Guide to the Papers of Jocelynne Scutt, 1982-2010

Summary

Collection number:

MS 9396

Extent:

7.7 metres and (35 boxes, 1 carton, 5 large cartons, 1 poster roll)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

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

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Part available for research; part requires permission for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The papers cover the period 1982 to 1994 and comprise various stages of drafts of books and articles edited, compiled or written by Scutt.

Scutt's publications concentrate on legal and feminist issues and the collection includes a number of original works by Scutt and contributors prominent in the women's movement and other fields. Equally as important as these contributors, in Scutt's view, was the inclusion of lesser-known women from a range of backgrounds representing a broad cross section of the community. Scutt also wrote and compiled detective fiction under the pseudonym Melissa Chan featuring feminist detective heroine Francesca Miles. Among the papers donated by Scutt are original manuscripts and correspondence for the Melissa Chan books and a crime anthology edited by Melissa Chan and J. Terry.

The papers document the methods of modern publishing as well as providing an insight into the creative writing process and the feminist movement. They also show Scutt's development as an editor and compiler of specialised biographical and autobiographical works about women.

Each publication is designated as a separate series. Most of the publications contain original handwritten drafts and typescripts from contributors followed by a succession of edited contributors' drafts and, finally, manuscript proofs. The way Scutt worked as an editor meant that draft manuscripts were compiled at the end of the process, after individual contributions were edited and re-edited. In the latest publications, individual drafts were compiled into a draft manuscript at an earlier stage in the process and the main editing occurred at manuscript level rather than individual contribution/chapter level. The publications in this collection show the enormous advances made in electronic publishing during the early 1990s.

General correspondence in all the series is almost wholly about publication and publicity arrangements and consists of information or drop copies of correspondence. There is only a smattering of original correspondence in general correspondence series. Original correspondence is kept with chapter or contributor drafts. Because Scutt edited and wrote many publications simultaneously and manuscripts were not always dated, the Library has supplied approximate dates.

Scutt's publications in this collection are: Poor nation of the Pacific?: Australia's future? (1985), Growing up feminist: the new generation of Australian women (1985 and 1996), Lionel Murphy: a radical judge (1987), Different lives: reflections on the women's movement and visions of its future (1987), Women and the law: commentary and materials (1990), As a woman: writing women's lives (1992)), Breaking through: women, work and careers (1992), No fear of flying: women at home and abroad (1993), Glorious age: growing older gloriously (1993), and The sexual gerrymander: women and the economics of power (1993). The Melissa Chan books are: One too many (1991), Getting your man (1992), More on getting your man (1994) a crime anthology, A modern woman and other crimes edited by Melissa Chan and J. Terry, and Guilt (1995).

There are also papers from a special issue of Women and the Law published by the Women's Studies International Forum in February 1986 for which Scutt was a guest editor. The collection also includes some miscellaneous articles and press clippings from 1980 to 1991.

Biographical Note:

Jocelynne Annette Scutt was born in Perth in June 1947. She graduated in law from the University of Western Australia in 1969 and undertook postgraduate studies in law at the University of Sydney, Southern Methodist University and the University of Michigan in the United States, and Cambridge University in England. She spent twelve months at the Max-Planck Institut in Freiburg im Bressau, West Germany before taking up a position with the Australian Law Reform Commission.

Subsequently Jocelynne Scutt has worked with the Australian Institute of Criminology, as associate to a High Court judge (Lionel Murphy), and as director of research with the Legal and Constitutional Committee of the parliament of Victoria. She spent some time at the Sydney Bar in 1981-82, and before returning to private practice in 1986 in Melbourne was Deputy Chairperson of the Law Reform Commission, Victoria.

Scutt has written, edited and compiled the following publications: Even in the best of homes: violence in the family (1983, 1990), For richer, for poorer: men, women and marriage (jointly) (1984), Growing up feminist: the new generation of Australian women (1985), Women and crime (jointly 1981), Different lives: reflections on the women's movement and visions of its future (1987), Poor nation of the Pacific?: Australia's future? (1985) , Lionel Murphy: a radical judge (1987), The baby machine: the commercialisation of motherhood (1988), Women and the law (1990), Breaking through: women, work and careers (1992), As a woman: writing women's lives (1992), Glorious age: growing older gloriously (1993), No fear of flying: women at home and abroad (1993), Taking a stand (1994), The sexual gerrymander: women and the economics of power (1994), City women, country women (1995), Singular women-reclaiming spinsterhood (1995), Living generously-women mentoring women (1996), Growing up feminist too-raising women, raising consciousness (1996), The incredible woman-power and sexual politics (1997).

Provenance:

The originals consignment was donated by Dr Jocelynne Scutt to the National Library in three instalments under the Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme in 1992, 1993 and 1994.

Arrangement:

Wherever possible the original arrangement of material has been maintained by the Library.

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1813478).

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 Jocelynne Scutt, 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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