Guide to the Papers of Robert Hamilton Mathews, 1866-1984

Summary

Collection number:

MS 8006, MS Acc09.011

Creator:

Robert Hamilton Mathews

Extent:

(33 boxes + 1 small folio box + 1 folder)

Language:

English and English

Preferred citation:

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

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property permission required for Indigenous material, permission from relevant communities required. Not for loan.

Cultural Sensitivity Advisory Notice:

Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and other First Nations people are advised that this collection may contain names, recordings and images of deceased people and other content that may be culturally sensitive. Please also be aware that you may see certain words or descriptions within these works which reflect the author's attitude, or that of the period in which the works were created, and may now be considered inaccurate, inappropriate or offensive.

Background

Content Summary:

The main collection of papers at MS 8006 consist almost entirely of material relating to Mathews' anthropological research on the customs, social life and languages of the Australian Aborigines.

The papers fall into two main categories: first, original manuscript material; and second, a collection of reprints of articles on Australian Aborigines by Mathews, many of which contain manuscript annotations and inserts.

The first category, which accounts for just over half of the total shelf metres, includes diaries, correspondence, notebooks, working notes, drafts, photographs and some personal documents. Also included amongst this material is some biographical and bibliographical data on Mathews that was assembled by the anthropologist A.P. Elkin during the 1940s. At that time Elkin was planning to write a biography of Mathews and, for this purpose, had custody of the Mathews Papers for some years. During this time Elkin arranged the papers to suit his own purposes and interfiled with them some of his own material. According to Janet Mathews, Elkin did not return to the family all of the Mathews Papers that had been lent to him.

Aside from the correspondence, the most significant component of the papers is a collection of over thirty notebooks on aspects of Aboriginal anthropology. Some of these notebooks appear to have been compiled in the field.

Further papers, mostly relating to Mathews family history, were added in 2009.

Biographical Note:

Robert Hamilton Mathews was born in 1841 at Narellan, New South Wales. After Qualifying as a licensed surveyor in 1870, he spent twenty years surveying northern New South Wales and was based initially in the New England region and, later, in Singleton. In 1889 he moved to Parramatta where he acted as deputy coroner and wrote Handbook to magisterial inquiries and coroners' inquests, which was issued in several editions. During the time he spent surveying in northern New South Wales he developed an interest in traditional Aboriginal life and customs, an interest which he pursued with vigour after his retirement from surveying in the early 1890s. For the next twenty years he researched and wrote on the social life, customs and languages of various Aboriginal tribes from all Australia. During this time he travelled widely, interviewing informants and conducting field research, and he corresponded extensively with a large number of amateur anthropologists. Between 1890 and 1910 he published over 150 articles on the Australian Aborigines in Australian and overseas anthropological and scientific journals. He had planned to produce a single large scale work on the Australian Aborigines, but this was not completed when he died at Parramatta in 1918. R.H Mathews as the father of the ornithologist Gregory Mathews.

(See: Australian Dictionary of Biography, volume 5)

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 R.H Mathews Papers were presented to the National Library by Mathew's granddaughter-in-law, Janet Mathews, in 1987.

Further papers were added by the Mathews family in 2009.

Arrangement:

When processing the papers, National Library staff decided to maintain the arrangement that Elkin had devised. Beyond that, the papers have been organised by Library staff into eight series based on form of material.

The component of the papers to which Elkin paid most attention is the correspondence, which consists of over 500 letters. Mathews corresponded with a large number of people interested in Aboriginal anthropology, including Reverence John Mathew, Carl Strehlow, Daisy Bates and Charles Winnecke. Elkin organised the letters Mathews received into groupings corresponding with the geographic region discussed in the letters. For example, letters discussing Aboriginal tribes in Victoria are filed together. Elkin itemised the correspondents for each region. An alphabetical index of correspondents' names can be found in the attached Appendices (see the Related documentation section).tab)

Related

Related Documentation:

1. Supplementary finding aid (Type: pdf, Size: 336.56 KB)

   Appendices - List of Correspondents in Series 2; List of Items in Series 8; List of Publications by R.H. Mathews

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Indigenous peoples

Conditions Governing Access:

Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property permission required for Indigenous material, permission from relevant communities required.

Please contact the Library via Ask a Librarian for more information.

Conditions Governing Use:

Due to the cultural sensitivities contained within this material, the National Library of Australia does not have permission to authorise any copies or reproductions of this collection at this stage.

Once the Library has consulted and worked with the appropriate Indigenous community / communities to review the material and ensure that culturally appropriate access and use procedures are in place, some copies of this material may be authorised.

Please contact the Library via Ask a Librarian for more information.

Preferred citation:

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

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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