Guide to the Papers of Peter Russo
MS 8202
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Created: April 2025
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Russo, Peter, Dr.
- Title
- Papers of Peter Russo
- Date Range
- 1889 - 1988
- Collection Number
- MS 8202
- Extent
- 6.19 metres (21 ms boxes + 4 medium folio boxes + 2 large folio boxes + 1 shared binder)
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- Special Collections (Manuscripts)
Introduction
Cultural Sensitivity Advisory Notice
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this collection contains images of deceased persons and other content that may be culturally sensitive. Additional details are provided within this finding aid at the file/item level.
Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) Notice
This collection contains Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) of Australian First Nations peoples. Restrictions on access, copying and publication of this material may apply. Contact the National Library of Australia for further information. Additional details are provided within this finding aid at the file/item level.
Scope and Contents
This collection comprises correspondence, newspaper cuttings and scrapbooks of articles by and about Russo, typescripts of articles and broadcasts, passports, notebooks, subject files including photographs, material relating to the Debuchi Goodwill Mission 1935 and Vietnam 1945-1973, miscellaneous printed material and personal documents of Peter Russo and Vera Bergman.
Conditions Governing Access
Access conditions may apply to this collection, please refer to the collection's catalogue record for further information (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn781952).
Conditions Governing Use
Conditions for copying and publishing of this collection may apply, please refer to the collection's catalogue record for further information (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn781952).
Preferred Citation
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Peter Russo, National Library of Australia, MS 8202, [class/series/file/item number(s)]'.
Provenance
The original consignment of this collection was donated to the National Library in 1989. The second consignment was donated to the Library in 2005.
Related Materials
The Papers of Peter Russo MS 5885 are also held by the National Library of Australia.
Content Advisory Notice
Please be advised that this collection contains material which may cause distress. This includes graphic images of human remains, including children, within the context of war and violent conflict. Please also be aware that you may see certain words, descriptions or images within this collection which reflect the author's attitude, or that of the period in which the material were created, and may now be considered inaccurate, inappropriate or offensive. Additional details are provided within this finding aid at the file/item level.
Biographical Note
Peter Vasquez Russo was born in Ballarat in 1908. Upon completing his degree at the University of Melbourne in 1930 he was awarded the Mollison Travelling Scholarship which he used to study Japanese language and literature at Tokyo Imperial Universities.
His Doctorate of Philosophy was conferred in 1936. From 1934 to 1941 he was a Professor of Modern Languages at the Tokyo University of Commerce. In 1935 he accompanied Japanese diplomats on the Debuchi Goodwill Mission to Australia and New Zealand.
In 1941 Russo returned to Australia and joined the staff of the Melbourne Herald as a foreign affairs commentator. In 1946 he joined the Argus newspaper as Far Eastern Editor. He subsequently worked as a correspondent for the British Mirror group of newspapers, and in 1960 became a columnist for the Australian Sunday Mirror. In 1963 he became a lecturer in international affairs for the Victorian Council of Adult Education. Until his death in 1985 he was a regular broadcaster of foreign affairs commentary for the Australian Broadcasting Commission.
In 1951 he married Vera Burgman, an actress who had fled Nazi Germany to Italy in the early 1940s.
Item Descriptions
Class 1. Original consignment, 1927 - 1985
Comprises 1. Correspondence, 1935-1985. 2. Cuttings and scrapbooks of articles by and about Russo, 1935-1964. 3. Typescripts of articles and broadcasts, 1955-1985. 4. Passports, 1931-1977. 5. Notebooks. 6. Subject files (including photographs), 1926-1985. 7. Debuchi Goodwill Mission, 1935. 8. Vietnam, 1945-1973. 9. Miscellaneous printed material, 1935-1983..
Series 1. Correspondence, 1935 - 1985
Items of correspondence can also be found in Series 6.
Australian Broadcasting Commission and Mirror Group correspondence, 1953 - 1963 (File 2) - Box 1
Includes telegrams and newspaper clippings.
Nicholas Pty, Ltd, Chemist - re sales to China correspondence, 1935 - 1947 (File 3) - Box 1
Includes correspondence in Chinese.
