Guide to the Papers of Jack Beasley

MS 9266

National Library of Australia


Date completed: October 1998
Last updated: May 2001


Table of Contents

Collection Summary

Introduction

Scope and Content

Arrangement

Access

Copying and Publishing

Preferred Citation

Provenance

Biographical Note

Series List and Descriptions

Series 1 General correspondence, 1959-1996

Series 2 The rage for life: the work of Katharine Susannah Prichard, 1961-1978

Series 3 'My unilateral debate: Katharine Susannah Prichard and matters pertaining', 1964-1983

Series 4 A gallop of fire: Katharine Susannah Prichard: on guard for humanity: a study of creative personality, 1960-1993

Series 5 Red letter days: notes from inside an era, 1959-1993

Series 6 Widdershins, 1967-1993

Series 7 Journal of an era: notes from the red letter days, 1967-1992

Series 8 Plays, 1980-1987

Series 9 Miscellaneous writings, 1975-1978

Series 10 Records of the Wedgetail Press, 1986-1994

Series 11 Political papers, 1954-1994

Series 12 Miscellaneous papers, 1947-1994 (bulk 1975-1994)

Series 13 Cassettes, 1963-1993

Container List

Container List



Collection Summary

Creator: Beasley, Jack, 1921-
Title: Papers of Jack Beasley
Date Range: 1947-1999
Collection Number: MS 9266
Extent: 4.36 m (23 boxes + 2 folio boxes)
Repository: National Library of Australia
Abstract: Correspondence, drafts material for various works, political papers, Wedgetail Press records and cassettes.

Introduction

Scope and Content

The collection comprises correspondence, drafts of The rage for life (1964), 'My unilateral debate: Katharine Susannah Prichard and matters pertaining' (in Australian Literary Studies, vol. 11, no. 7, Oct. 1983), A gallop of fire (1993), Red letter days (1979), Widdershins (1986), Journal of an era (1988), plays, miscellaneous literary writings, including children's stories, political papers, Wedgetail Press records and cassettes.

The principal correspondents are Neil Stewart, Alan Marshall, Judah Waten, John Morrison, Ralph de Boissiere and Elsie McConnell. Other correspondents include Katharine Susannah Prichard, A.A. Phillips, Dorothy Hewett, Noel Counihan, Ric Throssell and Carole Ferrier.

Arrangement

Beasley had kept the papers in good order and, wherever possible, this arrangement has been preserved by the Library.

Access

The collection is available for reference.

Provenance

The collection was purchased by the National Library from Jack Beasley in 1995.

Copying and Publishing

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 Jack Beasley, National Library of Australia, MS 9266, [series and/or folder number]'.

Biographical Note

Jack Beasley was born in Merewether, NSW, in 1921. He worked as an electrical fitter at the BHP steelworks in Newcastle (1936-1941) and later he worked at the Bunnerong Power Station in Sydney.

For many years Beasley was an active member of the Communist Party of Australia. He had a strong interest in the arts, including the theatre, ballet and music, and he was closely associated with the Australasian Book Society which published or re-issued 87 books. In his memoirs, Red letter days: notes from inside an era, Beasley wrote about the Society and some of his fellow-writers of the 1950s and 1960s, such as Alan Marshall, Frank Hardy and Judah Waten. Beasley edited three books which were published by the Society: Price Warung's Convict days (1960), The tracks we travel: second collection including Mary Gilmore Award stories (1961) and Red letter days (1979).

Beasley worked in retail advertising and promotion between 1963 and 1977 and in the late 1980s he had his own publishing venture, Wedgetail Press, through which he published three of his own books. One of these, his novel Widdershins, contains autobiographical elements.

