Guide to the Papers of Guido Baracchi, 1870-1975

Summary

Collection number:

MS 5241

Creator:

Baracchi, Guido, 1887-1975

Extent:

2.52 metres and (18 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Guido Baracchi, National Library of Australia, MS 5241, [series and/or file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The collection consists of correspondence, diaries, notebooks, handwritten notes from talks, a large amount of research notes, cuttings, handbills, leaflets, translations, photographs and poetry. It covers such organisations as the Communist Party of Australia, the Australian Labor Party, the Revolutionary Socialist Alliance, the Revolutionary Workers League, the Victorian Labour League, the Congress for Friendship and Aid to the Soviet Union, the Fourth International and the Seamen's Union. Other topics covered are conscription, the Vietnam War and the Spanish Civil War. There are also essays and biographical notes and cuttings on such people as H. Alwyn Lee, Baracchi's father (Pietro Baracchi), E.T. Brown, Percy Laidler and Victoria Cramp.

The box of correspondence includes letters from Ralph Gibson, May Brodney, K.S. Prichard, Nettie and Helen Palmer, Dr Lotte Fink, Miriam Dixon, Eric Aarons, David and Bertha Walker (daughter of Percy Laidler), Neura and Michael Hall, Frederick Macartney, President Caballero, Tom Mann, Chris O'Sullivan, Erik Quirk, Jean Battersby, E.E. Jones, Lord Bruce, Will H. Turner, Prof. John Anderson, E.M. Higgins, Maurice Blackburn and Sydney Williams.

Biographical Note:

Guido Baracchi was born in 1887 and died in 1975. He was one of the founders of the Australian Communist Party. After the war he went to Europe and was active with the British Labour and Communist parties and worked as an underground member of the German Communist Party in Berlin. Baracchi returned to Australia in 1935 and he rejoined the Australian Communist Party.

He was married four times and his children include Gilda Baracchi.

Pietro Baracchi, Guido's father, was born in Florence in 1851. He was the government astronomer to the State of Victoria from 1900 to 1907. In 1910 the Commonwealth government invited Baracchi and a party of four to the Yass - Canberra area to select a suitable site for an astronomical observatory. Baracchi led expeditions to observe solar eclipses to Bruny Island, Tasmania in 1910 and Tonga in 1911. He died in 1926 and was buried in Melbourne.

Provenance:

The papers of Guido Baracchi were donated to the National Library by Gilda Baracchi in 1976. Further instalments were received in 1991 and 1992.

Arrangement:

This collection has been arranged in the order in which the three instalments were received. The contents of some series overlap.

Container List:

Series	File/Item	Box
1	1-5	1
2	6-13	2
3	14-18	3
4	21-34	4-5
5	35-54	5-8
6	55-65	8-9
7	66-75	9-10
8	76-84	10-11
9	85-86	11-12
10	1-7	13
10	8	18
11	1-9	14
11	10	18
12	1-4	15
13	1	15
14	1	15
15	1	16
15	2	18
16	1-7	16
16	8-12	18
17		17

Indexed terms

Names:

Baracchi, Guido, 1887-1975

Conditions Governing Access:

The collection is available for reference.

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 Guido Baracchi, National Library of Australia, MS 5241, [series and/or file number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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