Correspondence with Lee White, McMillian, 1950 - 1981 (File 4) - Box 1
Includes academic record for Andrew Bruce Arkley from the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies; booklet Outlook: An Independent Socialist Review, 4 August 1963; pamphlet British Industrial Exhibition Peking.
Cecil King and Daily Mirror correspondence, 1960 - 1969 (File 6) - Box 1
Include newspaper clippings; Qantas itinerary; 4 black and white photographs of Cecil King in an Isuzu factory in Tokyo.
Argus Asian Goodwill Fund correspondence, 1953 - 1979 (File 7) - Box 1
Includes copy of the Message of the Prime Minister for the "Sunday Pictorial" of the Daily Mirror Group; telegrams.
Correspondence, 1936 - 1973 (File 8) - Box 2
Includes correspondence from The Herald and The University of Melbourne.
Miscellaneous correspondence, 1973 - 1980 (File 12) - Box 2, Binder MS Cold Store 332
Includes black and white and coloured family photographs. This file contains 2 black and white 35mm negatives. These negatives have been re-housed and relocated to the Cold Store for preservation purposes. Negatives were originally housed in a blue plastic pocket.
Correspondence, 1937 - 1982 (File 14) - Box 2
Includes article from Monash University, 'Is it a Criminal Offence to Marry a Foreigner?': The Life and Times of Rose Carolyn (Allkins) Mowsey. Inagaki, 1881-1943.
Correspondence: C, 1948 - 1964 (File 16) - Box 3
Includes article Three Editors and the Status Quo, by Dorothy Green.
Correspondence: D-H, 1943 - 1962 (File 17) - Box 3
File includes The Merchant of Venice: A Tokyo Amateur Dramatic Club Presentation.
Correspondence: I-J, 1941 - 1965 (File 18) - Box 3
File includes black and white photograph of a man with small child and newspaper clippings.
Correspondence: Mc-R, 1949 - 1964 (File 20) - Box 3
File includes newspaper clippings and black and white photographs.
Correspondence: S, 1947 - 1965 (File 21) - Box 3
File includes colour and black and white photographs.
Special reference and letters, 1961 - 1970 (File 23) - Box 4
Letters housed in expandable folder. File contains 2 copies of International Certificates of Vaccination for Peter Russo; "Which Way China" Note: Prepared by Editor of series, C. P. Fitzgerald; The Melbourne Junior Chamber of Commerce; newspaper clippings; correspondence.
Series 2. Cuttings and scrapbooks of articles by and about Peter Russo, 1935 - 1979
Large scrapbook with green binding including newspaper clippings, 1951 (Item 30) - Folio-Box 6
File also includes envelope of newspaper clippings relating to Japan.
Brown scrapbook with green binding including newspaper clippings, 1953 - 1955 (Item 33) - Folio-Box 8
Black and gold scrapbook of cuttings relating to Peter Russo's wife, Vera Bergman, 1953 (Item 38) - Folio-Box 8
Black scrapbook of cuttings relating to Peter Russo's wife, Vera Burgman, 1937 - 1961 (Item 39) - Folio-Box 19
The New Australasian Post, 27 March 1952 (Item 40) - Folio-Box 8
Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) Notice This material contains Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) of Australian First Nations peoples. The ICIP comes in the form of traditional cultural expression and knowledge of the First Nation's people of Point McLeay.
Newspaper is missing the first two pages.
Series 3. Typescripts of articles and broadcasts, 1955 - 1985
Series 5. Notebooks, 1975
Notebooks, 1975 (File 55)
Small brown note book, n.d. (Item 55.1) - Box 10
Includes Japanese language notes and newspaper clipping.
Small brown address book, n.d. (Item 55.2) - Box 10
Includes handwritten notes and newspaper clipping.
Series 6. Subject files, 1927 - 1985
Includes correspondence, photographs, printed material, certificates, newscuttings, typescripts and other papers.
Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai (KBS) [Society for International Cultural Relations], Tokyo, 1935 - 1941 (File 56) - Box 11
File includes correspondence, photographs and newspaper clippings.
Diplomatic, 1935 - 1979 (File 57)
File includes correspondence, photographs and newspaper clippings.
India and Nehru, 1964 - 1966 (File 58) - Box 11
File includes The Overseas Hindustan Times, Vol. XV, No. 23 and Vol. XVII. No. 2; French Settlements in India, Current Affairs Publication; Indian and Foreign Review, Vol. 1, No. 16.
Military occupation of Japan and China, 1946 - 1948 (File 59) - Box 11
File includes receipts, press passes, photographs, ration cards, ephemera and correspondence.
Columbo Conference, 1950 (File 60) - Box 11
Invitations to various events and fold out map titled, Central Colombo Shewing Buildings Connected with the Commonwealth Conference on Foreign Affairs, January, 1950.
Indian Press Delegation, 1953 - 1956 (File 61) - Box 11
File includes approximately 100 black and white photographs of Peter Russo's time in India.
China, 1945 - 1980 (File 62)
Collection of booklets and newspaper articles.
National Union of Australian University Students Delegation to Malaya and Indonesia, 1956 (Item 62.1) - Box 11
Report on China: Australian Cultural Delegation, May-June 1956 (Item 62.2) - Box 11
Published by the Australian-China Society, New South Wales Branch.
The Truth about conditions in Communist China, n.d. (Item 62.3) - Box 11
Written by Greg O'Dwyer. Published by the Friends of Free China Association.
Students in China: Report of a delegation from the National Union of Australian University Students to the Peoples' Republic of China, n.d. (Item 62.4) - Box 11
Newspaper receipts and photographs of George Lawford, 1952 - 1967 (File 64) - Box 12
File includes photographs of George Lawford, Japan, and a World Federation Trade Union march.
Articles by K. C. Lee on Singapore and Malaya, 1957 - 1958 (File 65) - Box 12
File includes Manifesto of the People's Action Army.
Expanding file of photographs, correspondence, clippings and invitations, 1935 - 1985 (File 66)
Photograph taken at the reception held by the Secretary-General, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, in New Delhi on February 26, in honour of the members of the Australian Press Delegation, n.d. (Item 66.1) - Box 12
Petrov Royal Commission, 1954 - 1958 (File 67) - Box 12
File includes press publications including, The Royal Commission on Espionage - The Australia-Soviet Friendship Society - Mr John Rodgers, Speech on the Budget by Dr. H. V. Evatt, Leader of the Opposition, and Foreign Affairs and Defence: Dr. Evatt's Reply to Prime Minister.
Petrov Royal Commission, 1951 - 1959 (File 68)
Commonwealth of Australia: Parliamentary Debates - Twenty Second Parliament, Third Session, 1958, 24 September 1958 (Item 68.1) - Box 12
House of Representatives.
Commonwealth of Australia: Speech by Rt. Hon. H. V. Evatt, Q.C. L.L.D. D. Lit., MP on Royal Commission on Espionage, 19 October 1955 (Item 68.2) - Box 12
From the "Parliamentary Debates".
Royal Commission on Espionage: Official Transcript of Proceedings, 6 December 1954 (Item 68.3) - Box 12
77th day, continued from 3rd December 1954.
Royal Commission on Espionage: Official Transcript of Proceedings, 8 December 1954 (Item 68.4) - Box 12
78th day, continued from 8 December 1954.
Royal Commission on Espionage: Official Transcript of Proceedings, 28 January 1955 (Item 68.5) - Box 12
91st day, continued from 27 January 1955.
Royal Commission on Espionage: Official Transcript of Proceedings, 9 March 1955 (Item 68.6) - Box 12
115th day, continued from 8 March 1955.
DLP/ Bob Santamaria/ NCC, 1958 - 1963 (File 69) - Box 12
File includes Observer, No. 19; The Truth about the D.L.P. and its False Claims; Catholic Action and Australian Labor; newspaper cuttings and notes.
