 -6 (includes correspondence) (File) - Box 43
A Harpoon in my hand (File) - Box 44
Land of the Dahori, 1957 (File) - Box 44
The Last paradise (File) - Box 44
Look at him clearly (File) - Box 44
Laurence Hargrave: explorer, inventor and aviation experimenter, 1977 (File) - Box 45
Macquarie's five towns, 1970 (File) - Box 45
Mountain ranges of Papua New Guinea, article for Encyclopedia Britannica, 1970 (includes correspondence) (File) - Box 45
Parramatta, Port Macquarie (File) - Box 45
Minerva Reef, 1963 (File) - Box 46-47
Mountains in the clouds, 1963 (File) - Box 48
Naked under Capricorn, 1958 (File) - Box 48
Opening the oceans, 1983 (File) - Box 49
Port of Melbourne: 1835-1976, 1976 (File) - Box 49
Port of Melbourne: 1835-1976, 1976 (File) - Box 50-51
Rigby Sketchbook series: Historic buildings of Sydney, 1972 (File) - Box 52
Balmain sketchbook, 1974 (File) - Box 52
Sydney sketchbook, 1977 (File) - Box 52
Sailing free around the world, by Laurence Le Guay, as told to Olaf Ruhen (File) - Box 53
Scan the dark coast, 1969 (File) - Box 53
Shark attacks and adventures, 1974-5 (File) - Box 53
South Pacific adventure, 1966-8 (File) - Box 54
South Pacific, 1967-8 (File) - Box 55
The Stockman, 1982-3 (File) - Box 55
New Caledonia (File) - Box 55
Stormy Petrel (File) - Box 55
Syd's pirates: a lifetime with Cathay Pacific, by Charles Eather [ghosted by Ruhen] (File) - Box 1982
A Swimmer in the surf, 1961 (File) - Box 57
The Traders of Teleia, 1984 (File) - Box 57
Tangaroa's godchild, 1962 (File) - Box 58
White man's shoes, 1960 (File) - Box 59
Writing: the craft of creative fiction, 1964 (File) - Box 59
Book reviews by Ruhen (File) - Box 60-61

Series 6. Printed material containing work by or about Ruhen, 1947-81

The Bulletin, 1958-81 (see also folio run for The Bulletin, 1947-56) (File) - Box 62
People, 1950-69, includes typed index to volume 1 by Ruhen (File) - Box 63-64
Saturday evening post, 1954-62 (File) - Box 65
Pix, 1949-58; John Bull, 1954-63; Australian women's weekly, 1959-64; Lektyr, 1959 (File) - Box 66
Various literary magazines, 1957-80 (File) - Box 67
Man, 1956-70; Adam, 1964-6 (File) - Box 68
Clubman, 1950s; Chance international, 1970s; miscellaneous periodicals (File) - Box 69
Miscellaneous publications (File) - Box 70

Class [unnumbered]. Consignment received 28 December 1995

South African Defence - Aid Fund, 1963-72 (File) - Box 71

Naked Under Capricorn, - Correspondence, 1958-80 (File) - Box 71

Personal correspondence, 1957-59 (File) - Box 71

Contracts, 1935, 1961-75 (File) - Box 71

Contracts, 1968-83 (File) - Box 71

Typescript draft (File) - Box 71

Class [unnumbered]. Consignment received 6 February 1996

Letters to Ruhen's son Carl, 1957-61 (File) - Box 71

Class [unnumbered]. Consignment received 20 June 2002

Letters from Joanne Greenberg to Ruhen (1984-87) (File) - Box 72

Letters from publishers and royalty statements (1984-86) (File) - Box 72

Papers on Bread Loaf Writers, 1957 (File) - Box 72


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