Guide to the Papers of Christina Stead, 1937-1988

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Summary

Collection number:
MS 8645; MS Acc08.157; MS Acc09.151.MS Acc22.022
Creator:
Christina Stead
Extent:
(5 boxes + 1 folder + 1 packet)
Language:
English and English
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Christina Stead, National Library of Australia, [class number, series and/or file number]'.
Availability:
Available
Access conditions:
Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

MS 8645 comprises correspondence, 1946-1982, including letters from various writers, and copies of Christina Stead's letters and business correspondence. The main correspondents are Elizabeth Harrower, Cyrilly Abels, David Stead, Nancy Keesing, Dal Stiven, Ron Geering and Dorothy Green, Nancy and Stephen Murray-Smith, Laurence Pollinger, Tim Curnow, W.G. Hoddinott, M.H. Austin and Joan Daves. The collection also includes papers of Gilbert Stead, brother of Christina Stead, 1977-1983, comprising correspondence, cuttings and photocopies. The correspondents are Christina Stead, John Beston and Stanley Burnshaw. There are appointment diaries, 1962-1977, and other Christina Stead material such as photocopies and cuttings relating to For love alone, cuttings and an article relating to Stead's 80th birthday and printed material (4 boxes).

The Acc08.157 instalment comprises papers of Gilbert Stead including 19 personal letters written to him by Christina Stead (1 folder).

The Acc09.151 instalment comprises 17 letters from Christina Stead (C.E. Blake) to Betty and Gilbert Stead (1 packet).

The Acc22.022 instalment includes approximately 50 letters from Stead's literary agent Cyrilly Abels, in addition to letters and cards from other correspondents including Ruth McKenny, Mary Lord, David Stead, Hortense Calisher, Bill Blake, Laurie Hergenhan, Gwen Walker-Smith and Judith Wright. The collection also includes some fragments of Stead's typed notes (most likely for her novel I'm Dying Laughing), other handwritten notes, miscellaneous ephemera, newspaper clippings, and three black and white portrait photographs of Stead (1 box).

Biographical / Historical:

Novelist and short-story writer. Christina Ellen Stead was born and educated in Australia, but spent most of her life abroad. During the 1930s she began to have novels published, with her acknowledged masterpiece, The man who loved children, being released in 1940. Despite critical acclaim she did not win a more general following until the mid-1960s. In 1974, Stead returned to Australia, making it her home for the first time since 1928.

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1895980).
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 Christina Stead, National Library of Australia, [class number, series and/or file number]'.
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact:
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