‘Guide to the Nan Kivell Calligraphy Collection’, Barbara Ross, 1985

Component identifier:

Series 4

Content Summary:

In 1985, as part of her work as member of staff of the National Library, Barbara Ross completed a comprehensive guide to items in Series 1 of this collection. This guide was never published and a PDF copy is attached to this finding aid (see below or click on Related Documentation tab).

The bulk of the guide comprises descriptions of legal documents. Included is an overview of the acquisition of the documents, notes about arrangement and description, a list of the types of documents and a list of places identified in them. The detailed description for each item comprises a list of 20 headings under which information, where available, is recorded.

Barbara Ross graduated from Manchester University with Honours in English Literature and Language after which she undertook an archives course at University College, London. Ross worked as a medievalist, as an archivist and as an historical researcher. After moving to Canberra with her family in 1957, she worked first at the Australian National University and then at the Australian National Library.

Immediate source of acquisition:

The documents in this collection were presented to the National Library of Australia by Sir Rex Nan Kivell in 1969. He referred to it as ‘The Nan Kivell Calligraphy Collection’. The documents were collected by him as specimens of early calligraphy and/or examples of early documentation. He acquired them over a number of years from varied sources which were not recorded. However, it seems likely that the group of legal documents in Series 1 relating to the Elliott family of Salisbury would have a single provenance. Nan Kivell had a country house in Devizes, Wiltshire, which is only a short distance from Salisbury.

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