MS 7952
National Library of Australia
View Catalogue Record
Collection Summary
- Creator
-
Dora Wilcox
- Title
-
Papers of Dora Wilcox
- Date Range
-
1865-1954
- Collection Number
-
MS 7952
- Extent
-
0.84 metres (6 boxes)
- Language of Materials
-
English
- Repository
-
National Library of Australia
Introduction
Scope and Contents
This collection includes diaries, manuscripts, correspondence, notes, typescripts, photographs, cutting books, cuttings, various certificates awarded to Wilcox and printed material relating to Wilcox's work as a poet and playwright, as well as to her private life. The early diaries (1914-1917) are very detailed and personal, describing her life in Switzerland, Belgium and England; as well as her first husband Jean Paul Hamelius, her writings and readings; meetings with Bertram Dobell; war news. The later diary (1938-1943) describes her life in Sydney, refering to meetings with publishers as well as Amy Mack, Margaret Preston and Blanche Lindsay, war news, PEN functions, reminiscences of William Moore. The major correspondents are: Robert de Montalk, Jean Paul Hamelius, Bertram Dobell and William Moore. The manuscripts and typescripts are of Wilcox's poems and plays. The collection also includes notes, cuttings and typescripts on Charles Meryon, the French artist who lived in New Zealand.
Conditions Governing Access
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1329231).
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Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions.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 Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.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], MS 7952, National Library of Australia, Papers of Dora Wilcox, [box number and series and/or file number]'.
Biographical Note
Poet and dramatist. Wilcox was born in New Zealand and emigrated to Australia in the 1920s. Her second husband was the Australian art historian William Moore. Two of her plays were published, Commander Capston (1931) and The Fourposter (1937). Wilcox also published three volumes of poetry, Verses from Maoriland (1905), Rata and mistletoe (1911) and Seven poems (1924)
Item Descriptions
Series 1. Manuscripts
Volume of manuscripts poems entitled 'Scratches and scribbles' by John Kyrle, 1890-1902 (File 1) - Box 1
Typescript and manuscript essay entitled 'Portraits'-which deal with the Manning family of Tasmania (File 2) - Box 1
Volume of manuscript poems, 1914-17 (File 3) - Box 1
Volume of manuscript poems, 1921-33 (File 4) - Box 1
Typescript with manuscript amendments of 'A New Zealander's book of war and peace' by 'Akaroa' (File 5) - Box 1
Typescript with manuscript amendments of 'Aroha, a Maori play' (File 6) - Box 1
Typescript with manuscript amendments of 'Courage, a romantic play' (File 7) - Box 1
Typescript with manuscript amendments of 'At waratah in the early fifties; a play', 1929 (File 8) - Box 1
Typescript of 'The raid; a play' (File 9) - Box 2
Manuscripts of poems 'Ineffectual hate', 'For Anzac day', 'Callioure' (File 10) - Box 2
Manuscript of history of Dora Wilcox's family in New Zealand and a pen drawing of Brockworth from the Park 22.11.1890 (File 11) - Box 2
Manuscript of 'Caroline Harper Dexter 1819-1884' by Dora Wilcox (File 12) - Box 2
Miscellaneous manuscripts by Dora Wilcox (File 13) - Box 2
Miscellaneous manuscripts (File 14) - Box 2
Series 2. Diaries
Diary of Dora Wilcox, 1 January - 30 October 1914 (File 15) - Box 2
The diary gives very detailed and personal accounts of life in Switzerland, Belgium and England, referring to Wilcox's relations with her husband, her writings, her reading, her meetings with Bertram Dobell, her lectures, suffrage meetings and war news.
Diary of Dora Wilcox, 11 November 1914 - 3 March 1917 (File 16) - Box 2
Very detailed entries about life in London, war news, work at King George's Hospital, Wilcox's writings.
There are no entries for 8 February - 21 May 1915
Diary of Dora Wilcox, 12 March - 12 August 1917 (File 17) - Box 2
Detailed diary referring to war news, meetings with Australian and New Zealand servicemen
Diary of Dora Wilcox, 18 October 1938 - 14 March 1943 (File 18) - Box 3
Very detailed entries on life in Sydney, referring to meeting with publishers, Amy Mack, Margaret Preston, Blanche Lindsay, PEN functions, war news, reminiscences of William Moore.
