MS 4955
Papers of Rosemary Dobson
Please note: This guide was revised in 2007. The updated version is available from the Manuscripts Reading Room.
Scope and Content Note
Papers
1940s-1991
2.10 m. (15 boxes)
Permission required for research during the lifetime of Rosemary Dobson.
The papers were donated under the Taxation Incentive for the Arts Scheme
to the Library by Rosemary Dobson in several consignments between July 1986 and
August 1999.
The papers include a considerable amount of correspondence about
literary, business and personal matters, drafts of poems, drafts of reviews,
index cards, press cuttings, sketches, material about writers festivals,
details of seminars and information about poetry competitions.
The major correspondents are Margaret Horder, Christina Stead, Francis
Webb, Nan McDonald, Geoffrey Bingham, Claire OBrien, Elizabeth Marsh,
Denise Levertov, Alan Tregaskis, Lady Casey, Patrick White and David Marr.
There is also a large amount of other correspondence from many notable
Australian authors and poets.
Biographical Note
Author and poet, Rosemary de Brissac Dobson, was born in Sydney 18 June
1920. She married Alec Bolton in 1951. They had three children. As well as her
writing career, Dobson has worked as an editor and reader for Angus and
Robertson Publishers in the 1940s, and as an art and art history teacher. Her
interest in art, antiquity and mythology and her personal experiences of
motherhood are reflected in her work.
Dobsons publications include In a convex mirror (1944),
The ship of ice (1948), Child with a cockatoo (18955),
Australian poets : Rosemary Dobson (1963), Cock crow (1965),
Focus on Ray Crooke (1971), Selected poems (1973), World
of difference : Australian poetry and painting in the 1940s (1973),
Three poems on water springs (1973), Moscow trefoil (1975),
translated with David Campbell, Greek coins (1977), Over the
frontier (1978), Seven Russian poets (1979), with David Campbell,
Continuance of poetry (1981), The three fates (!984),
Summer press (1987) a novel for young adults, Collected poems :
Rosemary Dobson (1991) and Untold lives (1992). Dobson has
contributed to many Australian publications including Sydney Morning
Herald, Age, Australian, Meanjin, Quadrant, Bulletin, Southerly, Luna,
Westerly, Island mag, Overland, LiNQ, Poetry Aust, Hemisphere, Australian
letters, Poetry review and others. Her overseas contributions include
Antaeus, Texas quarterly, Voices (USA) and Poetry review. She
has also written articles, essays and radio scripts on various writers and
artists including Denise Levertov (1985), Natalya Gorbanyevskaya (1988) and
Vasko Popa (1988). A selection of her poems, LEnfant en
Cacatoès, was translated into French in Autour du Monde
(1967).
Dobson has received the following recognition and awards for her work:
Sydney Morning Herald award for poetry, 1948 (The ship of
ice); FAW Christopher Brennan Award, 1978; Robert Frost Prize, 1979;
Senior Fellowship, Literature Board of the Australia Council, 1980; Patrick
White Award, 1984; Grace Leven Poetry Prize, 1984 (The three fates);
Victorian Premiers Literary Award, 1985 (The three fates);
Emeritus Fellowship, Literature Board of the Australia Council, 1996.
Dobson was awarded the Officer of the Order of Australia in 1987 for her
outstanding contribution to Australian literature. She is a member of the
Australian Society of Authors and was made an honorary life member of
Association for the Study of Australian Literature in 1985.
