Guide to the Papers of Hal Missingham
MS 3940
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Hal Missingham
- Title
- Papers of Hal Missingham
- Date Range
- 1899-1989
- Collection Number
- MS 3940
- Extent
- 1 metre (5 boxes + 1 volume)
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- NLA
Introduction
Scope and Contents
The papers include: draft chapters of Missingham's book They kill you in the end (Sydney : Angus and Robertson, 1973), and background notes and original documents used in preparation of the book. Other manuscripts by Missingham in the collection include drafts for Grass trees of Western Australia : blackboys & black gins (Fremantle, W.A. : Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1978), and a mock-up of Missingham's book My Australia (Sydney: Collins, 1969).
The collection also includes: a substantial number of letters by Missingham sent to his wife Esther, covering the period 1939-1989; correspondence with Sir Daryl Lindsay concerning the controversy over the appointment of the Director of the Australian National Gallery 1971; correspondence with Ann Hill; biographical notes by Missingham; honours; an indenture of apprenticeship; and a testimonial album containing paintings, drawings, photographs, letters, and verse by 200 Australian artists and presented to Missingham on his retirement as the Director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1971.
Conditions Governing Access
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1804479).
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Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions.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 Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.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 Hal Missingham, National Library of Australia, MS 3940, [series and/or file number]'.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The papers of Hal Missingham were donated to the Library in instalments by Missingham and his wife from 1975 to 1995.
Related Materials
Related material includes letters from Hal Missingham to Noni Farwell, 1973-1985 (MS 9784); Papers relating to Jeffrey Smart 1963-1988 (MS 7703); oral history interviews recorded by Hazel de Berg in 1962 (ORAL DeB 31-32), and by Diane Dunbar between 1981-1986 (ORAL TRC 2397); photographs by Missingham of Daisy Bates' funeral held at North Road Cemetery Chapel, Adelaide (PIC/6008/1-18); and a collection of sixteen lithographs titled Bush images (Sydney: Beagle Press, 1982). The Library also holds a number of Hal Missingham's published works in the general collection.
Arrangement
Order has been imposed on the collection by the Library.
Biographical Note
Harold (Hal) Missingham was born at Claremont, Western Australia on December 8 1906, to David Alexander Missingham and Annie Florence (née Summers). He was educated at Perth Boys School, before becoming apprenticed to process engraver J. Gibney & Son, Perth, in 1922. During his apprenticeship he studied drawing at Perth Technical School with Jamie Linton, and evening classes with John Linton.
In 1926 Missingham signed on as a crew member of the S.S. Benalla on the P. & O. Branch Line service to London, via South Africa. Having arrived in London Missingham roomed with Jamie Linton, before travelling to Paris where he again roomed with Linton and studied at Academie Colarossi, Grande Chaumiere, and Julians Academie. In late 1926 Missingham returned to London and enrolled at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. Between 1928-1930 took up a number of jobs including working at Stoll Picture Theatre, designing and making colour advertisement slides and film bill-boards, working as a Studio artist at Daniel's Studio, Kensington, working as a commercial artist with Fleet Illustrating Service, and working as an assistant in the Book Illustrating Deaprtment, Central School of Arts and Crafts. On July 24 1930 Missingham married Esther Mary Long at Holborn Registry Office, Bloomsbury.
Missingham returned to Australia to live in 1941. In 1945 he was appointed director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW). He introduced policies of Australian art collecting, and the international exhibitions organised by him made significant contributions to contemporary Australian art development. His long administrative career, 1945 to 1971, was climaxed by his supervision of the new building extensions to the Gallery.
Missingham published works throughout his career, including a childrens book Australian alphabet (Sydney: Consolidated Press, [1942]), regular contributions of introductions to books about artists work such as The etchings of Sydney Ure Smith (Sydney: Ure Smith, 1950), books on his own artworks and photographs such as My Australia (Sydney: London: Collins, c1969), and his autobiography They kill you in the end (Sydney : Angus & Robertson, 1973).
Missingham was honoured throughout his career for his contribution to the arts, receiving the Coronation Medal (1953), Chevalier d'Legion d'Honeur (1953), Cavaliere Ufficiale dell'Ordine al Merito della Republica Italiana (1957), Knight Cross First Class, Order of St. Olaf (1971), and Officer, Order of Australia (1978). Missingham returned to Perth to live in the 1980s, where he died in 1994.
Item Descriptions
Series 1. Correspondence, 1938-1989
The correspondence is almost entirely made up of letters from Missingham to his wife Esther. There is a small amount of additional correspondents including Ann Hill and Richard Smart. Also included is a small amount of correspondence by Esther Missingham to Ann Hill.
Correspondence, 1960-1969 (File 6) - Box 1
Also includes correspondence with Ann Hill from 1966, and a photograph of Hill. Ann Hill was Missingham's secretary while he was on an around Australia camping trip with his wife Esther and son Peter in 1966. In addition there are also lists of the subjects photographed on each roll of film taken by Missingham, and a flyer for a slide night 'Around Australia with "The Missos"' for Art Gallery of New South Wales staff.
Correspondence, 1970-1979 (File 7) - Box 2
Also includes a letter from Richard Smart of Ure Smith Publishers and two colour photographs relating to the Australian stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1971; and correspondence with Sir Richard Kirby relating to a talk given by Missingham at the launch of the Herbert Vere Evatt Memorial Foundation, notes for his talk and a program of the event.
Correspondence, 1980-1989 (File 8) - Box 2
Also includes undated correspondence and correspondence by Ann Hill from 1985 relating to Missingham's emerald wedding anniversary, and a photograph of Missingham with Clarrie the horse.
Correspondence from Esther Missingham to Ann Hill, 1961-1980 (File 9) - Box 2
Also includes newspaper cuttings relating to Hal Missingham.