Asian history, 6 August 1965 (File 70) - Box 12
File includes articles A Pilgrimage to Khao Phra Vihara and Phanom Rung, Thailand's Southern Exposure, by Charles N. Spinks and Survey of China Mainland Press, No. 3512.
DLP/ Bob Santamaria/ NCC, 1959 - 1964 (File 71) - Box 12
File includes Danger NCC at Work; newspaper Farrago, Vol. 40, No. 17-18; newspapers News Weekly, No. 1031 and Catholic Worker, No. 281-282, 289, 304 and 306.
John Barry and Alfred William Foster, 1951 - 1975 (File 72)
Lenin through Australian eyes, 1970 (Item 72.2) - Box 12
An Australian contribution to the Lenin Centenary 1870-1970.
Television - London, 1958 - 1962 (File 73) - Box 12
File includes Statement by the Chairman Mr. Cecil H. King at the Annual General Meeting of The Daily Mirror Newspapers Limited 2nd July 1962; As the World Sees Us; photographs and cards.
Xavier Connor "Church and State", 1964 - 1974 (File 74) - Box 13
File includes Church and State, by Xavier Connor; newspaper cuttings and magazine articles.
Indonesia and Malaysia, 1954 - 1963 (File 75)
Indonesia, 1964 - 1966 (File 76) - Box 13
File includes Pacific: War-Peace-International Cooperation, Vol. 1, No. 2.; articles A Year of Living Dangerously: Address by the President of the Republic of Indonesia, and Speech of President Sukarno of Indonesia at the Second Non-Alignment Conference, Cairo, October, 1964; newsletter Indonesian Newsletter, No. 64/6.
The Twenty Club (dining club), 1974 - 1979 (File 77)
China, 1931 - 1970 (File 78)
Espionage - Intelligence services, 1951 - 1983 (File 80)
Business cards and receipts, 1938 - 1947 (File 81) - Box 14
Includes newspaper cuttings; receipts and business cards in Japanese; notes and photocopy of Victorian Bishops and Research in Roman Archives.
Articles and newspaper cuttings, 1953 - 1967 (File 83) - Box 14
Articles include KBS Bulletin on Japanese Culture, No. 84-85; Comments on the Week's News; and Monopoly Threat to Community.
Publications, 1941 - 1968 (File 84)
Articles and newspaper cuttings, 1941 - 1966 (Items 84.6) - Box 14
File includes article An Act to provide for the Registration of Psychologists, the Protection of the Public from Unqualified Persons and certain Harmful Practices and for other purposes, No. 7355 and Sermon of the Month: Building for the Future; newspaper cuttings.
Articles and newspaper cuttings, 1941 - 1953 (File 85)
Manchester v. Japan: The Imperial background of the Australian Trade Diversion Dispute with Japan, 1936, n.d. (Item 85.1) - Box 14
Private Diplomacy in the 1936 Trade Dispute with Japan, n.d. (Item 85.2) - Box 14
Written by D. C. S. Sissons at the Department of International Relations at the Australian National University.
Correspondence, notes, posters, photographs and newspaper cuttings, 1935 - 1975 (File 86) - Box 14
Content advisory notice: Please be advised that this file contains images of deceased peoples which may cause distress.
File includes poster of the 'Games of the New Emerging Forces' held on 6 December 1966 and 'British declaration of war'; black and white photographs; newspaper Bcon, 25 December 1949.
Series 8. Vietnam, 1945 - 1978
Newspaper cuttings and articles relating to Vietnam, 1961 - 1978 (File 90)
Sunday Observer: First Color Pictures - Bloodbath in Vietnam, 14 December 1969 (Item 90.2) - Box 15
Content advisory notice: Please be advised that this file contains content of a sensitive nature in relation to the My Lai massacre in Vietnam which may cause distress. This includes images of human remains, including children.
Published by arrangement with Life Magazine, New York.
Australian Atrocities in Vietnam, by Alex Carey, n.d. (Item 90.3) - Box 15
Content advisory notice: Please be advised that this file contains images of deceased peoples which may cause distress.
Published by R.S. Gould, Convenor of the Vietnam Action Campaign.