Box List
Box 1
| Folder 1 |
Poems, press cuttings, sketches, The
ship of ice and Riverside |
| Folder 2 |
Index cards and four early poetry
books |
| Folder 3 |
Correspondence about Focus on Ray
Crooke, 1967-71 |
| Folder 4 |
Correspondence, 1965-79 |
| Folder 5 |
World Festival of Poetry article |
| Folder 6 |
Letter from Margaret Horder to Dobson,
1955 |
Box 2
| Folder 7 |
Correspondence with Francis Webb,
1946-67 |
| Folder 8 |
Correspondence with Francis Webb,
1972-73 |
| Folder 9 |
Correspondence between Francis Webb and
Nan McDonald, 1961-73 |
| Folder 10 |
Correspondence about Francis Webb,
1962-83 |
| Folder 11 |
Correspondence with Norman Lindsay,
Judith Wright, Douglas Stewart, Philip Lindsay, Isobel Lindsay and other
correspondents, 1947-71 |
Box 2a
| Folder 12 |
Correspondence with Geoffrey Bingham
including poem Camp, 1945-46 |
| Folder 13 |
Correspondence with Robert D. FitzGerald,
Bruce Dawe, Ray Mathew and other correspondents, 1951-73 |
| Folder 14 |
Correspondence with Nancy Cato, Geoffrey
Dutton, Sylvia Lawson, Alexander Craig, John Blight, Laurence Collinson,
Douglas Stewart, Ethel Anderson, Robert Lindsay, Judith Wright and other
correspondents, 1941-75 |
| Folder 15 |
Correspondence with James McAuley, Hal
Porter, Harold Stewart, Margaret Sutherland, Gladys Scott, Roland Robinson,
Sylvia Townsend Warner, Tom Shapcott, Douglas Stewart, Judith Wright McKinney,
Russell Drysdale, Sheila Wiley, Henrietta Drake-Brockman, Valentine Ackland,
Dulcie Pearse, Russell N. Hill, Lloyd Ross and other correspondents,
1948-75 |
| Folder 16 |
Correspondence with James McAuley, John
Rowland, Majorie Pizer Holburn, Tom Shapcott, Sylvia Townsend-Warner, Alexander
Craig, David Campbell, Ray Matthew, Bruce Dawe, R.D. FitzGerald, and other
correspondents, 1948-75 |
Box 3
| Folders 17-23 |
Letters of Nan McDonald to Dobson, 1940s
to 1974, including poems |
Box 4
| Folders 24-30 |
Letters of Dobson to Nan McDonald, 1960s
and 1970s, including poems |
Box 5
| Folders 31-35 |
Drafts of poems F.V.S.P. |
| Folders 36-40 |
Drafts of Russian poem translations |
Box 6 (Added 17 April 1990
and 11 February 1991)
| Folder 41 |
Letters from Margaret Horder, 1965 (Added
April 1990) |
| Folders 42-43 |
Correspondence with Christina Stead,
1980-83. |
| Folder 44 |
Correspondence on anthologies, 1961-67. A
small group of business letters concerning the publications of poems in
anthologies. The correspondents include Douglas Stewart, Ian Mudie, Max Harris,
James McAuley and Geoffrey Dutton. |
Box 6 cont.
| Folders 45-48 |
General correspondence, 1973-86. A large
group of business and literary letters mostly relating to Dobson's contribution
to magazines, reproduction of poems in anthologies and elsewhere, ABC programs,
talks to schools and publishing projects. There are also a number of circulars
and leaflets. The correspondents include Beatrice Davis, C.B. Christesen, Thea
Astley, Paul Carter, Kevin Hart, Gwen Harwood, Nancy Keesing, Judith Wright,
Gerald Murnane, Philip Roberts, Vivian Smith, Graham Kinross Smith, Dal
Stivens, Ron Petty, Alan Ashbolt, David Brooks, Debra Adelaide, Ron Simpson,
Barrett Reid, Jill Hellyer, William Hart Smith, Lou Klepac, Dimitris Tsuloumas,
Philip Martin, Clare O'Brien and Barbara Blackman. |
| |
|
Box 7 (Added 11
February 1991) |
| |
|
| Folders 49-52 |
General correspondence, 1973-86 |
| Folders 53-54 |
Correspondence and general papers on the
Sisters Publishing Ltd., 1979-84. The correspondents include Clare O'Brien,
Hilary McPhee and Diana Gribble. |
| Folder 55 |
Correspondence concerning Sisters
poets 1, which was published by the Sisters Publishing 1979. The
correspondents are Susan Hampton, Joyce Lee, Anne O'Donovan and Anne Lloyd.
|
| Folder 56 |
Correspondence concerning the David
Campbell Seminar at ADFA, held in September 1985, with Harry Heseltine and
Barry Andrews. |
| Folder 57 |
Correspondence concerning the Martin
Bequest Travelling Scholarship, 1981-90. |
| |
|
| Box 8 (Added 26 February 1991) |
| |
|
| Folders 58-62 |
General correspondence, 1973-89. The
correspondents include: Robert Adamson, Cheryl Adamson, Harry Aspland, Ross
Blackwood, Judith Brett, R. Brissenden, David Brooks, C.B. Christesen, Richard
Connolly, Tim Curnow, Geoffrey Dutton, Chris Edwards, June Epstein, Michele
Field, Clare Fleming, Helen Frizell, Peter Gebhardt, Barbara Giles, Christine
Green, Michael Griffith, Suzanne Hayes, Leoni Hensch, Joy Hooten, Konrad
