Secretary's files, 1933-80

Component identifier:

Series 1

Content Summary:

In the period 1933-63 the primary administrative functions of the Commonwealth Council were undertaken by the Secretary of the Institute. The functions of the Secretary have included: co-ordinating the activities of the branches; maintaining liaison with overseas institutions and other organisations; acting as Assistant Editor of Australian outlook; maintaining membership records; keeping accounts and making payments under the authority of the Treasurer; preparing agendas and minutes for meetings of the Commonwealth Council, Executive Committee and Building Committee; sale of Institute publications to members; allocation of royalties to authors; making national arrangements for the Dyason and Roy Milne lectures; as well as handling miscellaneous administration, enquiries and publicity.

After 1963 the Directorate took over many federal functions. The position of Secretary ceased after the retirement of Nance Dickins in 1975.

The contents of the Secretaries' files reflect the functions of the position. The files also contain some records of the President, the Research Chairman and the Treasurer. These files were retained in this series where they formed part of an alphabetical sequence.

The Secretaries' files are arranged in six alphabetical sequences and a chronological sequence of mainly early files which were not arranged in any order. The arrangement and description of files in the alphabetical sub-series have been strongly based on the lists provided by Nance Dickins to T.B. Millar when the files were transferred to Canberra in 1975 and 1976 (series 2/2, file 40). Where file titles on the list varied from those on the files themselves, the list titles were retained if they provided more information of the contents of the files. File titles which are denoted 'missing' are titles which appeared on Nance Dickins' list but which were not received by the Library.

Immediate source of acquisition:

The records were donated by the Institute in two instalments in 1970, 1994 and 2002. Some financial records were returned to the Institute.

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