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Collection Summary

Creator: Walker, Margaret, 1920-1996
Title: Margaret Walker Dance Archive
Date Range: 1938-1990
Collection number:MS 8495
Extent: 11.5 metres (82 boxes) + 3 elephant folios

 

Introduction

Scope and Content

Professional and personal papers documenting Walker's involvement in a variety of Australian and international dance organisations from the late 1930s to the 1980s. These organisations include the Borovansky Ballet, Ballets Russes, the Colonel de Basil Ballet, the New Theatre Company (Melbourne), Unity Dance Group (Melbourne), Roseville Dance Centre (Sydney), the Australian Association of Dancers, Australian Association for Dance Education, Dance Concert, Margaret Walker Folk Dance Centre, Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre and Western Districts Arts for Youth (Sydney).

The archive consists of administrative records, correspondence, newsletters, diaries, theatre programs, subject and biographical files, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, dance periodicals and photographs. There is a unique collection of socialist songbooks and songsheets, dating between 1945-1955, which were acquired during Margaret Walker's association with labour movements of that period. The bulk of the material is in English. However, certain letters and documents are in Russian, as well as individual items in French, German, Hungarian and Rumanian.

Arrangement

Prior to 1989, there was no formal arrangement to the material in the collection. Office files were created during the administrative work of the various organisations with which Margaret Walker was involved, but not on a systematic basis. Other material was simply allowed to accumulate. The collection was re-housed several times during Margaret Walker's career.

In 1989, funding was received from the Performing Arts Board of the Australia Council for the organising of the archives prior to the documentation of Margaret Walker's folk dance teaching methods.

When processing began, the archives were boxed in grocery boxes and tea chests. Loose papers and office files were mixed with personal papers, old periodicals and unrelated documents. There were approximately 40 boxes of papers, many of them unfilled and not in chronological order.

The following process was observed in organising the collection. Documents have been restored to a loosely chronological order within the framework of the organisations which generated them. Office files have been left as they were received for archiving, and researchers should note that, since office filing was itself often inconsistent or arbitrary, this is reflected in the internal arrangement of those records. Individual papers have been enveloped together according to subject matter and date. Additional material was received for archiving in 1990. Some 1990 series are included in this guide. Because of severe time constraints, it was not possible to catalogue all items individually, nor to index in depth.

Access

Access to Series 6, part of Series 7 and part of Series 12 is restricted; the remainder of the collection is available for reference.

Provenance

In 1989, the Performing Arts Board of the Australia Council provided a grant to organise and preserve these archives as a record of the pioneering work done by Margaret Walker in the field of folk and character dance. The Margaret Walker Folk Dance Centre Archives was purchased by the National Library and received in two consignments. The first consignment arrived in November 1991. A guide detailing most of the documents in this consignment was prepared by Marie Anne Slaney (Series 1 - Series 15). Some material in this consignment was not arranged and described by Marie Anne Slaney, but was described subsequently by staff of the Manuscript Section (Series 17- Series 22). Much of this supplementary material consisted of issues of journals and periodicals, most of which was already held by the Library and was consequently offered to other collecting institutions. Those that did not duplicate existing holdings have been retained and are held in the Library's Australian and overseas collections. The second consignment consisting of three photograph albums (Series 23) was received in February 1993.

Copying and Publishing

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], Margaret Walker Dance Archive, National Library of Australia, MS 8495, [series, subseries, piece or item number]'.

 

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