Guide to the Papers of Adrian Jose
MS 7702
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Adrian Jose
- Title
- Papers of Adrian Jose
- Date Range
- 1917-1988
- Collection Number
- MS 7702
- Extent
- 5.75 metres (34 boxes and 3 cartons)
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- National Library of Australia
Introduction
Scope and Contents
Presenter and administrator, Adrian Jose began his long career in Australian broadcasting as a radio announcer-in-training with the Australian Broadcasting Company in 1930. He held a number of management positions in Queensland and New South Wales branches of the Australian Broadcasting Commission before his 1949 appointment as Director of Programme Services at the Australian Broadcasting Control Board, a post from which he retired in 1971.
The major portion of the collection, however, documents Jose's responsibilities at the Australian Broadcasting Control Board, and activities under his compass such as educational and religious broadcasting, children's television and Australian content in programming. Also of interest is a large sequence of minutes and papers of the Television Society of Australia and Educational Television Association of Australia, of which Jose was a member and executive member for many years.
Conditions Governing Access
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2880149).
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Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions.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 Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.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 Adrian Jose, National Library of Australia, MS 7702, [box number and series and/or file number]'.
Provenance
The collection of his papers, which comprises correspondence, reports, minutes, cuttings and associated files, was donated to the National Library in two consignments: a small carton of radio talks and written reports from Jose in 1989, followed by a larger instalment of 18 boxes from his daughter in 1991. The University of New England historian Ross Lamont undertook a preliminary sort of the latter consignment before its transfer to the Library. Together the instalments extend back to 1917 and provide some coverage of most phases of Jose's career.
Related Materials
In addition to papers held in the Manuscript Collection, a recording of a talk ‘The First Year of Television’ presented by Jose to the Television Society of Australia in 1957 is located in the Oral History Collection at ORAL TRC 2449.
A small collection of Jose's papers is also housed in the University of Melbourne Archives.
Biographical Note
Date | Event |
---|---|
1908 | Born Denis Adrian Arthur Jose, 3 May, son of historian Arthur Jose |
1921-25 | Educated Sydney Church of England Grammar School |
1926 | Editorial assistant for The Australian Encyclopaedia |
1926-30 | Clerk in Intelligence and Publicity Branch, Australian High Commission, London |
1930 | Joined Australian Broadcasting Company in September as record library assistant and announcer-in-training, 2BL and 2FC, Newcastle |
1930 | Appointed regional officer at 2NC Newcastle in December |
1930-34 | Senior announcer, 4QG Brisbane |
1934-41 | Queensland Programming Director, Australian Broadcasting Commission |
1934 | Married Constance Archdall, 7 December |
1938-49 | Held various offices in the Australian Broadcasting Commission Staff Association, including President (1943) and Staff Advocate at 1948 hearing on classifications and salaries |
1941 | Acting Programme Controller, New South Wales |
1942 | Acting Federal Programme Executive, Sydney |
1944-46 | Acting Queensland Manager, Australian Broadcasting Commission |
1946-49 | Federal Programming Coordinator, Australian Broadcasting Commission, Melbourne |
1948 | Secretary, ABC Senior Officers Association |
1949-71 | Director, Programme Services Division, Australian Broadcasting Control Board, Sydney |
1955 | Joined the Television Society of Australia, and later the Society's offshoot the Educational Television Association of Australia |
1956-72 | Advisory Committee on Children's Television Programmes |
1959-69 | Attended meetings of Advisory Committee on Religious Television Programmes |
1959-70 | Member Australian UNESCO Committee for Mass Communication |
1960-65 | Council Member of Television Society of Australia |
1962 | Official overseas visit for Australian Broadcasting Control Board of United Kingdom, France, USA and Canada |
1963-64 | Member Interdepartmental Committee on Television Film Production; Senate Select Committee on the Encouragement of Australian Productions for Television |
1964 | Although not a Committee member, attended meetings of the Advisory Committee on Educational Television Services and prepared its official report |
c. 1965 | Member of the Radio Survey Standards Committee appointed by the Council for Advertising Research in Australia |
1967 | Official overseas visit for Australian Broadcasting Control Board of United States, Britain and Japan |
