Guide to the Papers of Archibald James Campbell

Searching...

MS 9650

National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record

Collection Summary

Creator
Archibald James Campbell
Title
Papers of Archibald James Campbell
Date Range
1835-1990
Collection Number
MS 9650
Extent
0.56 metres (4 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Repository
National Library of Australia

Introduction

Scope and Contents

The papers in this collection relate mostly to Campbell's ornithological pursuits. Campbell travelled widely throughout Australia and wrote prolifically about birds and also flora. Copies of many of his articles, most of which were published in The Australasian, are included in this collection. There is only a small amount of correspondence, which comprises several letters written to Campbell and letters written by his sons Archibald George (1880-1954) and Duncan, his daughter Betha and his grandson Ian. Included is a small quantity of papers relating to Campbell's involvement with the Royal Australian Ornithological Union and papers relating to his involvement with the Australian Wattle Day League. There is a small amount of family papers, which include genealogical material and diaries kept by Campbell's father (also named Archibald James, 1832-1921).

Conditions Governing Access

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn330448).

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Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions.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 Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.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], Papers of Archibald James Campbell, National Library of Australia, MS 9650, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Provenance

The collection was donated to the Library by Archibald Campbell's grandson, Ian Campbell, in 2002.

A large group of photographs and two sketchbooks of drawings (made by Campbell's father) - one of Glasgow and environs, Scotland (1832-1834) and one of various locations in Victoria (1850s-1860s) - were included with the papers. This material is located in the Pictorial Section of the Library.

Museum Victoria holds part of Campbell's ornithological collection, as well as related papers and photographs.

Arrangement

The papers have been sorted into order by the National Library and are listed by box and folder number.

Biographical Note

The ornithologist Archibald James Campbell was born in Fitzroy, Victoria on 18 February 1853, the eldest son of Archibald Campbell and Catherine née Pinkerton. He was educated at a private school in Melbourne and entered the Victorian Civil Service in 1869. He retired from the Federal Customs Department in 1914.

Campbell had a great interest in wildlife and was an active member of the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, specialising in ornithology. He was a founding member of the Royal Australian Ornithological Union and was twice elected President, once in 1909 and again in 1928. In 1900 Campbell published his book Nests and eggs of Australian birds, which became a standard work on Australian ornithology. For many years he was editor and co-editor of the Union's journal, The Emu.

Campbell was also a founding member of the Wattle Club in 1899, and involved in the establishment of the Australian Wattle Day League in 1911. He was made a life member of the League in 1912. Campbell's book, Golden wattle, our national floral emblem: being a particularly unique series of photo-pictures of wattles, or Australian acacias, in full flower (with the introduction of a figure for idealistic purposes), and some scenes of wattle wilds, together with descriptive letters, was published in Melbourne in 1921, with a foreword by Sir William J. Sowden.

Campbell travelled widely throughout Australia, studying birds and flora. He wrote numerous articles about his travels and his findings, most of which were published in The Australasian.

Distinctions conferred upon Campbell included being made a Colonial Member of the British Ornithologists' Union and an Honorary Fellow of the American Ornithologists' Union.

Archibald Campbell died at Box Hill, Victoria on 11 September 1929 and is buried in St Kilda Cemetery.

Australian Encyclopaedia, Vol 2, 1958

Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol 7, 1979

Item Descriptions

Correspondence, 1891-1981. It comprises a photocopy of a letter written by Campbell to Sir Henry Parkes (1891), a note from the American Ornithologist's Union to inform Campbell he had been elected a Corresponding Fellow of the Union, (1902), a note to Campbell from Howard Saunders, informing him he had been elected a Colonial member of the British Ornithologist's Union (1904), a letter and two photographs from Dr R. W Schufeldt, Washington D.C (1914) and a letter from the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria thanking Campbell for his donation of a full set of the eggs of 'all our native birds', (1915). There is later correspondence between Campbell's son, Duncan, and A. R McEvey regarding biographical information for entries on A. J Campbell and his son A. G Campbell in the Australian Dictionary of Biography (1976) and letters written by Campbell's grandson, Ian, regarding the possibility of publishing articles written by Campbell for The Australasian (File 1) - Box 1

