Guide to the Papers of Marian Eldridge, 1942-1997

Summary

Collection number:

MS 9227; MS Acc01.082; MS Acc03.199;.MS Acc09.158

Creator:

Marian Eldridge

Extent:

10.41 metres and (39 MS boxes + 10 cartons + 2 packets)

Language:

English and English

Preferred citation:

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

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

Eldridge was a short story writer and novelist. The collection comprises personal correspondence, financial papers, correspondence concerning the writing and publication of her various works, handwritten drafts, typescripts, copy-edit and page proofs, notes and research material, and book reviews.

The personal and literary correspondence documents her relationships with other writers, friends, and members of the Eldridge and Stockfeld families. The principal literary correspondents include Geoffrey Dutton, Judith Wright, Vance Palmer, Gwen Harwood, Ian R. Mathews, John Barnes, Myra Roper, Edith Conley, FairlieApperly, Irene Summy, Anne Elder, and Joan Mas. The personal correspondents include Eldridge's mother, the writer Gwen Stockfeld, her brother David Stockfeld, her children David, James, Elizabeth, and Catherine Eldridge, various Eldridge and Stockfeld relatives, and friends from Australia and overseas.

Biographical Note:

Marian Eldridge (Marian Favel Clair Stockfeld) was born on 1 February 1936 in Melbourne, grew up near Lancefield, and later lived in Melbourne, Traralgon and Canberra. Her parents, Brian and Gwen Stockfeld, ran a small property 'The Gap', near Lancefield, from 1935 to 1972. Eldridge's early education was by correspondence at home followed by a year at St Michael's, Melbourne, and then Kyneton High School. She then attended Melbourne University, and attained a Bachelor of Arts in 1957. She was married to Ken Eldridge, and had four children. She travelled extensively in Australia and overseas.

Eldridge published three short story collections, Walking the Dog (1984), The Woman at the Window (1989), and The Wild Sweet Flowers - The Alvie Skerritt Stories (1994), and a novel, Springfield (1992), all published by the University of Queensland Press. She also edited the anthology Amongst the Leaves: prose and poetry from students' workshops at Darwin High School (1989), with stories written by students from when she was writer-in-residence at Darwin High School in 1989. Eldridge contributed her short story 'Capital Gains' to Canberra Tales (1988), an anthology of stories set in and about Canberra and compiled by the Seven Writers. This group of Canberra writers also included Margaret Barbalet, Sara Dowse, Suzanne Edgar, Marion Halligan, Dorothy Horsfield, and Dorothy Johnston.

Eldridge's short stories were featured in a number of newspapers, journals, and more than 20 short story collections, including Muse, Meanjin, Southerly, The Bulletin, The Canberra Times, Best Short Stories 1986 (1986), Moments of Desire (1989), and Personal Best 2: stories and statements by Australian Writers (1991).

In 1996 Eldridge wrote 12 poems which were published in the Senate Hansard of 19 June 1997.

Eldridge won numerous writing competitions and awards, including 1st prize in the Robin Hood Committee Annual Literature Competition, 1972; equal 4th place in the 14th State of Victoria Short Story Award, 1977-78; 1st prize in The Canberra Times/Commonwealth Bank National Short Story Award, 1981; and 3rd place in the Marcus Clarke Award, Syme Community Newspapers Short Story Competition, 1983. In 1992 she received two awards, the ACT Arts Bureau Literary Fellowship and an Australia Council Literary Board Grant, Category B. In 1994 she won the International Year of the Family Award in the NSW State Literary Awards.

Throughout her career Eldridge worked as a teacher in English and History at Traralgon High School, as a relief teacher in Canberra secondary schools, a tutor in literature courses for the Centre of Continuing Education at the Australian National University, a book reviewer for The Canberra Times and Australian Book Review, and in 1986 as the first literature coordinator for the ACT Arts Council.

Eldridge died in Canberra on 14 February 1997.

Collection Retrieval Advice:

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

Provenance:

The Library purchased Marian Eldridge's papers in May 1997 from her husband Ken Eldridge.

Arrangement:

Eldridge kept her papers in good order and the Library has retained this arrangement.

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Literature

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn528621).

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 Marian Eldridge, 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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