1974-78 | Council Member of Television Society of Australia |
1978 | Made Honorary Member, Television Society of Australia |
1991 | Died in Melbourne |
Date | Event |
---|---|
1908 | Born Denis Adrian Arthur Jose, 3 May, son of historian Arthur Jose |
1921-25 | Educated Sydney Church of England Grammar School |
1926 | Editorial assistant for The Australian Encyclopaedia |
1926-30 | Clerk in Intelligence and Publicity Branch, Australian High Commission, London |
1930 | Joined Australian Broadcasting Company in September as record library assistant and announcer-in-training, 2BL and 2FC, Newcastle |
1930 | Appointed regional officer at 2NC Newcastle in December |
1930-34 | Senior announcer, 4QG Brisbane |
1934-41 | Queensland Programming Director, Australian Broadcasting Commission |
1934 | Married Constance Archdall, 7 December |
1938-49 | Held various offices in the Australian Broadcasting Commission Staff Association, including President (1943) and Staff Advocate at 1948 hearing on classifications and salaries |
1941 | Acting Programme Controller, New South Wales |
1942 | Acting Federal Programme Executive, Sydney |
1944-46 | Acting Queensland Manager, Australian Broadcasting Commission |
1946-49 | Federal Programming Coordinator, Australian Broadcasting Commission, Melbourne |
1948 | Secretary, ABC Senior Officers Association |
1949-71 | Director, Programme Services Division, Australian Broadcasting Control Board, Sydney |
1955 | Joined the Television Society of Australia, and later the Society's offshoot the Educational Television Association of Australia |
1956-72 | Advisory Committee on Children's Television Programmes |
1959-69 | Attended meetings of Advisory Committee on Religious Television Programmes |
1959-70 | Member Australian UNESCO Committee for Mass Communication |
1960-65 | Council Member of Television Society of Australia |
1962 | Official overseas visit for Australian Broadcasting Control Board of United Kingdom, France, USA and Canada |
1963-64 | Member Interdepartmental Committee on Television Film Production; Senate Select Committee on the Encouragement of Australian Productions for Television |
1964 | Although not a Committee member, attended meetings of the Advisory Committee on Educational Television Services and prepared its official report |
c. 1965 | Member of the Radio Survey Standards Committee appointed by the Council for Advertising Research in Australia |
1967 | Official overseas visit for Australian Broadcasting Control Board of United States, Britain and Japan |
1974-78 | Council Member of Television Society of Australia |
1978 | Made Honorary Member, Television Society of Australia |
1991 | Died in Melbourne |
Item Descriptions
Series 1. Personal and official correspondence, 1928-87
Personal and official correspondence gathered by Jose is brought together in this series, including a short sequence of letter files relating to his position at the Australian Broadcasting Control Board. Correspondents include ABC Chairman Richard Boyer, Commonwealth Public Service Board Chairman Sir Frederick Wheeler, Australian and overseas broadcasting colleagues and representatives of the Christian Television Association and other religious and general broadcasting groups.
Two photos of historical interest taken in the early days of 2NA and 2NC Newcastle are contained in Folder 3.
Personal miscellaneous correspondence and papers, 1944-45, including letter from Richard Boyer and photos relating to 2NA and 2NC Newcastle (File 3) - Box 1
Australian Broadcasting Control Board miscellaneous correspondence, 1946-71 [Closed to 1 January 2022] (File 6) - Box 38
Series 2. Intelligence and Publicity Branch, Australian High Commission, London, 1927-30
In 1926 Jose sailed to London where he took up a position as a clerk in the Intelligence and Publicity Branch of the Australian High Commission. There his duties included filing and indexing of publications and correspondence, research and the contribution of an annual article on the Australian economy for The Economist Commercial History and Review.
Series 3. Australian Broadcasting Commission, 1930-49
On return to Australia in 1930, Jose joined the staff of the then Australian Broadcasting Company, Sydney, with promotions quickly following to 2NC Newcastle and 4QG Brisbane. He then occupied a number of senior management positions in Queensland and New South Wales branches of the Australian Broadcasting Commission, before his appointment to Melbourne as Federal Programming Coordinator in 1946.
Included here are papers documenting the various aspects of Jose's early broadcasting career, both as announcer and administrator, including minutes of meetings and material relating to other management matters. Also represented are historical notes about 2NC Newcastle, items on political broadcasting, and the 1948 report of the Fitzgerald Committee into the administrative and financial organisation of the Australian Broadcasting Commission.