Vietnam: Is it Truth We Want?, By Dr. J. F. Cairns, 1965 (Item 90.4) - Box 15
Published by the Victorian Branch of the Australian Labor Party.
Magazines and newspapers relating to Vietnam (File 91)
Newspaper cuttings relating to Vietnam, 1945 - 1975 (File 92) - Box 15
File includes booklet The War America Lost, Br Cyril E. Goode; The Beacon; and The Rationalist.
Articles and newspaper cuttings relating to Vietnam, 1957 - 1983 (File 93)
Vietnam: Recent Statements of Australian Policy, November 1965 (Item 93.1) - Box 15
Issued under the Authority of the Minister for External Affairs, the Rt Hon. Paul Hasluck.
Vietnam: Questions and Answers, May 1966 (Item 93.2) - Box 15
Issued under the Authority of the Minister for External Affairs, the Rt Hon. Paul Hasluck.
Magazines relating to Vietnam, 1963 - 1969 (File 95)
Unitarian Addresses, August-September 1969 (Items 95.2) - Box 16
Issue no. 1, 3-4. Addresses delivered at the Melbourne Unitarian Peace Memorial Church on Sunday August 17th - 7th September by the Minister Mr Stanley Moore.
Ramparts Extra: The Children of Vietnam, 1967 (Item 95.5) - Box 16
Content advisory notice: Please be advised that this file contains content of a sensitive nature in relation to children injured and deceased through war which may cause distress. This includes images of human remains, including children.
Written by William F. Pepper.
The Vietnamese people will win! The American invaders will be defeated!, 1965 (Item 95.6) - Box 16
Content advisory notice: Please be advised that this file contains content of a sensitive nature in relation to children injured and deceased through war which may cause distress. This includes images of human remains.
Magazine written in Chinese.
Series 9. Miscellaneous printed material, 1931 - 1985
Newspaper cuttings, 1951 - 1983 (File 96) - Box 16
File includes Newsweek, 5 November 1973; newspaper The Herald, 9 January 1967; Toorak Times, 19 December 1983.
Catholic Worker, 1971 - 1976 (Items 102) - Box 16
No. 414-415, 432, 440, 446, 448, 459-460, 465, 470-472.
Asia and the Americas, 1944 - 1945 (Items 104) - Box 17
Content advisory notice: Please be aware that you may see certain words, descriptions or images within these works which reflect the author's attitude, or that of the period in which the works were created, and may now be considered inaccurate, inappropriate or offensive.
Pamphlets and posters, 1964 - 1971 (File 107) - Box 17
File includes poster Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Flags of the Commonwealth; pamphlets include The changing map of Africa and Story of SEATO: South-East Asia Treaty Organisation; newspaper article The Age chart of World Organisations.
Pamphlets and papers relating to typewriting, 1953 - 1983 (File 108) - Box 17
File includes Lloyd's Byelaws (Made under Lloyd's Act 1982), Remington Rand Touch Method Typing: Instruction book and tippa+tippas: Instruction handbook.
The Reporter, 20 February 1958 (File 109) - Box 17
20 February 1958 edition. Also includes articles The Golden Twig and The Peter Principle.
Japanese Puppet Plays, Eiaaku Waseda and One Thousand and One Nights in the Geisha World, by Miyako Shimnum, 1931 (Item 110) - Box 17
Bound in a red book.
Booklets, newspaper articles and BBC scripts, 1957 - 1982 (File 111)
Talks for the Sixth Forms, 1962 (Items 111.1) - Box 18
BBC Home Service scripts. Topics include "China Today", "Current Affairs", "China: a historical perspective" and "Mao's China: Re-shaping China's society.
Booklets and newspaper articles, 1957 - 1982 (Items 111.2) - Box 18
Content advisory notice: Please be advised that this file contains content of a sensitive nature which may cause distress. Including images of deceased peoples.
File includes Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation cheque book; booklets The Arus: Style Book, Visit Spain: Guias Ancema, Chinese Porcelain Marks and Symbols and Map of Macau; newspaper cuttings.
