Guide to the Jeff Carter Archive, 1950-2010

Summary

Collection number:

PIC/18210

Creator:

Carter, Jeff

Extent:

17.40 metres and 17.40 metres (47 ms boxes + 23 medium folio boxes) + 311.16 GB (14,841 digital files)

Language:

English

Availability:

Available

Background

Content Summary:

The Jeff Carter archive documents Australian rural and working life in the latter half of the twentieth century of Australian people, places and events, social and environmental changes in Australian history, portraits of individuals or groups representing aspects of Australian life and which contribute to the social record.

Jeff Carter is widely regarded as one of Australia's most influential documentary photographers, whose photographs of the ordinary Australian, taken over a long career, have created a significant visual record of Australian social life and customs. Carter began his peripatetic life as a photo-journalist in the late 1940s and travelled extensively throughout Australia capturing the lives of those he felt would normally go unnoticed: workers, fruit pickers, drovers, swagmen and Aborigines. Not only did he capture the harshness of life in the bush, he was also fascinated by the beach culture, and the ever-changing life along Australia's coast became a major subject for him over the period. From the 1950s Carter principally earned his living selling illustrated stories to magazines and newspapers such as People, Pix, Women's Weekly and Women's Day. An unashamed populist, he wrote hundreds of magazine stories, published a number of illustrated books and also created documentary films and a television series.

The collection comprises approximately 177 manuscript files of typescript articles, drafts, clippings, transcripts, and letters; 61 notebooks; 1500 photographic working prints and proof sheets; 600 National Library of Australia reference prints; 1600 x 2 1/4 inch negatives; 70,000 x 35mm colour, black white negatives; 14,500 x 35mm colour slides and 15,000 digital photographs. The collection is divided into series by format, and files by subject. The collection is predominantly Australian but does include a small amount of images from Europe.

Arrangement:

Digital files (Series 10) have been retained in their original order with original titles and folder structure. The folders were created between 2002 to 2010 but were modified between 2007 to 2015. As Carter died in October 2010 it is apparent that following his death some re-arrangement of the folders and content occured, presumably by the Executor of Carter's estate. The digital files were transferred to the Library in 2015 via an external portable hard drive.

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Society and culture
Sports and recreation
Indigenous peoples
Mass media

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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