Parliamentary Library and Bicentenary Publications Project

Component identifier:

Series 14

Content Summary:

Bryant was a member of the Parliamentary Library Committee on two occasions, firstly between 1956-72, and serving again in 1976-80.

In late 1980 the Joint Standing Committee on the Parliamentary Library proposed that the Parliamentary should mark the Bicentenary and the opening of the new Parliament House with a series of significant publications. Bryant was engaged as a consultant to the Project, which was administered by the Library Subcomittee on Publications under the guidance of an appointed Advisory Board. The Parliamentary Library was designated to provide funding and resources.

The Project produced publications in four areas, these being: a definitive history of the Australian Parliament; a shorter, popular account of the workings of Parliament; a comprehensive biographical dictionary of all former senators and Members; and a series of monographs on a range of topics dealing with aspects of Parliament. In addition, an ongoing series of interviews with former parliamentarians was initiated as part of the Bicentenary Oral History Project.

Included in this series are papers relating to Bryant's membership of the Parliamentary Library Committee as well as items documenting the activities of the Bicentennial Publications Project.

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

Access and use