Two photographs taken in the early days of 2NA and 2NC Newcastle are located in Series 1, a souvenir booklet documenting the first five years of 4QG and a copy of the Australian Broadcasting Company Year Book 1930 in Series 17.
Historical notes by Jose on 2NC Newcastle; ‘The History of Broadcasting in Australia’, 1930; notebook recording arrangements for visit by Australian Broadcasting Commission Chairman Richard Boyer to Queensland offices,1944 (File 4) - Box 2
Miscellaneous file, 1933-44, including extracts from the 1935 report of the Ullswater Broadcasting Committee (Great Britain), notes on Australian broadcasting policy, the Recorded Transcription Library, visits to Melbourne and Brisbane, Actors’ Equity matters, constitution of the Australian Council for Encouragement of Music and the Arts, technical notes (File 5) - Box 2
Transcript of appeal against alleged negligence, and associated papers of appeal by ABC announcer Francis Carswell to the ABC Appeals Advisory Committee, 1940 (File 6) - Box 3
Miscellaneous files, 1944-46, including: ABC staff classification table, Queensland Government Gazette noting Jose's appointment as Queensland General Manager of ABC, staff and building matters, recording procedures (File 10) - Box 3
Miscellaneous operational file, 1946-48; undated program policy directive; managers’ meeting minutes, 1948 (File 12) - Box 3
Series 4. Australian Broadcasting Commission Staff Association, 1939-51
Jose was first elected a member of the Australian Broadcasting Commission Staff Association in 1938, where he held various positions until 1949. Some coverage of his period as President in 1943 can be found in this series, as well as his role as Staff Advocate at the 1948 hearing on classifications and salaries.
Series 5. Director, Programme Services Division, Australian Broadcasting Control Board, 1949-74
For almost 22 years Jose held the position of Director, Programme Services Division of the Australian Broadcasting Control Board, a statutory body established with the threefold purpose to manage the technical and administrative operations of Australian broadcasting services, and to oversee the operational and program standards of commercial stations. His directorship coincided with a period of transition in Australian broadcasting, marked most significantly by the introduction of television services to Australia.
Included here are papers documenting the range of Jose's Board duties, including station inspections undertaken in the early 1950s, a comprehensive sequence of meeting agenda, reports of official overseas visits to the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Canada and Japan in 1962 and 1967, commissioned audience surveys, and a large number of general files relating to other aspects of the Board's administration. Also located in this series is a folder of papers documenting the Board's Research Advisory Committee, a panel convened of expert and representative members to supervise research related to Board activities.
Papers relating to Jose's representation on, or association with, other internal and external committees can be found in Series 8-12. Copies of a number of official reports published by the Board are filed in Series 17.
Subseries [Unnumbered]. Agenda of meetings
Subseries [Unnumbered]. General ABCB files and papers
Miscellaneous files, 1947-65, including program statistics, ABCB meeting agenda, Fitzgerald Committee data, extracts from conference of ABC advisers, organisational notes, statement of ABC control (File 38) - Box 9
General files, 1950-70, including development of broadcasting, television advertising, World Association for Christian Broadcasting International Assembly (1968), Melbourne audience survey, program categorisation (File 40) - Box 10
ABCB research report, 1961; McNair survey on television viewers’ attitudes to commercials, 1965 (File 51) - Box 11
Radio program transcripts, c. 1950s: ‘Alone’ by Admiral Richard Byrd; ‘The Albatross’ by Hector Bolitho; ‘An Unused Rattlesnake’ by Harris Merton Lyon (File 56) - Box 12
Miscellaneous papers, 1962-74, including campus TV survey, feature film study, correspondence with Terry Colhoun (ABC Newcastle), list of Australian programs made by commercial stations (1969-70) (File 60) - Box 12
Reports by Tim Horshington, Radio Ceylon, on training placement with Macquarie Broadcasting Service, Sydney, 1952-53 (File 61) - Box 13
Miscellaneous papers, 1950-73, including Australian content and performing rights (File 63) - Box 13
Draft television program standards submitted to ABCB for formal approval, 1955-56 (File 64) - Box 13
Australian Federation of Commercial Broadcasting Stations, Broadcasting Station manual, 1949, with amendments to 1958 (File 65) - Box 13
‘Criticism and censorship’ by Walter Kerr, 1954; papers relating to US Commission on Obscenity and Pornography and the broadcasting of ‘Pot Party’ at Northwestern University, 1969 (File 67) - Box 14
ABCB liaison with US broadcasting organisations, 1962-70 [Closed to1 January 2022] (File 68) - Box 38
Subseries [Unnumbered]. Official overseas visits
Report of television investigations in overseas countries, 1951, by C. Moses, J. Donovan, J. Fisher (File 72) - Box 15
Transcript of record of overseas visit to United Kingdom, France, USA and Canada, 1962 (File 73) - Box 15
Subseries [Unnumbered]. Audience surveys
Australian Association of National Advertisers-ABCB Research Survey Standards Committee minutes of meetings and associated papers, 1952-53 (File 85) - Box 16
Australian Association of National Advertisers-ABCB Research Survey Standards Committee general file, 1940-54 (File 86) - Box 16
Series 6. Political Broadcasts (Federal Elections) Order and related files, 1949-50, 1969
In 1949 the Australian Broadcasting Control Board, acting under powers conferred on it by the Australian Broadcasting Act, 1942-48, made a Political Broadcasts (Federal Elections) Order to ensure the equitable provision of broadcast facilities for the 1949 Federal Election. Filed in this series are draft reports and background papers analysing the effect of the Order, together with a general file concerning other political broadcasting issues.
Series 7. Television Society of Australia and Educational Television Association of Australia, 1954-86
The Television Society of Australia was formed in 1954 as an independent association with an interest in all aspects of television broadcasting. Jose joined the Society in February 1955 and acted as a Council Member between 1960-65 and 1974-78, at which latter point he was made an Honorary Member. Amongst the many papers he accumulated during this time are runs of Council and ordinary meeting minutes, correspondence and membership lists. Also included here are submissions prepared by Jose on behalf of the Society to broadcasting inquiries, reports, newsletters, and papers concerning the Society's annual ‘Penguin’ awards, of which Jose was one-time Award Committee Secretary.
In addition, the series includes material documenting activities of the Society's offshoot, the Educational Television Society of Australia (of which Jose was also a member), particularly its submissions and reports to the Committee on Open University.
All folders in Series 7 are closed until 1 January 2022.
Report of the Advisory Committee on Program Standards, 1976 with comment by the Television Society of Australia (File 11) - Box 20
Educational Television Association of Australia file on Open University, 1971-73, including draft submissions to the Committee on Open University (File 16) - Box 21
TVS Bulletin, 1967-70; ETVAA Newsletter, 1971, 1975; Television Newsletter, 1973-77 (File 19) - Box 22
‘Commercial media and consumer behaviour in Australia’, research paper prepared by John Blizard for the Television Society of Australia, 1976 (File 20) - Box 22
Correspondence relating to the Television Society of Australia articles of association, 1983 (File 22) - Box 22
Submission to Postal and Telecommunications Department Inquiry on Broadcasting, 1976 (File 24) - Box 22
Television Industry Unions paper ‘The Crisis in the Television Industry’, with reply by Federation of Australian Commercial Television Stations, 1975 (File 25) - Box 23
Television Society of Australia ‘current’ file to 4 February 1977 (contains papers 1975-77) (File 29) - Box 23
Series 8. Advisory Committee on Children's Television Programmes, 1956-72
In 1956 a small expert committee was convened by the Australian Broadcasting Control Board to study and improve the quality of television programs for children. Formally known as the Advisory Committee on Children's Television Programmes, its members were not drawn from any particular representative organisations.
Filed here are the Committee's meeting agenda and reports, together with a commissioned Melbourne University study on the effects of westerns on boys.
Series 9. Advisory Committee on Religious Television Programmes and related files, 1944-70
The Advisory Committee on Religious Television Programmes was appointed in July 1959 by the Australian Broadcasting Control Board to review religious television practices and standards. As Director of Programme Services, Jose was invited by the six-person Committee to attend all of its meetings, where he provided valuable guidance on Board policy. By virtue of his position, Jose accompanied the Committee Chairman, Reverend B.R. Wyllie, to Brisbane in 1960 where they met with church representatives, and also attended a number of conferences of the Christian Television Association of Australia.
The Committee presented its findings in 1961, 1963 and 1969 and working copies of the three reports are filed in this series. Also included are earlier files compiled by Jose on religious broadcasting issues, together with a draft record of the Consultation on Religious Telecasting, held with invited participants in August 1966.
