Guide to the Papers of Shirley Andrews, 1917-2002 (bulk 1970s)

Summary

Collection number:

MS 6000, MS Acc12.117

Creator:

Andrews, Shirley, 1915-2001

Extent:

5.25 metres and (25 ms boxes + 1 map folio + 61 sound/av carriers)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Shirley Andrews, National Library of Australia, MS 6000, [class number, box number and series and/or file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The collection consists of correspondence, research material and photographs relating to the multiple elements of Shirley Andrews' life: her childhood, political activities, career as a biochemist, travel and involvement in traditional social dance (also known as folk, colonial or bush dancing) and folk music in Australia. Andrews was a member of the Communist Party (CPA) and the papers include notes and photographs dating from her CPA membership and a trip to Berlin and Eastern European countries in 1951. In the 1950-60s Andrews was active in the Aboriginal rights movement and there are papers relating to her involvement with the Council for Aboriginal Rights (Victoria) (CAR), the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI) and correspondence with Jessie Street, Charles Duguid and Ada Bromham, c.1957-1959.

However, the largest portion of the papers relates to Andrews' extensive research into, and writings on, traditional social dance in Australia, including her seminal work on the subject, Take your partners. These papers were collected and created from research in Australian and English libraries, correspondence with folklore collectors and correspondence and interviews with senior dancers and MCs in country districts. It includes notes on specific dances, articles and publications, dance programs and cards, photographs and other graphic material, and posters and newsletters produced by various folklore organisations.

Biographical Note:

Shirley Aldythea Seymour Andrews was born on 6 November 1915 in Melbourne. Her mother, Doris, née Gray, was a journalist who raised Shirley after her father, Arthur, died of Spanish flu after World War I. Andrews was a boarder at St Michael's Church of England Girls Grammar School in St. Kilda and went on to study science, graduating from University of Melbourne in 1937. Between 1939 and 1951 she worked at the Veterinary Research Institute and CSIRO. In 1953 she was appointed Senior Biochemist at Royal Park Psychiatric Hospital, a post she held until she retired in 1977. Whilst in this position she researched the effects of bromureide drugs and the use of lithium in the treatment of bi-polar disorder.

Andrews's early involvement in dance included classical Russian dance training and performances with the Borovansky Ballet, and she was a member of Margaret Walker's Unity Dance Group. In 1951 Andrews toured with the Unity Dance Group and Aboriginal activist Faith Bandler to the World Youth Festival in Berlin and afterwards to Communist Europe, performing a program examining issues of racial discrimination.

Andrews joined the Council against War and Fascism in 1934 and the Australian Communist Party in 1945. In 1951 she joined the newly formed Victorian Council for Aboriginal Rights, acting as Secretary for ten years. Andrews was an active campaigner for voting rights, equal pay and the extension of social service benefits to Aboriginal Australians and for greater Commonwealth engagement in Aboriginal affairs. She was instrumental in the creation of the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders in 1958.

Andrews' research into traditional social dance in Australia dated from the 1950s folk revival period, when she was a member of both the Unity Dance Group and Victorian Bush Music Club. Her research, writings and active popularisation of Australian traditional and colonial social dance brought her widespread recognition. She was awarded the Order of Australia in 1994 for her contribution to dance and the history of dance in Australia, and an Australian Folk Trust Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995.

Andrews was an active member of many folklore organisations and was often involved in the founding, planning and running of groups and events. These included: the Traditional Social Dance Association of Australia, Victorian Bush Music Club, Victorian Folk Music Club, Victorian Folklore Society, Folk Song and Dance Society of Victoria, the Recreational International Dance Association, National Folk Festivals and National Folklore conferences.

Published articles and books by Andrews include: pamphlets on Aboriginal rights issues; articles on traditional social dance; Take your partners: traditional dancing in Australia (1974, 1979); (with Peter Ellis) Two hundred dancing years and how to celebrate them with a colonial ball (1988); a set of videos with accompanying booklets on How Australia danced last century (1994); articles in the Oxford companion to Australian folklore (1993) and the Currency companion to music and dance in Australia (2003); and papers presented at the first three Folklore Conferences (1984, 1986 and 1988).

Shirley Andrews died on 14 September 2001 in North Melbourne.

Bibliographic Reference(s)

• Clark, Jennifer. 'Shirley Andrews: adding a personal note to history', NLA News, vol. XIV, no. 11, August 2004, pp. 14-17.
• Ryan, J.S.. 'Shirley Aldythea Andrews, O.A.M. (-2001)', Australian Folklore, no. 16, 2001, pp. 18-19.
• Taffe, Sue. 'Shirley Aldythea Andrews, O.A.M.', Australian Historical Studies, vol. 33, no. 18, April 2002, pp. 190-192.
• Tully, Bill. 'Folk dancer and passionate activist', Canberra Times, 2 November 2001, p. 13.

Provenance:

Shirley Andrews bequeathed her papers to Wendy Lowenstein and Lucy Stockdale. The papers were purchased by the Library from Lowenstein and Stockdale in 2002 and 2003 respectively. The audio-visual material held in the Oral History Section was received in 2005 from Stockdale.

Arrangement:

The papers were received in two separate instalments, the first covering Shirley Andrews' childhood, political and Aboriginal rights activism, travels and career as a biochemist, and the second consisting of material collected by Andrews through her folk dance and folklore interests.

The papers relating to folk dance were partially organised and listed before despatching to the Library. This arrangement has been adopted by the Library to some degree and the lists incorporated into the collection. The arrangement of material in files has been maintained and the file contents placed in separate files. Due to the interrelationship of Andrews' research with her activities in the field, in some cases there are major overlaps in the content of the separate series. For example, whilst Series 13 is devoted to dance instruction material, dance instructions also appear amongst the folk dance research material in Series 10 and in correspondence with Peter Ellis (a noted Victorian dance musician and folklorist with whom Andrews collaborated on a number of projects) in Series 11, and letters from Ellis appear in most of the dance series. It should be noted that the audio-visual material is stored in the National Library's Oral History section. This material consists of sound recordings of interviews with dancers and MCs, music for dancing and one tape of a Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement conference (1966), videos of traditional social dance and one film sent to Andrews by Margaret Walker, contents unknown.

Container List:

Series	File/Item	Box
1	1-5	1
2	1-2	1
2	3-10	2
2	11-16	3
3	1-2	3
3	3-6	4
4	1-4	4
4	5-6	5
5	1-5	5
5	6	6
6	1-8	6
7	1-7	7
8	1-5	8
8	6-12	9
9	1-2	9
9	3-9	10
9	10-18	11
9	19-20	12
10	1-5	12
10	6-14	13
10	15-17	14
11	1-5	14
12	1	14
13	1-6	15
13	7-13	16
13	14-20	17
13	21-28	18
13	29-32	19
14	1-3	19
14	4-6	20
15	1	20
16	1	20
17	1	20
17	2-3	21
18	1-6	21
19	1-4	22
20	1-3	22
20	4-12	23
20	13-20	24
20	21	Elephant folio
21	1-2	25
22	1-3	25

Conditions Governing Access:

The collection is available for reference.

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 Shirley Andrews, National Library of Australia, MS 6000, [class number, box number and series and/or file number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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