[Bessie Campbell, Banjo Queen : a collection of music programmes, ephemera relating to her career]
- Bib ID:
- 3543635
- Format:
- Book
- Online Version:
- National Library of Australia digitised item. PROMPT Scrapbook 14
- Description:
-
- [1889-1918]
- 2 v. ; 30 cm. in box 33 x 25 x 10 cm.
- Series:
- Australian ephemera collection (Scrapbooks, etc.)
- Summary:
-
Collection of programmes, ephemera of her early career in Australia. Includes some newspaper excerpts, all in a scrapbook which probably belonged to her.
- Full contents:
-
- [Theatrical miscellanea] (pp. B, 1-31, 35-36)
- [Programs, etc. relating to Bessie Campbell's musical career] (pp. 45-82, 85-88, 91-93, 95, 97, 99, 101)
- [John Campbell material with miscellanea] (pp. 132-133, 136-137, 144, 146-152)
- [Other material relating to Bessie Campbell's career including her charitable works] (loose pp. 1-12)
- Biography/History:
-
Born Elizabeth Campbell, 1870, in Melbourne. A prodigy on the five string banjo and taught by Joe Daniels and the Americans Hosea Easton and later Walter Stent who taught her different American systems of finger-picking, playing different arpeggio arrangements with the thumb and fingers. She did not use the plectrum. Bessie began to appear in charity concerts in Sydney about 1889. By 1897 she was acclaimed as Australia's greatest lady banjoist. During World War I, at the peak of her professional career she gave frequent performances for servicemen and the Australian Red Cross Society. After the war Bessie held benefit concerts and did various charitable work in Sydney. By the early 1930s arthritis made it difficult for her to play and she never made commercial recordings. She was a great follower of cricket. She died, unmarried in Sydney in 1964.
- Notes:
-
- Cataloguer supplied title.
- National Library of Australia's copy carries the autograph of John Campbell in the cover; includes on preliminaries the presentation note, 'To Bess from Jack, July 21st 1887' (NB* Bessie' s brother's name was Jack).
- PROMPT Scrapbook 14 also available online https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-39267340
- Related Material:
- Portraits of Bessie Campbell, etc. located at National Library of Australia Pictures collection, PIC/9836/1-4 LOC Box PIC/9836.
- Cited In:
-
- ADB, Campbell, Elizabeth (Bessie), v. 7, p. 545-546.
- Oxford companion to Australian music, Campbell, Bessie (Elizabeth), p. 94.
- Subject:
- Other authors/contributors:
- Campbell, Bessie, 1870-1964
- Copyright:
-
Out of Copyright
You may copy or order a copy through Copies Direct or use the online copy for research or study; for other uses Contact us for further information about copying.
- Reason for copyright status:
- Since 1988 [Created/Published Date + 70 Years]
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary Dramatic Musical
- Published status:
- Unpublished
- Creation date:
- 1918
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
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