Typescript extracts of diary of Dora Wilcox (File 19) - Box 3
Series 3. Correspondence
Letters of Robert de Montalk to Wilcox - concerning family news, exhibitions, theatre, 1909 overseas trip, visit to Sydney, and William Moore, 1891-1928 (File 20) - Box 3
Letters and postcards of Jean Paul Hamelius to Dora Wilcox - concerning literary matters, art, social events, friends, marriage, c.1907-11 (File 21) - Box 3
Letters of J.P. Hamelius to Mrs Catherine Wilcox, 1909-11 (File 22) - Box 3
Letters of Bertram Dobell to Wilcox - concerning the publication of poems, literary matters, arrangements for meetings. Also transcript copies of letters and three manuscript poems by Dobell, 1912-14 (File 23) - Box 3
Letters of Percy Dobell to Wilcox, May 1915 (File 24) - Box 3
Letters of William Moore to Wilcox - mostly undated, but commencing with early acquaintance. Also refer to literary matters, paintings, Moore's return to Australia and Wilcox's divorce, c.1918-23 (File 25) - Box 3
Letters of Wilcox to her mother Catherine Wilcox, c.1911 (File 26) - Box 3
Letters of Wilcox to H. Chaplin, 1950-54 (File 27) - Box 3
Letters of Tom Inglis Moore to Wilcox, 1947 (File 28) - Box 4
Letters of L. Laveter to Wilcox, 1929 (File 29) - Box 4
A letter of Will Ashton to Wilcox and a photograph of William Moore's bust by Web Gilbert, 1938 (File 30) - Box 4
Miscellaneous letters and postcards to Wilcox, 1920 and 1953 (File 31) - Box 4
Letters of Norman L.(Davis) to D. Stewart, 1941-43 (File 32) - Box 4
A letter of Alice Davis to J. Devanney, 18 September 1945 (File 33) - Box 4
Letters of Xavier and Sadie Herbert to H. Chaplin (April - May 1963); H. Chaplin to Xavier Herbert (3 June 1963) (File 34) - Box 4
A letter of H. Chaplin to Florence Earle-Hooper and a short biographical note on Wilcox, 18 January 1954 (File 35) - Box 4
Letters of H.E. Boote to Gil, 19 January 1945 and 7 January 1946 (File 36) - Box 4
Series 4. Cuttings Books and Cuttings
Remnants of Wilcox's cutting book concerning Wilcox and Moore, including references to award of Sydney Morning Herald prize to Wilcox for her 'Canberra ode', 1927 (File 37) - Box 5
Cuttings concerning portrait of J. Keats by Charles Brown reproduce in Art in Australia, 1922 (File 38) - Box 5
Newspaper clippings on obituaries of Moore (File 39) - Box 5
Cutting from Art and Australia on reprint of Wilcox and Moore's article entitled 'The wife of the artist (Caroline Dexter)', Feb. 1931 (File 40) - Box 5
Miscellaneous clippings (File 41) - Box 5
Series 5. Photographs
Family photographs, c. 1865-1908 (File 42) - Box 5
Various photographs including Wilcox's wedding photograph and V.A.D. Personnel King George Hospital in London, 1873-1955 (File 43) - Box 5
Various photographs including photos of Wilcox, Hamelius, Norman Carter and King George's Hospital nurses (File 44) - Box 5
Photographs, typescript, cutting, and a letter of John Sander to Wilcox, 28 October 1933 (File 45) - Box 5
Series 6. Miscellaneous Papers
Various certificates awarded to Wilcox (File 46) - Box 6
Notebook containing research notes on Charles Meryon (File 47) - Box 6
Typescript by Wilcox entitled 'Charles Meryon, a French artist in New Zealand' (File 48) - Box 6
Article by Wilcox 'Charles Meryon in silhouette' in Art in New Zealand, vol. II, March 1930 (File 49) - Box 6
Anzac day words by Wilcox, music by Alfred Hill, 1932 (File 50) - Box 6
An album entitled 'Dora Wilcox Miscellany', bound by Chaplin (File 51) - Box 6
Miscellaneous items (File 52) - Box 6
Series 7. Publications
B. Dobell. Rosemary and pansies London, Dobell, 1904. Inscribed (File 1)
B. Dobell. The dreamer of the castle of indolence and other poems London, Dobell, 1915. Inscribed (File 2)
B. Dobell. A lover's moods Statford, Shakespeare Head Press, 1923 (File 3)
S. Bradbury. Bertram Dobell; bookseller and man of letters London, Dobell, 1909. (2 copies) Inscribed (File 4)
J. Thomson. Walt Whitman, the man and the poet London, Dobell,1910. Inscribed. (File 5)
In memoriam; Bertram Dobell, 1842-1914 (File 6)
B. Dobell. The close life, a poem: the approach of death, sonnets. London, 1915 (File 7)
R.W. de Montalk. Milford Sound, New Zealand Wellington, Tombs, [1933]. Inscribed (File 8)