Guide to the Papers of Geoffrey Dutton, 1898-1998
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Collection context
Summary
- Collection number:
- MS 7285
- Creator:
- Geoffrey Dutton
- Extent:
- (164 boxes, 4 security binders, 10 folio boxes, elephant folios)
- Language:
- English and English
- Preferred citation:
- Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Geoffrey Dutton, National Library of Australia, MS 7285, [series and file number]'.
- Availability:
- Available
- Access conditions:
- Available for research. Not for loan.
Background
- Content Summary:
-
The collection includes correspondence, diaries and notebooks, manuscript drafts, photographs, research files, newspaper cuttings and other published material. They provide a near-comprehensive coverage of Dutton's public career as an author, poet, academic, editor, critic, publisher and journalist. The papers document Dutton's life as 'a man of letters' who was often researching and writing three or four books simultaneously, while at the same time compiling anthologies, editing magazines and attending conferences.
Dutton wrote or edited over 200 books, including poetry, fiction, biographies, art appreciation, art and literary history, travel books, novels for children and critical essays. Twenty of Dutton's published monographs are represented in the collection, along with many of his articles, reviews, short stories, poetry, radio and television scripts, lectures and other writings. The papers also offer considerable insights into Dutton's family life, and more generally, into Australian literary and cultural life in the period 1945-1998.
As a central figure in Australian literary life, Dutton's extensive correspondence stands as a major source for researchers studying the lives and writings of many other notable literary figures. In particular, substantial groups of letters of Patrick White, Russell Drysdale, David Campbell and Alister Kershaw feature amongst the correspondence. The Richard Aldington-Roy Campbell-Alister Kershaw sequence of letters offers valuable insights into Australian links with the European world of letters. Also of interest are papers documenting Dutton's association with the 'Angry Penguins' literary group during the 1940s, when he developed close friendships with the poets Donald Kerr, Paul Pfeiffer, Max Harris and Kershaw, and the painters Sidney Nolan and Arthur Boyd.
References: The Oxford companion to Australian literature (pp. 245-246; Who's who in Australia 1999 (p. 545)
- Provenance:
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The papers were purchased in a number of instalments. The bulk of the papers were received from Geoffrey Dutton between 1986 and 1998, with a further two small instalments received from his partner, Robin Lucas, in 2002 and 2003.
- Arrangement:
-
The collection was transferred to the Library in three major and several minor instalments between 1986 and 2003.
Prior to 1999, two main groups of the papers were described and arranged:
80 boxes from the first two 1986 consignments were processed in 1988
39 boxes (comprising five instalments received in 1991) were arranged in March 1992
In May 1999, the collection was reorganised to incorporate the third major and subsequent smaller additions, resulting in this finding aid and bearing new series and box arrangements and numbering.
In April 2002 a small instalment of papers was received. The papers have been added to the relevant series/file as follows: 2/163; 14/5; 30/35; 37/44; 43/109; 44/42.
In March 2003 a further small instalment of papers was received. The papers have been added to the relevant series/file as follows: 2/164-168; 22/8; 32/40-44; 34/60-61; 37/45-46; 38/ 29-31; 40/55; 42/50; 43/110; 45/19. Note: four VHS cassette tapes of interviews of Geoffrey Dutton were not retained in the collection. Details are available from the Manuscripts Branch on request.
Indexed terms
- Names:
- Geoffrey Dutton
Access and use
- Conditions Governing Access:
- Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1357699).
- 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 Geoffrey Dutton, National Library of Australia, MS 7285, [series and file number]'.
- Location of this collection:
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Parkes PlaceCanberra ACT 2600, Australia
- Contact: