Guide to the Papers of Russell Braddon
MS 8963 et al
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Russell Braddon
- Title
- Papers of Russell Braddon
- Date Range
- 1949-1995
- Collection Number
- MS 8963 et al
- Extent
- 3.7 metres (15 boxes, 7 cartons)
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- National Library of Australia
Introduction
Scope and Contents
The collection contains 47 volumes of manuscript drafts of his works, a small amount of correspondence, including letters from Joan Sutherland, Lord Beaverbrook, the second Lord Thomson and General A.E. Percival, as well as photographs of Braddon at book launchings, of Joan Sutherland, and other photographs.
Conditions Governing Access
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2582984).
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Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions.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 Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.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 Russell Braddon, National Library of Australia, [class number, box number and series and/or file number]'.
Provenance
The papers of Russell Braddon were donated to the Library by his estate in 1995-96.
Finding Aid Source(s)
Please note: This finding aid may comprise or contain descriptive information provided by donors, researchers and/or volunteers.
Collection Retrieval Advice
Please note: each consignment in this collection has a separate box number sequence (i.e. there may be multiple Box 1s). Please cite the relevant Class number as well as the Box number when requesting retrieval of material from the collection.
General
- • 1952 - Piddington
- • 1952 - Naked Island
- • 1954 - Those in peril
- • 1956 - Nancy Wake
- • 1956 - Out of the storm
- • 1958 - End of a hate
- • 1958 - Gabriel comes to 24
- • 1960 - Proud American boy
- • 1961 - Naked Island (play)
- • 1962 - Joan Sutherland
- • 1964 - Year of the angry rabbit
- • 1965 - Roy Thomson of Fleet Street
- • 1966 - Committal chamber
- • 1968 - When the enemy is tired
- • 1968 - Inseparables
- • 1969 - Will you walk a little faster
- • 1969 - Siege
- • 1971 - Prelude and fugue for lovers
- • 1972 - End play
- • 1973 - Suez: splitting of a nation
- • 1974 - Hundred days in Darien
- • 1977 - All the Queen's men
- • 1977 - Finalists
- • 1980 - Predator
- • 1983 - The other hundred years war: Japan's bid for supremacy 1941-2041
- • 1984 - Murray River (TV)
- • 1985 - Burma Railway (TV)
- • 1986 - Thomas Baines
- • 1988 - Images of Australia
- • 1989 -Woman in arms
- • 1990 - Funnelweb
- • 1990 - Knife edge (play)
Bibliography
His books included:
Biographical Note
Russell Braddon was born in Sydney in 1921 and educated at the University of Sydney. He was imprisoned in Changi for four years during World War II, and his controversial book, The naked island, describing his experiences as a prisoner, sold more than a million copies. He wrote biographies, novels, histories and TV scripts. He lived in Britain from 1949 until 1993, and died in NSW in 1995.
Item Descriptions
Class MS 8963. Original consignment
Comprises 47 volumes of manuscript drafts of Russell Braddon's works, a small amount of correspondence, including letters from Joan Sutherland, Lord Beaverbrook, the second Lord Thomson and General A.E. Percival, as well as photographs of Braddon at book launchings, of Joan Sutherland, and other photographs.
Contained in 11 boxes.
Series 1. Literary Drafts
Bound volumes (or for items 3-7, notebooks) containing the original drafts of Braddon's published works. The titles used are not always the same as the published title. Braddon's title-page annotations are given where applicable. Dates in square brackets indicate date of publication.
The Piddington broadcasts, "Piddington scripts, written June 1949 onwards in London for BBC, Johannesburg radio, Sydney 2GB, BBC TV" (File 1) - Box 1
Reminiscences, "notes taken Sydney - London - Berlin - Johannesburg - Austria - Music hall tour - also ponies!", 1949-52 (File 2) - Box 1
The naked island, "published, the day King George VI died, by T. Werner Laurie", 1950-51, letter from Lieutenant-General Percival, 1952 (File 8) - Box 2
Cheshire V.C., "the story of Group Captain Leonard Cheshire, Victoria Cross, DFC, DSO and two bars", 1954; includes 9 loose pages (File 12) - Box 3
Out of the storm, "novel of postwar Austria and Australia - comparison of the old world and the new, of pessimism and weariness with optimism and vigour", 1954-55 (File 13) - Box 3
Short stories and articles, "articles for Express, Everybodys and nobody much except me - also letters from Cheshire, Christiansen, etc.", 1954-55 (File 14) - Box 3
Newspaper and magazine articles, including 'VJ Day - ten years after', 'Film treatment of The Naked Island', 'Why I am [not] an expatriate', 'Imprisonment', 'Psychiatric ward', 'Sutherland', ca 1955-62 (File 15) - Box 4
Nancy Wake G.M., "the story of Nancy Wake - George Medal, Croix de Guerre with two palms and silver star, Resistance Medal, United States Freedom Medal", 1955-56; some loose notes (File 16) - Box 4
Nancy Wake: an adaptation for a musical in collaboration with Gale and Slavin; 12 loose pages in back, n.d (File 17) - Box 4
Shock treatment: a television play in four acts adapted from 'Gabriel comes to 24'; includes a loose note (File 20) - Box 5
End play: a play in three acts and The jigsaw man: a play, n.d.; includes some loose pages (File 33) - Box 7
Series 2. Correspondence
Loose correspondence removed from the volumes in Series 1. Names in italics indicate the original location in that series. Names of persons indicate the writer of each letter.
Class Acc04.162. Consignment added 2004
Comprises 147 manuscript letters from Braddon to his long-time friend and manager, James Whitehand, plus one letter from Braddon to Kathy Gaskin, photographs of studio, publicity or literary event nature, about 25 cuttings books from the 1950s to the 1970s, and about 30 annotated typescripts of Braddon's fiction, histories and biographies.
Contained in 3 boxes, 5 cartons.