Guide to the Papers of John Arthur Perkins, 1891-1954

Summary

Collection number:

MS 936

Extent:

2.56 metres and (16 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of John Arthur, National Library of Australia, MS 936, [series and/or file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for research. Not for loan. Use microfilm copy Mfm G 28200-28206.

Background

Content Summary:

The papers fall into two broad categories: personal and political material relating to Perkins' career, and historical material assembled by Perkins relating to the Eden-Monaro District.

The personal papers (Series 2-4) comprise diaries, correspondence, press cuttings, notes, articles, invitations, menus and booklists.

The historical material (Series 1) emanates from Perkins' life-long interest in the history of the area where he spent most of his life. It consists of typescript items which he extracted from newspapers and other publications, arranged chronologically as 'Monaro District Items' and 'Tumut and Adelong Items'. There is also an 11-volume narrative history 'The District of Monaro', 1823 to 1936, compiled by Perkins using the extracts as source material.

Biographical Note:

J.A. Perkins (1878-1954) was a Federal and State parliamentarian. He was Federal Member for Eden-Monaro 1926-29 and 1931-43; Minister for the Interior, 1932-34 and Minister for Trade and Customs, 1938-39.

Date	Event
18 May 1878	Born at Tumut, New South Wales. Educated in the district, he took up farming and later went into business as a bookseller in Cooma.
1904 and 1908	Mayor of Cooma
22 November 1921	Elected to the Legislative Assembly, New South Wales, as Member for Goulburn. He held this seat until his resignation on 21 January 1926
6 March 1926	Elected to the House of Representatives for Eden-Monaro at by-election; re-elected at General Election in November 1928.
6 January-16 December 1929	Government Whip
12 October 1929	Defeated at the General Election
19 December 1931	Re-elected to seat of Eden-Monaro at General Election
6 January-13 October 1932	Acting Minister for Trade and Customs
13 October 1932-17 October 1934	Minister for the Interior
7-8 November 1938	Minister Without Portfolio assisting the Prime Minister and administering External Territories
8 November 1938-26 April 1939	Minister for Trade and Customs
26 April 1939-14 March 1940	Minister Without Portfolio administering External Territories
1941-43	Chairman of the Joint Committee on Social Security
21 August 1943	Defeated at General Election and retired from politics
13 July 1954	Died at his home in Manly, New South Wales

Provenance:

The papers were donated to the Library by Perkins' widow Evelyn in 1954.

Arrangement:

A note on item numbers – original manuscripts:

This list was revised in 1999 and expanded to include detailed descriptions of Series 2-4. The system of continuous 'item numbers' used throughout the collection (In Series 1 equivalent to whole files or volumes) has been replaced by file numbers to be more consistent with the 'item numbers' (equivalent to single pages) used in Series 2-4.

For many years the original Volumes 1-4 of the Tumut and Adelong items were unpaginated and unindexed. Microfilm of these volumes (mfm G24,779) was obtained from the Mitchell Library in 1991 and was found to have intermittent page numbers (total of 283 pages). Members of the Tumut and District Family History Society did not paginate the original Volumes 1-4 held by the National Library. Instead, they re-typed the extracts and incorporated page numbers, and from this document they created an index. The Library acquired the re-typed extracts and index in 1986. Neither this re-typed document nor the index have yet been filmed. Please note that the pages in the re-typed transcripts do not correspond exactly with the pages in Perkins' originals, so readers should consult MS 7231 in preference to Files 16-19 of MS 936.

At the time of revision, there were no indexes to Files 14-15 (Cooma and Tumut items) or Files 20-32 ('The District of Monaro')

Related

Related Documentation:

1. Supplementary finding aid (Type: pdf, Size: 323.1 KB)

   Appendix I - Microfilm Index

Existence and Location of Copies:

The most heavily used parts of this collection (historical extracts and indexes) have been microfilmed. Readers are requested to use the microfilm instead of the original papers, which are very fragile. Microfilm reel numbers are provided in the Summary of Microfilm Reels, (under Related Documentation tab.) The reels may be requested from the Manuscript Reading Room.

Alphabetical indexes to Volumes 1-7 (Monaro District) are available in both hard copy and microfilm. The microfilm (mfm G7685-7687) was acquired in 1970. For many years Volumes 8 and 9 remained unpaginated and unindexed. Sometime before 1994 these volumes were paginated and the Library acquired a hard copy index to Volumes 8 and 9, compiled by W.G. Coppell. This index has not yet been microfilmed.

Microfilm reels mfm G 24, 777-781 were acquired from the Mitchell Library in 1991, to supplement the microfilm already held. Although there are no access restrictions on either set of microfilm reels, they are housed in the Supervised Access run of Manuscripts so that readers may use them in the same room as the unfilmed original manuscripts. The Mitchell Library has given permission for printouts to be made for the purpose of private study. Please note, however, that no reproductions of these films or of prints made from them may be made for publication without the assent of the State Library of New South Wales.

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn726838).

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 John Arthur, National Library of Australia, MS 936, [series and/or file number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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