Correspondence with the National Library and photocopies of photographs relating to the funeral of Daisy Bates. (File 10) - Box 2
Series 2. Appointment diaries, 1945-1977
The appointment diaries contain short notes on appointments by Missingham. In addition, there is a collection of typescript 'Daily Diary Notes' which appear to be largely transcribed from the appointment diaries with additional notes added for some events.
'Daily Diary Notes' (File 7) - Box 4
Also titled 'Daily Notes' and 'Biographical details' the biographical information appears to have been largely transcribed from Missingham's pocket diaries and covers his life up to the late 1980s with a gap between 1973 and 1979. The earliest notes record the birth of his father in 1857.
Series 3. My Australia (Sydney ; London : Collins, c1969) - Box 4
A mock-up of Missingham's book My Australia (Sydney ; London : Collins, c1969). Missingham's mock up includes coloured and graphite pencil sketches of his photographs and the placement on the page in the published version.
Series 4. Australia close focus : the colour and texture of a continent (North Sydney, Ure Smith, 1970) - Box 4
Correspondence relating to the publication of Missingham's book Australia close focus : the colour and texture of a continent. Correspondents include Sam Ure Smith, Richard Smart, Judith Wright, Geoffrey Dutton, Max Dupain, and Patrick White.
Series 5. They kill you in the end (Sydney : Angus and Robertson, 1973)
Draft chapters and notes for They kill you in the end (Sydney : Angus and Robertson, 1973), which deals with Missingham's term as Director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Also included are notes and background material for the book. The material is divided into sections (not all of which were included in the published work) - art history; staff; public service board; director; trustees; visits; conferences; art prizes and scholarships; art gallery society; loans; exhibitions; purchases, gifts, requests; conservation; and building.
Drafts and notes for the introduction, and for the chapters 'Art History', 'Staff' and 'Public Service Board'. (File 1) - Box 4
Drafts and notes for the chapters 'Director' and 'Enquiries'. (File 2) - Box 4
Also included is correspondence relating to the appointment of the Director of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales (later the Art Gallery of New South Wales) in 1945, between Hal Missingham and the Aboriginal-Australian Fellowship, biographical notes on Missingham, and a copy of the Government Gazette of New South Wales announcing Missingham's appointment to the position of Director and Secretary of the National Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Drafts and notes for the chapters 'Trustees'. (File 3) - Box 4
Also included are Ministry of Cultural Activites memos, notes on directors and secretaries; presidents of the board of trustees, and members of the board of trustees dating back to 1892; reports of the trustees of the Art Gallery of New South Wales dated 1961, 1969 and 1970; and copies of the Library and Art Gallery Act, 1899 and the Art Gallery of New South Wales Act, 1958.
Drafts and notes for the chapters 'Art Gallery Society', 'Conferences', 'Visits', and 'Art Prizes and Scholarships'. (File 4) - Box 4
Drafts and notes for the chapters 'Exhibitions', 'Loans' and 'Purchases – Gifts – Bequests'. (File 5) - Box 4
Also included is the amended typescript of a lecture on William Dobell given by Missingham at the Western Australian Art Gallery, 29 September 1964; correspondence with C.E.F. McKay (Managing Director, Smith's Weekly) regarding an article published by Smith's Weekly on Dobell; Report of Finance Committee [1971], Director's Report on Overseas Visit, September-October, 1965.
Drafts and notes for the chapters 'Conservation' and 'Building'. (File 6) - Box 5
Also included is a copy of Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 3 (Sydney : AGNSW, April 1971) subtitled 'Caring for Woks of Art'; the typescript of a lecture given by Missingham for the Art Gallery Society of the AGNSW, 18 May 1971; a report by Missingham 'Preliminary Notes on Building Requirements. Art Gallery of New South Wales', n.d.; and the typescript of a lecture, 'The Gallery, its Collection and Development', given by Missingham to the Art Gallery Society.
Drafts for the various chapters, not all of which were included in the published work (File 7) - Box 5
Also included is a poem by Missingham 'Traveller's Light', and two background files: 'Tapes : Lectures : Stories' which includes transcripts of oral history recordings on himself made in 1962, and on Brett Whiteley conducted in 1965, and the transcript of a lecture on German contemporary art; and 'Canberra Gallery' which includes correspondence with Sir Daryl Lindsay mainly concerning the controversy over the appointment of James Mollison as Director of the National Art Gallery in 1971.
Series 6. Grass trees of Western Australia : blackboys & black gins (Fremantle, W.A. : Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1978) - Box 5
Handwritten and typescript drafts for the text and photographic captions for Missingham's book Grass trees of Western Australia : blackboys & black gins.
Series 7. Personal and family documents
A typescript copy of an obituary for David Missingham, Hal Missingham's father, from The Sunday Times, Perth, 1921 (File 1) - Box 5
Indenture of apprenticeship between Hal Missingham and J. Gibney & Son, 8 June 1922 (File 2) - Box 5
Photographic portrait of Sir Robert Garran and a typescript article 'A Personal Note of Sir William Dobell', 17 May 1970, signed by Maie Casey. (File 4) - Box 5
Exhibition catalogue for Missingham's exhibition 'Here and There: photographs by Hal (File 5) - Box 5
Missingham', 30 March-10 April (Blaxland Gallery, 1978).
Series 8. Testimonial Album, 1971
A bound volume of paintings, drawings, photographs and poems presented to Missingham on his retirement as the Director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1971. The album, which is presented in a book form, is nominally titled Fully Bound: Over to Hal Missingham, a tribute with love and affection, 1971. It contains contributions from 202 Australian artists. An alphabetical index of contributors to the volume is available as part of this finding aid (see 'Related Documentation' tab).
