Correspondence, 1942-2002

Component identifier:

Series 1

Content Summary:

This series contains Hewett's professional and personal correspondence. Hewett did not retain copies of her own letters except in very rare instances. The letters are largely from literary and theatre colleagues, publishers, Hewett's agents and academics. Whilst these mainly deal with Hewett's work and collaborations, the content of many of the letters suggests that Hewett often combined personal and professional relationships. People represented in the series by significant amounts of correspondence include Robert Adamson, Josephine Barnes, Rolf Hennequel, Elizabeth Jolley, Drusilla Modjeska, Stephen Murray-Smith, Hal Porter, Max Williams and Fay Zwicky. Other correspondents include Frank Hardy, Alan Marshall, David Martin, Katharine Susannah Prichard and Richard Wherrett.

Amongst the correspondence in this series can also be found poems by other writers, greetings and post cards, photographs, audiovisual material, notebooks, notes and typescripts written by Hewett, and financial papers. The placement of Hewett's hand- and type-written notes amongst the correspondence has been retained. Some enclosures received with letters appear to have been removed by Hewett but may possibly be found elsewhere in the collection. Correspondence found amongst Hewett's literary drafts has been left in place and is located in Series 4.

Immediate source of acquisition:

The papers of Dorothy Hewett were received by the Library in a number of instalments between 1979 and 2005: between 1979 and 1999 four consignments of papers were purchased from Ms Hewett; in 2003, papers that Hewett had left with Bill Dunstone in 1988 were donated to the Library by Dunstone; and in 2005 a final instalment was purchased from Hewett's husband, Merv Lilley.

Names:

Hewett, Dorothy

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