Diaries and Notebooks, 1957-74

Component identifier:

Series 4

Content Summary:

The first part of this series consists of diaries maintained by the Hon. Gordon Bryant during his career as a member of the House of Representatives and a Federal Minister. They contain appointments concerning his official capacity, as well as those concerning work related and purely social engagements. Some of the diaries contain quite detailed entries for each day, with comments on inward and outgoing phone calls and various problems of constituents.

The notebooks and address books include some shorthand entries, names and telephone numbers, draft speeches, meeting notes, conference notes and figures. Loose notes have been placed in Series 5.

A file containing notes and notebooks c. 1973 was removed and retained by National Archives of Australia before the collection was transferred to the Library in 1991.

The piece numbers largely represent the numbers given to the items by National Archives of Australia.

Notebooks with dates (as far as they can be determined): many of these are marked as being kept at 'Parliament House, Canberra'. Pieces 40-52 were numbered by NAA staff 1-13.

Larger notebooks with dates: many of these are re-used diaries.

Immediate source of acquisition:

The Bryant Papers were received in two consignments. The first was transferred from the Victorian Regional Office of the National Archives of Australia in November 1991, in accordance with Mrs Bryant's wishes. These papers had been deposited there in 1975. Just over half of them had been assigned the control number MP1803/1. The remainder had been registered into 31 individual record series and held under Commonwealth Record Series control numbers. Further papers at Mrs Bryant's home (in a garage) had been put into cartons by NAA staff in 1991 and brought to the National Archives of Australia on a temporary basis. At the time of transfer to the National Library, NAA staff retained series or parts of series which related to periods when Gordon Bryant was Minister, as well as diaries from 1973 to 1975 and one notebook. In 1992, papers relating to Bryant's post-parliamentary activities were transferred direct from Mrs Bryant's home to the Library. Amongst these cartons was material which had been packed from his office at La Trobe University's School of Economics and Commerce and returned to Mrs Bryant.

Names:

Bryant, Pat, Mrs.

Contents

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