Beasley's published works include the following:
Socialism and the novel: a study of Australian literature [Published privately], 1957
The tracks we travel: second collection including Mary Gilmore Award stories Sydney: Australasian Book Society, 1961
The rage for life: the work of Katharine Susannah Prichard Sydney: Current Book Distributors, 1964
Red letter days: notes from inside an era Sydney: Australasian Book Society, 1979
Widdershins Earlwood, NSW: Wedgetail Press, 1986
Journal of an era: notes from the red letter days Earlwood, NSW: Wedgetail Press, 1988
A gallop of fire: Katharine Susannah Prichard: on guard for humanity: a study of creative personality Earlwood, NSW: Wedgetail Press, 1993



Series List and Descriptions

Series 1 General correspondence, 1959-1996

Correspondence with other writers concerning their writing, work, reading and personal news, as well as Australian and world politics. The correspondents include Alan Marshall, Ralph de Boissiere, Judah Waten, Neil Stewart, John Morrison, Elsie McConnell, Katharine Susannah Prichard, A.A. Phillips, Dorothy Hewett, Noel Counihan, Ric Throssell, Harry Heseltine, Eric Fry, David Carter, Carole Ferrier, Stephen Holt and John Hetherington.

Folder 1 Letters , 1959-1993

Letters of Katharine Susannah Prichard (1959-1964), Ric Throssell (1972), Adrian Cunningham (1993) and one black and white photograph of Prichard (n.d.).

Folder 2 1959
Folder 3 1960-1965
Folder 4-5 1974-1979
Folder 6-9 1980-1989
Folder 10-11 1990-1996
Folder 12 Miscellaneous items, undated
Folder 13 Letters of Gordon Neil Stewart, 1995-1998

Series 2 The rage for life: the work of Katharine Susannah Prichard, 1961-1978

The rage for life was Beasley's first book on Katharine Susannah Prichard. It was published by Current Book Distributors in 1964. The series include handwritten drafts, typescript, notes, reviews and some correspondence.

Folder 1 Handwritten drafts
Folder 2-3 Typescripts with corrections
Folder 4 Notes and reviews, 1961-1965
Folder 5 Correspondence, 1977-1978

Series 3 'My unilateral debate: Katharine Susannah Prichard and matters pertaining', 1964-1983

Beasley's article on Prichard was published in Australian Literary Studies (vol. 11, no. 7, Oct. 1983). The series includes handwritten drafts, research material, notes, cuttings and correspondence.

Folder 1 Handwritten drafts
Folder 2 Notes and research material
Folder 3 Photocopies and cuttings, 1964-1983
Folder 4 Corrected typescript, 1982
Folder 5 A copy of the article
Folder 6 Correspondence, including drafts of Beasley's letter to editor of the Southern Review, 1979-1983

Series 4 A gallop of fire: Katharine Susannah Prichard: on guard for humanity: a study of creative personality, 1960-1993

The book was published by the Wedgetail Press in 1993. The series include drafts, notes, cuttings, reviews, correspondence and copies of some of Prichard's books. The rage for life, Working bullocks, Coonardoo and The black opal contain annotations for use in writing A gallop of fire.

Folder 1 Early handwritten drafts
Folder 2 Handwritten drafts, 1991
Folder 3-6 Corrected typescripts, 1992
Folder 7 Index
Folder 8 Beasley's notes on James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Franz Kafka, Stendhal and K.S. Prichard
Folder 9-10 Notes and cuttings, 1969-1993
Folder 11 Reviews, 1993
Folder 12 Correspondence with Carole Ferrier, 1987
Folder 13 Correspondence, 1987-1993
Folder 14 Correspondence with Ric Throssell, 1993
Folder 15 Correspondence with publisher, readers' reports and reviews, 1992-1993
Folder 16 Copy of The rage for life by K.S. Prichard
Folder 17 Copy of Working bullocks by K.S. Prichard
Folder 18 Copy of Coonardoo by K.S. Prichard
Folder 19 Copy of The black opal by K.S. Prichard

Series 5 Red letter days: notes from inside an era, 1959-1993

In the 1950s Beasley became involved in the Australasian Book Society, an organisation which published or re-issued 87 books. In Red letter days, published by the Australasian Book Society in 1979, Beasley wrote about the history of the Society and the lives of some of the radical writers of the 1950s and 1960s. The series, which includes drafts, notes, cuttings and some correspondence, has been arranged according to the chapters of the book.