Series 10. Interdepartmental Committee on Television Film Production and related files, 1950-69
The first meeting of the Interdepartmental Committee on Television Film Production was held in September 1962, to examine the capacity of the Australian film industry to produce programs suitable for television. Jose served as the Australian Broadcasting Control Board representative on the Committee, whose minutes of meetings are located in this series. Also filed here are Committee working papers and a folder of newspaper clippings about, and correspondence with, the Australian Film Producers Association.
Series 11. Senate Select Committee on the Encouragement of Australian Productions for Television and related files, 1951-88
A Senate Select Committee on the Encouragement of Australian Productions for Television was established in 1963 to inquire and report upon the encouragement of the production in Australia of films and programs suitable for television. On a number of occasions the Australian Broadcasting Control Board was called upon to provide advice to the Committee, which was chaired by Senator V.S. Vincent.
This series includes papers relating to the Committee's proceedings, as well as files on the employment of Australian artists and the percentage of Australian content in productions.
Employment of Australian artists, 1951-63, including papers relating to the Imported Transcriptions Committee (File 1) - Box 27
Senate Select Committee on the Encouragement of Australian Productions for Television, 1963-64 (File 2-5) - Box 28
Series 12. Advisory Committee on Educational Television Services and related files, 1963-70
Although not a formal member of the Advisory Committee on Educational Television Services, as a representative of the Australian Broadcasting Control Board Jose attended all of the former's meetings. In consultation with his Assistant Director, J.G. Quaine, Jose also prepared the greater part of the Committee's official report.
As well as a file detailing the Committee's establishment and terms of reference, a complete set of meeting minutes and a copy of the report are contained in this series.
Following the discharge of the Committee's duties, Jose maintained his interest in educational broadcast media and attended a number of conferences on the topic which are also represented in the papers filed here.
Report of the Advisory Committee on Educational Television Services to the Australian Broadcasting Control Board and associated papers and correspondence, 1964-67 (File 6) - Box 30
Correspondence and other papers related to educational television services, 1963-65; extract from The Spectator and the Screen, 1969 (File 7) - Box 30
Correspondence and other papers related to educational television services, 1964-77 (File 8) - Box 30
Series 13. Independent Television Authority, Great Britain, 1962-70
Jose first made contact with officers in the Independent Television Authority on an official tour of British media enterprises in 1962, an association which he kept up on return to Australia. Contact was renewed on a subsequent visit to England in 1967, at which time Jose obtained confidential information on the conditions under which program contractors to the Authority were required to operate. Copies of these reports as well as a file documenting general contact with the organisation make up this series.
A further file relating to the Independent Television Authority is located at Series 5/Folder 42.
Series 14. Personal papers, 1917-88
For much of his early career Jose kept a small notebook into which he copied quotations, jokes and anecdotes and pasted newspaper clippings, including some biographical articles. He also compiled a personal calendar of important anniversaries, maintained a notebook of literary extracts for a short time, and wrote his own satirical verse. As well as these items, this series contains Jose's school reports, information relating to club memberships, invitations, and photographs of the conductor Eugene Ormandy and Jean MacArthur (wife of General Douglas MacArthur) at a Brisbane war concert in 1944.
Series 15. Speeches, 1957-69
Through his position at the Australian Broadcasting Control Board Jose was called upon to deliver speeches at conferences, and to broadcasting and community groups. In this series are filed a short index to, and copies of, all talks he gave between 1957 and 1969. Topics covered include Board functions, broadcasting standards, censorship, and children's and religious television programming.
Series 16. Newspaper clippings, 1927-86
Throughout his career Jose created this series of newspaper clippings files, many covering Australian and overseas broadcasting issues, but also including political and historical topics and humorous pieces.
Cuttings relating to religious broadcasting, the Australian Film Producers Association and the Senate Select Committee on the Encouragement of Australian Productions for Television are filed in Series 9, 10 and 11 respectively. Personal clippings books compiled by Jose early in his working life are located in Series 14.
Series 17. Publications, c. 1930-75
This series comprises two folders and three cartons of booklets and publications collected by Jose over the course of his career. Topics and titles represented include copyright, television and education, religious broadcasting, BBC Annuals, social aspects of mass communication, The Australian Broadcasting Company Year Book 1930, technical standards, Australian Broadcasting Control Board reports, legislation, Australian Broadcasting Commission annual reports, reports of parliamentary committees, Souvenir 4QG Brisbane, 1925-1930 and broadcasting handbooks.