Letters containing references to Campbell, written to his son Duncan, 1946-1981. Correspondents include Duncan's brother A.G. (Archie) Campbell and his sister Betha (File 2) - Box 1

Royal Australian Ornithological Union: printed copy of Campbell's Presidential address, read posthumously in October 1929; copies of the Union's journal The Emu (Vol. 27, 1928 and Vol. 29, 1930); newspaper cuttings and menu cards for the 21st (1922) and 26th (1926) annual dinners (File 3) - Box 1

Australian Wattle Day League, 1907-1990: early papers relating to the League, including a notice of the first meeting to discuss the establishment of the League, rules of the League, publicity material and flyers. There are also letters to and notes by Campbell's son Archibald relating to wattle (1952-1953), a letter from his daughter Betha to her brother Duncan regarding papers about the League (1966) and newspaper cuttings (1909-1990) (File 4-7) - Box 1

Papers relating to Campbell's book Nests and eggs of Australian birds: including the geographical distribution of the species and popular observations thereon, published in Sheffield, England in 1900 and republished by Wren, Melbourne in 1974. Included is publicity material relating to the first edition and correspondence between Duncan Campbell and John Currey regarding the reprinting of the book (1972-1975) (File 8) - Box 2

A scrapbook of newspaper cuttings and ephemera relating to Campbell's book Golden wattle, our national floral emblem, which was published in Melbourne in 1921 (File 9) - Box 2

Edited copies of published articles (c1891) by Campbell, possibly intended as the basis for a publication entitled 'In the big scrub' (File 10) - Box 2

Papers relating to a proposed book by Campbell entitled 'Through forest, field and flood' or 'Australian bush travels', c1921 (File 11) - Box 2

Papers relating to a proposed book by Campbell entitled 'A naturalist's camp in Northern Queensland'. Included are an outline and list of illustrations and edited copies of articles published in The Australasian, which appear to be the basis of the book (File 12-13) - Box 2

Manuscripts of papers entitled 'Lantern lecture on Australian birds' (c1890), 'Memo of particulars required for Australian bird biographies' and 'Emu-egging' (File 14) - Box 2

Copies of published articles by Campbell, most of which appeared in The Australasian, 1888-1927 (File 15-17) - Box 3

Scrapbook containing 77 articles written by Campbell and published in The Australasian, 1893-1900 (File 18) - Box 3

Family papers: certificates from the Working Men's College, Melbourne for a photography course undertaken by Campbell (1891-1892), insurance certificates (1916-1925), birth certificate of Campbell's son, Archibald George (1880), a notebook containing quotations and lines of poetry (c1914) and Campbell's obituary (1930). There is also a diary containing entries by Campbell's father (1839-1869) and later entries by Campbell comprising brief biographical notes about his life and work (1853-1915), a notebook of diary notes by Campbell's father (25 Feb-20 Jul 1835) and a small book containing genealogical information about the Campbell family (File 19-21) - Box 4

Typescript copies of papers written by others and reprints of articles by others (File 22) - Box 4

Publications by others (File 23) - Box 4

H.S. Legge, On the edge of the bush, 1925

T.P. Bellchambers, Nature: our mother, 1918

The Australian Naturalist Vol. II, Part 6, 1911

The South Australian Ornithologist Vol. X, Part 4, 1929

K.A. Hindwood, reprint of The "Watling" drawings, with incidental notes on the "Lambert" and "Latham" drawings, addressed to Mr and Mrs Duncan Campbell and signed by Hindwood, 1970

W.D. Walker, Typical Australian scenes, reprinted from the Adelaide Observer, 1922/23

A small quantity of miscellaneous papers (File 24) - Box 4

Typed transcript of the 1835 diary kept by Campbell's father, the original of which is in File 21 of this collection(added 20 September 2002) (File 25) - Box 4

Genealogical notes compiled by Campbell, 16 Dec 1918 (added 20 September 2002)


Top