Subseries 5.1 Alan Marshall

Folder 1-2 Handwritten drafts and corrected typescripts
Folder 3 Typescripts (including those not used in the book)
Folder 4 One black and white photograph
Folder 5-8 Research notes, cuttings and other papers, 1971-1981

Subseries 5.2 Frank Hardy

Folder 9-11 Drafts, notes and cuttings, 1969-1980
Folder 12-13 Drafts, notes and cuttings, 1982-1994
Folder 14 Miscellaneous papers

Subseries 5.3 Judah Waten

Folder 15 Drafts
Folder 16 Notes and one notebook
Folder 17-18 Cuttings, 1974-1993

Subseries 5.4 The Australasian Book Society

Folder 19-20 Notes and drafts
Folder 21 Correspondence, 1976-1983
Folder 22 Newsletters, circulars and other papers, 1967-1977
Folder 23 Cuttings, 1960-1974
Folder 24 Copies of Overland (1959-1963) and correspondence (1976), 1959-1976

Subseries 5.5 'Red letter days'

Folder 25 Handwritten drafts of the chapter 'Red letter days'
Folder 26 Cuttings and drafts
Folder 27 Typescript 1978
Folder 28-30 Printer's proofs
Folder 31 Correspondence, 1979-1980
Folder 32 Business correspondence, including accounts, agreement with publisher and other papers, 1976-1981
Folder 33 Dust jacket (folio 1)
Folder 34 Scrap folder (folio 2) 1979

Series 6 Widdershins, 1967-1993

Widdershins (Wedgetail Press, 1986) was Beasley's first published novel. It contains autobiographical elements that were re-created as fiction. The series includes drafts, cuttings, notes and some correspondence.

Folder 1-2 First rough drafts
Folder 3-4 Second drafts
Folder 5 Corrected typescript, 1986
Folder 6 Drafts of Beasley's letters to his son, Michael, copies of Michael's letters to Beasley and autobiographical notes, 1967-1973
Folder 7 A copy of a poem by Pam Beasley entitled 'Within me stirs a child', in Tribune, 27 August 1952
Folder 8 Notes and cuttings, 1971-1980
Folder 9 Business papers (correspondence and accounts), 1985-1988
Folder 10 Correspondence with Keith Russell, 1986-1993
Folder 11 Reviews and readers' reports, 1986-1991
Folder 12-13 Reviews, 1986-1987
Folder 14 Title page (bromide)

Series 7 Journal of an era: notes from the red letter days, 1967-1992

The book was published by the Wedgetail Press in 1988. The series include drafts, notes, cuttings and some correspondence.

Folder 1 Drafts
Folder 2-3 Notes, photocopy and cuttings, 1967-1989
Folder 4-5 Typescripts with corrections
Folder 6 Correspondence, 1987-1992
Folder 7 Reviews, 1988-1989
Folder 8 Dust jackets and art work

Series 8 Plays, 1980-1987

Drafts, notes, cuttings and correspondence relating to 'Diary of a murder' and 'Ladies delight'. The correspondents are Ray Lawler, Robyn Archer and Clem Gorman of the Australian National Playwrights Conference.

Subseries 8.1 'Diary of a murder'

Folder 1-4 Drafts and notes
Folder 5 Notes, drafts, cuttings and cover design, 1975-1980
Folder 6 Cuttings, 1980-1987

Subseries 8.2 'Ladies delight'

Folder 7-10 Drafts
Folder 11 Correspondence with Ray Lawler, 1981-1985
Folder 12 Correspondence with Robyn Archer and Clem Gorman concerning both plays, 1981-1984
Folder 13 Cuttings relating to both plays, 1981-1983

Series 9 Miscellaneous writings, 1975-1978

The series contains drafts, reviews, photographs and notes of Beasley's other writings, including stories for children and an introduction for Dorothy Hewett's play This old man comes rolling home (1976).

