Guide to the Papers of Eric Fry, 1941-2000

Summary

Collection number:

MS 9691

Creator:

Fry, Eric Charles

Extent:

0.75 metres and (5 ms boxes + 12 sound/av carriers)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Eric Fry, National Library of Australia, [class/file number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Biographical Note:

Eric Charles Fry was born in Broken Hill on 21 August 1921. He was educated at North Sydney Boys' High School. In 1938 he joined the Commonwealth Public Service and studied Economics part-time at the University of Sydney, graduating in 1942. Fom 1941 to 1946 he was on military service, first with the Army and later with the RAAF. In 1946 he returned to the Public Service as an Investigation Officer in the Office of Education. In 1947 he gained a Scholarship to study full-time at Sydney University, where he completed an Honours Arts degree in 1950. In 1951 he gained a Diploma of Education and was briefly a schoolteacher. From 1952 to 1955 he was a postgraduate student in the History Department at the Australian National University, graduating as a Doctor of Philosophy in 1956.

Fry's first academic appointment was as a Lecturer in History at the University of Western Australia in 1956. From 1957 to 1959 he was a Lecturer in History at the University of New England and in 1959 he was appointed Senior Lecturer in History at Canberra University College. The College was absorbed into the Australian National University in 1960 and Fry remained a member of the History Department in the School of General Studies until his retirement in 1986. He was promoted to the position of Reader in 1967 and from 1973 to 1975 he was the Dean of the Faculty of Arts.

In 1961 Fry and Robin Gollan founded the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History. Fry was the first Secretary and in time occupied every position in the Society, including President (1984-86). Most of his writings were in the field of labour and urban history. He edited Tom Barker and the I.W.W. (Canberra, 1965), Rebels and radicals (Sydney, 1983) and Common cause; essays in Australian and New Zealand labour history (Sydney, 1986). In his retirement he carried out research on the life of his wife's brother, Charles Williams, who served with Bomber Command and was killed in a 'Dambusters' raid in 1943. This formed the basis of his book An airman far away (Sydney, 1993).

Eric Fry married Sheila Williams on 19 May 1950.

Collection Retrieval Advice:

Please note: each consignment in this collection has a separate box number sequence (i.e. there are multiple Box 1's). Please cite the relevant Class number as well as the Box number when requesting retrieval of material from the collection.

Provenance:

The papers were purchased by the Library from Eric Fry in 2000. Further papers were added in 2008.

Arrangement:

The papers were sorted and filed by Fry shortly before they were offered to the Library. The contents of the files have been kept intact and the basic arrangement has also been retained, beginning with personal letters and his career, followed by papers on research and publications. Some slight changes were made in the order of the files.

Indexed terms

Names:

Fry, Eric Charles

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2136632).

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 Eric Fry, National Library of Australia, [class/file number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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