The Archives, the Grainger Museum and the Special Collections of the University of Melbourne
[ UniNews Vol. 12, No. 11
30 June - 14 July 2003 ] By Michael Piggott
The University of Melbourne Archives and Grainger and Special Collections are among Australias finest cultural heritage resources. Their national significance and value are outlined here by University Archivist and Head of the Grainger and Special Collections, Mr Michael Piggott drawing on his contribution to Treasures: Highlights of the Cultural Collections of the University of Melbourne, one of a commemorative suite of new books celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the University. Treasures, edited by Chris McAuliffe and Peter Yule, was published recently by The Miegunyah Press, an imprint of Melbourne University Press.
One of the factors that sets the University apart is its research collections. Few Australian universities have anything equivalent in research and cultural heritage significance to the Baillieu Librarys rare books and prints. In addition, Melbourne is only one of two Australian universities that can boast an archives collection comprising extensive business, trade union, social, political and personal research materials, in our case the largest archives outside the government sector. Then there is the Grainger Museum, an autobiographical institution with few international parallels. Interesting as treasures and valuable as assets ($70m), these vital scholarly resources are among the finest in the Asia Pacific region.
Grounds for such a claim developed slowly, beginning in 1903 when a collection of 2500 volumes comprising works by Robert Burns and publications on fine art, typography and Australian history was bequeathed by a most unlikely source a baker named George McArthur (18421903) from Maldon, Victoria. It was the librarys first major benefaction.
A pattern of library purchasing on the one hand, and gifts and bequests particularly of formed collections on the other, has endured to the present day. Of the later benefactor collections, one might note the rare Australiana of Sir Russell Grimwade and Ian McLaren, beautifully illustrated works on marine botany from Dr Sophie Ducker, and over 1000 early childrens books from Frederick Morgan. Much of importance too has been acquired by academics and librarians own labors, while important memorial bequests have also been the source of significant additions to the collections.
No one has shown us greater generosity than Dr John Orde Poynton, a London-born medico who settled in Adelaide in 1947 and who set about rebuilding his collection lost during the blitz. In turn, he began presenting books, prints and paintings to the Baillieu Library in 1959, effectively establishing its rare books collection. By his death in 2001 the Library could boast a collection which included Greek and Latin classics from the beginning of printing, first and early editions of major English authors, and modern private press books and limited and first editions totaling some 15,000 volumes and more than 3000 prints. Within these groupings are items of known international importance, including a Second Folio Shakespeare, a 1493 Nuremberg Chronicles, one of the best Sir Walter Scott collections and one of the few complete sets of Delphin Classics in the world.
As Dr Poynton was becoming known to us, the life of another great benefactor was ending. The death of Percy Grainger at White Plains, New York, in 1961 ended the career not only of a pianist, composer and musical innovator interested both in preserving folk songs and in developing free music machines, but of the creator of the Universitys Grainger Museum. Into it, this Melbourne-born athletic enigma poured not only the documents of his evolving life story, but also the evidence collected to illustrate his theories about music, mankind, personal relationships, sex, friendship, race and language.
The Museum has material generated by Grainger and his family, collected and copied by and for him, and related items collected following his death. It holds a highly diverse range of archival library and museum materials comprising approximately 125,000 objects. Its broad component parts divide into correspondence and music manuscripts, published material, recordings tapes and other audio materials, paintings and photos, decorative arts, furniture and musical instruments representing numerous cultures and traditions.
The Museums diversity however cannot be even imagined from a single summary paragraph. Where do the ship models and archeological specimens of great antiquity fit for instance? They were accumulated partly because Grainger was such a diligent and meticulous record keeper, a collector astoundingly catholic in taste who began very early in life. Hence his interest in folk songs, arising not only from musical interest but from a concern to preserve a fading social phenomenon. He recorded more than 400 English folk songs between 19051909, with unusual attention to the cultural context.
The early 1960s saw not only Graingers death and the first Poynton donations but also the beginnings of the University Archives. The idea grew primarily from a concern of historians and historically minded businessmen at the loss of business archives, although the University also recognised the need for better management of its own official records. This latter development now enables the story of our 150 years of educational scholarly and social contributions to be documented. Reflecting its external beginning, almost half the Archives 14-kilometre collection comprises business records, many associated with critical developments in Australian mining and metals extraction. Other strengths occur in the finance and insurance sector, retail, primary industry, manufacturing and wholesale trade. There are also very important holdings of significant legal and architectural practices.
The Archives second great collection theme relates to the labour and protest movement. From the 1970s it has negotiated major transfers of historical records such as the vast Victorian Trades Hall Council archive and from Victorian branches and some head offices of federally registered unions. The collections in some cases date back to the very earliest years of organised labour in the 1860s, and are especially rich in minute books, newspapers, correspondence files and photographs.
Such materials allow the researcher to study industrial disputes from multiple perspectives, for they complement not only the wages and workplace relations components of our business collections but also our collections covering employer bodies. Finally, personal collections such as letters, diaries and photos are also there to support insights to industrial and political activity.
Business and trade union resources aside, mention of one last significant theme is warranted. Encompassing literary community professional and protest endeavours and activities, this components importance can only be hinted at by noting such collection names as Meanjin, McPhee Gribble, and the Womens Electoral Lobby. Further examples comprise the records of peace, disarmament and citizens protest bodies, and more than 12,000 images by the protest photographer John Ellis. Such nominations readily validate the assessment made in The Diary of A Vice-Chancellor by its editor Professor Rod Ridley. The Archive, he wrote, is one of the Universitys most precious assets.
Treasures: Highlights of the Cultural Collections of the University of Melbourne (retail price $120.00) currently can be purchased at a discounted rate through the University Bookshop.
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