Folder 1 Socialism and the novel, published privately in 1957
Folder 2 'The lonely little letter box and other stories', 1975-1978
Folder 3-4 Drafts of the 'First quarter', an unpublished anthology to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Australasian Book Society
Folder 5 Drafts for the introductory chapter for This old man comes rolling home by Dorothy Hewett
Folder 6 Drafts of 'Joseph Furphy'
Folder 7 Drafts of 'No man alone: the bell tolls for Ernest Hemingway'
Folder 8 Miscellaneous drafts, including notes on Bertolt Brecht's Galileo, John Manifold's 'Who wrote the ballads?', and obscenity and censorship

Series 10 Records of the Wedgetail Press, 1986-1994

Beasley owned a publishing company, the Wedgetail Press. The series contains Wedgetail Press financial records.

Folder 1 Orders, 1986-1994
Folder 2 Receipt books, 1986-1994
Folder 3 Papers concerning the writing, production and distribution of Widdershins, 1986-1989
Folder 4 Two stamps

Series 11 Political papers, 1954-1994

Beasley was an active member of the Communist Party of Australia for many years. The series includes notes, cuttings and leaflets relating to his political activities.

Folder 1 Notes and leaflets, 1979-1984
Folder Notes and cuttings (including copies of a 1943 issue of Tribune), 1983-1993
Folder 3 Notes on a talk given by Beasley on Australian literature to the Socialist Party in Sydney, December 1979
Folder 4 Notes and cuttings concerning the Australian Labor Party, 1989-1994
Folder 5 Papers concerning the Bunnerong Power Station in Sydney, where Beasley worked in the 1950s.

Series 12 Miscellaneous papers, 1947-1994 (bulk 1975-1994)

The series includes notebooks containing records of Beasley's visit to China, representing the Communist Party of Australia, in 1957-1958, papers concerning other writers and the Public Lending Right, and correspondence concerning the Australia Council's Fellowships.

Folder 1 Three notebooks, used as diaries, kept during a visit to China, 1957-1958
Folder 2 Notes and cuttings on Patrick White, 1970-1992
Folder 3 Cuttings on Henry Lawson, 1947-1964
Folder 4 Copies of Henry Lawson's Four censored poems
Folder 5 Correspondence with Bernard Smith concerning Smith's book Noel Counihan, 1993-1994
Folder 6 Public Lending Right, 1975-1994
Folder 7 Correspondence with Australia Council, concerning Beasley's applications for Fellowships, 1975-1980
Folder 8-9 Photocopies of miscellaneous journal articles, including 'Near the wharves' by Judah Waten, 'The wire fences of Jarrabin' by Dorothy Hewett, 'The native bears' by Roland Robinson and 'Transition' by Frank Dalby Davison
Folder 10 Papers concerning a proposed publication entitled 'Profile'.

Following the demise of the Australasian Book Society, the draft was given to Eric Fry and it was later published as Rebels and radicals (edited by Eric Fry, 1983).

Folder 11 Advertising and promotional samples.

Beasley worked in the retail advertising field from 1963 to 1977.

Folder 12 Photocopy of Beasley's handwritten Eulogy to Gordon Neil Stewart, 1999
Folder 13 Cuttings on politics and literature (folio 1), 1959-1982
Folder 14 Theatre, opera and concert programs (folio 2), 1973-1990
Folder 15 Miscellaneous dust jackets (folio 3)

Series 13 Cassettes, 1963-1993

11 cassettes containing various interviews, including one with Beasley by Caroline Jones, interviews with Judah Waten, Frank Hardy, Joe Waters, Ralph de Boisiere, George Seelaf and Alan Marshall and a story-reading by Katharine Susannah Prichard.



Container List

Series Folder/Item Box
1 1-8 1
1 9-13 2
2 1-5 2
3 1-6 3
4 1 3
4 2-5 4
4 6-11 5
4 12-19 6
5 1-8 7
5 9-14 8
5 15-18 9
5 19-26 10
5 27-30 11
5 31-32 12
6 1-3 12
6 4-7 13
6 8-13 14
6 14 15
7 1-5 15
7 6-8 16
8 1-3 16
8 4-9 17
8 10-13 18
9 1-2 18
9 3-8 19
10 1-4 20
11 1-5 21
12 1 21
12 2-8 22
12 9-12 23
13 1 23


Container List

Series Folio Items Folio Box
5 1-2 1
12 1 1
12 2-4 2