Guide to the Papers of Ann Moyal, 1870-2017

 

Collection context

Summary

Collection number:
MS 9673, MS Acc10.143, MS Acc12.127, .MS Acc14.010, MS Acc17.095, MS Acc18.018
Creator:
Moyal, Ann, Dr, AM
Extent:
4.71 metres and (21 ms boxes + 7 archives boxes)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Ann Moyal, 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 9673 includes correspondence, drafts, printed and research material, interview transcripts and other papers, relating to Ann Moyal's writings and research interests (3 boxes).

The Acc10.143 instalment consists of papers relating to the career of Moyal, including correspondence, research and drafts of articles and books. Correspondents include Frank Fenner, Sir Keith Hancock, Don Lamberton, John and Ingrid Moses and Sir Earle Page. Research for publications includes Clear across Australia: a history of telecommunications, Breakfast with Beaverbrook, Platypus, A bright savage land and Maverick mathematician: the life and science of JE Moyal (15 boxes).

The Acc12.127 instalment includes one booklet and incomplete sets of conference proceedings from the Independent Scholars Association of Australia (ISAA) and journal ISAA review, 1999-2010 (2 boxes).

The Acc14.010 instalment features correspondence to and from Ann Moyal of a personal and professional nature, together writings by Moyal, reviews of Moyal's books, papers relating to her husband Jose Moyal, subject files and press clippings. There are files relating to Lord Beaverbrook, Cecily Gibson, Sir Earle Page, Manning Clark, W.B. Clarke, telecommunication data and others topics of interest, obituaries, a list of Moyal's publications, assorted talks and other writings (4 boxes).

The Acc17.095 instalment comprises papers created by Ann Moyal while preparing a book on women in Australian science. Includes correspondence, background information, research notes, drafts and publications (3 boxes)

The Acc18.018 instalment comprises papers and reviews relating to Ann Moyal's publications including A woman of influence (2014) and on women in science in Australia; conference presentations; interview transcripts; photographs and papers relating to her work as research assistant to Lord Beaverbrook including photographs of Sir Winston Churchill; correspondence; family papers; Australian Dictionary of Biography material; papers relating to a proposal for a Chief Social Scientist; and papers relating to other projects, activities and areas of interest (3 boxes).

Biographical Note:

Ann Veronica Hurley was born in Sydney in 1926, and studied history at the University of Sydney (BA Hons 1946). Receiving first-class Honours, she was awarded a scholarship to London University, but after a successful first year she left to become a research assistant. Hurley married Michael Cousins in 1951. After the divorce in 1954 she became research assistant to Lord Beaverbrook, working on his book Men and power, 1917-1918 (1956). In 1957, she married Colonel Everest Mozley, but the marriage did not last. She returned to Australia in 1958 and became the founding Assistant Editor of the Australian Dictionary of Biography until 1962, the year in which she married the mathematician Jose (Joe) Moyal. She then co-authored the memoirs of former prime minister Earle Page, Truant surgeon: the inside story of forty years of Australian political life (1963). Working as an independent scholar, she devoted herself to the history of Australian science, publishing two works which established her as a leader in the field: A Guide to the Manuscript Records of Australian Science (1966) and Scientists in nineteenth century Australia: a documentary history (1976).

In 1972 Moyal accepted a position as Lecturer in the History of Science at the New South Wales Institute of Technology. Her article, 'The Australian Atomic Energy Commission: A Case Study in Australian Science and Government' (Search 6 [1975, No. 9]: 365-380) made her reputation as the leading Australian expert on the history of atomic energy in Australia, and she was named foundation director of the Science Policy Research Centre at Griffith University (Brisbane). Moyal resigned from this position in 1979.

Moyal's later writings include Clear across Australia: a history of telecommunications (1984); A bright and savage land: scientists in colonial Australia (1986); Platypus (2001); Breakfast with Beaverbrook: memoirs of an independent woman (1995); The web of science (2003); The Koala; a historical biography (2008); and A woman of influence (2014). In 1995 Moyal co-founded and was inaugural President of the Independent Scholars Association of Australia. She was made a member of the Order of Australia in 1993 for her 'contribution to the history of Australian science', elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1997, and awarded a Centenary Medal in 2001, a LittD by the ANU in 2003 and an Hon D Phil by the University of Sydney in 2007.

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.

Indexed terms

Subjects:
Academic
History
Science and technology

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2549436).
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 Ann Moyal, National Library of Australia, [class number, series and/or file number]'.
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact: