Guide to the Papers of Robert Adamson, 1970-2007

Summary

Collection number:

MS 5713, MS Acc05.096, MS Acc07.044

Creator:

Adamson, Robert, 1943

Extent:

6.3 metres and (30 boxes + 3 folio boxes + 4 folio items)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

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

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Part available for research; part requires permission for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The collection comprises correspondence (1971-98) between Adamson and other poets and literary figures, and several hundred drafts of poems and completed poems. There are newspaper cuttings of reviews both by Adamson and about his books of poetry, and individual poems that have been published in newspapers. The collection also includes drafts of articles and transcripts of interviews with Adamson. Some police records are present in the collection. There are a number of photographs, many of which were taken by Juno Gemes.

The Adamson Papers also include drafts of publications by other poets and writers, including Les Murray. There are several files of original material relating to the Australian poet Robert Harris. There are also some records from the Poetry Society of Australia relating to the sale of its publications, dating from the time when Adamson was President of the Society. The collection includes two double issues of New poetry.

Biographical Note:

Robert Adamson was born in Sydney in 1943, and left Neutral Bay Primary School when he was ten. He spent many of the following years in boys’ homes and N.S.W. prisons. It was in Long Bay Jail that he became aware of the poetry of Bob Dylan which influenced him to develop an interest in poetry. While in prison Adamson received education and began writing his own poetry.

Adamson’s first published book of verse, Canticles on the skin (1970), was based on his prison experiences. Other publications that are autobiographically based are Where I come from (1979), The law at heart’s desire (1982), and Wards of the State (1992). His books of poetry include The rumour (1971), Swamp riddles (1974), Selected poems (1977), Cross the border (1977), The clean dark (1989), The brutality of fact (1993), Waving to Hart Crane (1994), The language of oysters (1997) with Juno Gemes, and Black water: approaching Zukofsky (1999). Adamson’s poems have been published in the United States, and translated into several languages.

By the early 1970s, Adamson had established himself as a part of the Sydney literary scene. He became President of the Poetry Society of Australia and co-editor of the journal New poetry. Adamson has won many literary awards, including the Grace Leven Prize for Poetry in 1979. In 1990, his collection, The clean dark, won the National Book Council Poetry Prize and the Premier’s Awards in Victoria and New South Wales. He has received assistance from Commonwealth Literary Fund Grants.

In 1984 Adamson established the publishing house Paper Bark Press, which he co-directs with his wife, Juno Gemes, and the writer Michael Wilding. He has worked as poetry consultant for the Angus Robertson journal Republica, and as editor of the quarterly, Ulitarra. In 1999 he was invited to attend the Cambridge Conference of Contemporary Poetry as the Australian representative. Adamson has been an influential literary figure, and, through his roles as poet, publisher, teacher and editor, he has become a focus for many others interested in Australian poetry.

Adamson’s first wife was Debra Adamson, associate editor of New poetry. Adamson later married poet and publisher, Cheryl Creatrix. In 1989 he married the photographer and publisher, Juno Gemes.

Collection Retrieval Advice:

Please note: each consignment in this collection has a separate box number sequence (i.e. there are multiple Box 1's). Please cite the relevant Class number as well as the Box number when requesting retrieval of material from the collection.

Immediate Source of Acquisition:

The original consignment of papers was purchased by the National Library from Adamson in 1977. Subsequent purchases were made in 1979, 1984, 1988, 1995, 1999, 2005 and 2007 .

Arrangement:

The papers received in the original and earlier consignments have been unified into a single sequence of correspondence, draft poems and scrapbooks. Additions received from 1984 onwards have been arranged separately in the order in which they were acquired by the Library.

Indexed terms

Names:

Adamson, Robert, 1943

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1104519).

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 Robert Adamson, National Library of Australia, [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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