Letters from Sir Littleton to Lady Jessie Groom, 1891-1935

Component identifier:

Subseries 12-1

Content Summary:

This series consists of handwritten letters written from Sir Littleton Groom to his wife, Jessie. Sir Littleton married Jessie (née Bell) on 3 July 1894 in South Melbourne, and the correspondence starts three years prior to their wedding.

The letters read like journal entries, and document the different people, places and activities that Sir Littleton Groom encountered. They cover areas from Sir Littleton's work as a barrister, to his ministerial positions (including the Minister for Home Affairs, Attorney General and Minister for External Affairs). As well as providing observations on people and issues of the day, the correspondence covers family matters and provides answers to questions that Lady Jessie apparently raised in her correspondence. The letters are written from a variety of places - from Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane - and many are written on parliamentary letterhead.

The majority of letters arrived in bundles by year, but generally were not in date order. The letters have have been placed in archival folders by year date, and the Library has arranged the correspondence in date order within each folder. A very small number of letters were filed in manila folders marked with the names of the places from where the letters had been written. Undated letters have generally been kept with their original bundles; loose letters with no dates have been placed in a separate folder. There are also a few letters from Sir Littleton to his daughters, kept by Lady Groom with her letters, which have been retained in this series.

Immediate source of acquisition:

The collection was passed to Cecil Pearce, husband of Jessie, one of Sir Littleton and Lady Groom's daughters. Mr Pearce subsequently bequeathed the papers to his daughter-in-law, who together with her three children, donated the material to the Library.

Names:

Sir Littleton and Lady Jessie Groom

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