Guide to the Papers of Jack Beasley, 1947-1999

Summary

Collection number:

MS 9266, MS Acc04.179

Creator:

Beasley, Jack, 1921-

Extent:

4.36 metres and (30 boxes + 1 carton + 2 folio boxes + 11 sound/av carriers)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Jack Beasley, 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:

The collection comprises correspondence, drafts of The rage for life (1964), 'My unilateral debate: Katharine Susannah Prichard and matters pertaining' (in Australian Literary Studies, vol. 11, no. 7, Oct. 1983), A gallop of fire (1993), Red letter days (1979), Widdershins (1986), Journal of an era (1988), plays, miscellaneous literary writings, including children's stories, political papers, Wedgetail Press records and cassettes.

The principal correspondents are Neil Stewart, Alan Marshall, Judah Waten, John Morrison, Ralph de Boissiere and Elsie McConnell. Other correspondents include Katharine Susannah Prichard, A.A. Phillips, Dorothy Hewett, Noel Counihan, Ric Throssell and Carole Ferrier.

Biographical Note:

Jack Beasley was born in Merewether, NSW, in 1921. He worked as an electrical fitter at the BHP steelworks in Newcastle (1936-1941) and later he worked at the Bunnerong Power Station in Sydney.

For many years Beasley was an active member of the Communist Party of Australia. He had a strong interest in the arts, including the theatre, ballet and music, and he was closely associated with the Australasian Book Society which published or re-issued 87 books. In his memoirs, Red letter days: notes from inside an era, Beasley wrote about the Society and some of his fellow-writers of the 1950s and 1960s, such as Alan Marshall, Frank Hardy and Judah Waten. Beasley edited three books which were published by the Society: Price Warung's Convict days (1960), The tracks we travel: second collection including Mary Gilmore Award stories (1961) and Red letter days (1979).

Beasley worked in retail advertising and promotion between 1963 and 1977 and in the late 1980s he had his own publishing venture, Wedgetail Press, through which he published three of his own books. One of these, his novel Widdershins, contains autobiographical elements.

Beasley's published works include the following: Socialism and the novel: a study of Australian literature [Published privately], 1957; The tracks we travel: second collection including Mary Gilmore Award stories Sydney: Australasian Book Society, 1961; The rage for life: the work of Katharine Susannah Prichard Sydney: Current Book Distributors, 1964; Red letter days: notes from inside an era Sydney: Australasian Book Society, 1979; Widdershins Earlwood, NSW: Wedgetail Press, 1986; Journal of an era: notes from the red letter days Earlwood, NSW: Wedgetail Press, 1988; A gallop of fire: Katharine Susannah Prichard: on guard for humanity: a study of creative personality Earlwood, NSW: Wedgetail Press, 1993.

Provenance:

The collection was purchased by the National Library from Jack Beasley in 1995.

Arrangement:

Beasley had kept the papers in good order and, wherever possible, this arrangement has been preserved by the Library.

Container List:

Series	File	Box
1	1-8	1
1	9-13	2
2	1-5	2
3	1-6	3
4	1	3
4	2-5	4
4	6-11	5
4	12-19	6
5	1-8	7
5	9-12	8
5	13-18	9
5	19-26	10
5	27-30	11
5	31-32	12
5	Folios 1-2	Folio Box 1
6	1-3	12
6	4-7	13
6	8-13	14
6	14	15
7	1-5	15
7	6-8	16
8	1-3	16
8	4-9	17
8	10-13	18
9	1-2	18
9	3-8	19
10	1-4	20
11	1-5	21
12	1	21
12	2-8	22
12	9-12	23
12	Folio 1	Folio Box 1
12	Folios 2-4	Folio Box 2
13	1	23

Indexed terms

Names:

Beasley, Jack, 1921-

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 Jack Beasley, 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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