Hopkins, Nancy Keesing, Frank Kellaway, Brian Kennedy, Lou Klepac, Elaine
Lindsay, Phillip Mathews, T.B.Millar, Les Murray, Jeremy Nelson, Claire
O'Brien, Carole Olsen, Barbara Petrie, B. Porter, Lucy Rees, Annette Renshaw,
Stuart Sayers, Vivian Smith, Graeme Kinross-Smith, David S. Thomson, Dane
Thwaites, Michael Thwaites, G. Ursing, Vicki Viidikas, Susan Wild and Richard
Walsh. |
| Folder 63 |
Miscellaneous correspondence,
1965-72 |
| Folder 64 |
Correspondence with Clare O'Brien of
Sisters PublishingLtd., 1981-83 |
| |
|
| Box 9 (Added 26 February 1991) |
| |
|
| Folder 65 |
Correspondence with Elizabeth Marsh,
1979 |
| Folder 66 |
Correspondence with the University of
Tasmania, 1979 |
| Folder 67 |
Salamanca Writers' Festival, 1988 |
| Folder 68 |
Correspondence with Denise Levertov,
relating to the Poet's Tongue, 1981-82 |
| Folder 69 |
Correspondence with Alan Tregaskis,
1978-80 |
| Folder 70 |
Anthology correspondence, 1977-80 |
| Folder 71 |
Correspondence with the Australian
Literature Board, 1972-81 |
| Folder 72 |
Drafts of poems, including The
fisherman and the moon |
| Folder 73 |
Struga Poetry Festival, 1972 |
Box 10 (Added 26 February
1991)
| Folder 74 |
Drafts for Continuance of
poetry |
| Folder 75 |
Early poems, 1953-65 |
| Folder 76 |
Seminar at the Humanities Research
Centre, ANU, 1977 |
| Folder 77 |
Seminar at the Capricornia Institute of
Advance Education, 1979 |
| Folder 78 |
Drafts of reviews, 1984-88 |
| Folder 79 |
Drafts of the Greek coins |
| Folder 80 |
Papers on the National Poetry
Competition, the Literature Board Assessment Panel, the National Books
Council's Award and the Bicentennial Poetry Awards, 1979-86 |
| Folder 81 |
Translations of Dobson's poetry into
French by Margaret Diesendorf and Louis Dautheuil |
| Folder 82 |
Miscellaneous papers |
Box 11 (Added 12 February
1993)
| Folder 83 |
Lady Casey's letters and writings sent to
Rosemary Dobson and Alec Bolton, 1966-68 |
| Folder 84 |
Lady Casey's letters, lecture notes and
other miscellaneous writings sent to Rosemary Dobson, 1969-76 |
| Folder 85 |
Letters of Lady Casey to Ruth Dobson
(1967-72) and Majorie Dobson (1967 and 1976) |
| Folder 86 |
Letters of Patrick White to Rosemary
Dobson (1974-82) and correspondence between Dobson and David Marr pertaining to
White's letters (1991-92) |
| Folder 87 |
Letters of Francis Webb to Rosemary
Dobson, 1973 |
| Folder 88 |
Drafts of poem Folding the
sheets |
| Folder 89 |
Typescript of poem The harrowing of
Balmain - a mock-heroick poem in four books in the style of Mr Hope
signed by Alan Gould and Kevin Hart |
Box 12 (Added 17 August 1999)
| Folder 90 |
Correspondence (1973-77) on Russian
Translation Project. Notes on Osip Mandelstam |
| Folder 91 |
Poetry typescripts |
| Folder 92 |
Poetry after Osip Mandelstam |
| Folder 93 |
Annotated typescripts of poetry after
Osip Mandelstam translated by Olga Hassanoff |
| Folder 94 |
Typescript draft of foreword by A.D. Hope
to Moscow trefoil. Translations by Natalie Staples |
| Folder 95 |
Poetry transcripts with handwritten
annotations |
| Item 96 |
Literal translations by Natalie
Staples |
Box 13
| Folder 97 |
Seven Russian poets |
| Folder 98 |
Poems from the Russian of Osip
Mandelstam |
| Folder 99 |
Versions of poems from the Russian of
Osip Mandelstam |
| Folder 100 |
Poetry of Natalya Gorbanevskaya |
| Folder 101 |
Correspondence (1981) about Jill
Scurfields article Some recent translations of
Mandelstam (1981). Copy of Dobsons article A
poets response (1981). |
| Folder 102 |
Correspondence (1972, 1974). Mandelstam
material |
Box 14
| Folder 103 |
Seven Russian poets: imitations
by R. Dobson and David Campbell |
| Folder 104 |
Draft of Seven Russian
poets |
| Folder 105 |
Literal translations by Olga Hassanoff
and Robert Dessaix |
| Folder 106 |
Correspondence (1978-80) with University
of Queensland Press. Reviews of Seven Russian poets |
| Folder 107 |
Assorted Mandelstam versions by Dobson
and David Campbell |
| Folder 108 |
Poems from the Russian |
| Folder 109 |
Correspondence with Australian
literary studies (1982-83). Annotated typescripts of poetry |
| Folder 110 |
Moscow trefoil: poems from the
Russian of Anna Akhmatova and Osip Mandelstam / David Campbell, Rosemary
Dobson, translator: Natalie Staples, foreword by A.D. Hope (Canberra:
Australian National University Press, 1975) |
November 1999
Access conditions updated May 2008
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