Newspaper cuttings, 1940 - 1985 (File 112) - Box 18
Cultural sensitivity advisory notice: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this file contains images of deceased people that may be culturally sensitive.
Class 2. Consignment recieved 2005, 1889 - 1988
Comprises correspondence, personal documents of Russo, c.1940-1971, and personal documents of Vera Korff-Bergman, c.1934-c.1940. Correspondents include Brian Fitzpatrick, Frank Clune and Norman Lindsay. Also, issues of Brian Fitzpatrick's Labor newsletter, 1958-1965.
Arrangement
This consignment was orignally numbered MS Acc05.109.
Series 10. Assorted documents, 1889 - 1988
Personal documents of Vera Bergman, 1889 - 1937 (File 118) - Box 21
File includes funeral service for retired State Secretary Carl Bergmann, in German; newspaper cuttings in German; birth certificate of Henry Ahrens, in German; passport for Vera Bergmann.
Letters of accreditation and introduction for Peter Russo, 1931 - 1965 (File 121) - Box 21
Letters are in English and Japanese.
Newspaper articles and correspondence, 1949 - 1972 (File 124) - Folio-Box 23
File includes Bcon, 1948 Souvenir Issue; newspaper Sunday Observer, 1 March 1970.
Miscellaneous photographs, n.d. (File 125) - Folio-Box 23, Binder MS Cold Store 332
This file contains 2 black and white negatives. These negatives have been re-housed and relocated to the Cold Store for preservation purposes.
Correspondence, 1947 - 1977 (File 126) - Box 22
File includes photocopy of The Educational Implications of Industrial Democracy.
Newspaper clippings and magazines, 1948 - 1985 (File 127) - Box 22
File includes magazine Education in Northern Ireland and The Kwangchow Acrobatic Troupe of the People's Republic of China; newspaper cuttings, including photocopies.
Identity papers of Vera Bergmann, 1939 - 1948 (File 131) - Box 24, Binder MS Cold Store 332
File includes passports and identity papers, written in German. This file contains 8 black and white negatives. These negatives have been re-housed and relocated to the Cold Store for preservation purposes.
Expanding file of correspondence, news clippings and cheque books, 1936 - 1975 (File 132) - Folio-Box 23
File includes cheque books from The National Bank of Australia Limited, Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation and Soldier's Pay Book; correspondence from Frank Clune; newspaper The Hongkong Telegraph, Vol. 2, No. 180 and New Statesman: The Week-end Review, Vol. 57, No. 1455; application for Filipino passport for Peter Russo.
Framed photograph of Peter Russo, Vera Bergmann and Japanese woman, n.d. (Item 134) - Folio-Box 25
Framed in brown frame.
Framed photograph of a Japanese couple and newspaper article, n.d. (Item 135) - Folio-Box 25
Framed in small brown frame.
Framed photograph of Vera Bergmann and Peter Russo, n.d. (Item 136) - Folio-Box 25
Framed in small green frame.
Framed photograph of Vera Bergmann and Peter Russo, n.d. (Item 137) - Folio-Box 25
Framed in small gold frame.
Photographs and correspondence, 1941 - 1978 (File 138) - Box 24
Content advisory notice: Please be advised that this file contains an image with male nudity.
Correspondence, 1971 - 1979 (File 140) - Box 24
File includes letters of sympathy for Vera Burgmann's death.
Travel documents, 1950 - 1965 (File 142) - Box 24
File includes 2 British passports, 'Temporary Travel Document in Lieu of Passport for German Nationals' and 'International Certificates of Vaccination' for Vera Bergmann.
Photographs, correspondence and articles, 1947 - 1985 (File 143) - Box 26
File includes Council of Adult Education Class Roll 1981-1983; articles include Series of Public Talks Organised by the Institute of Social Order: "A Pattern for Improvement".
Tickets, receipts and invitations, 1957 - 1980 (File 144) - Folio-Box 25
File includes Behind the News: Class Roll, 1979-1980.
Photographs, newspaper cuttings and documents, 1940 - 1985 (File 145) - Folio-Box 25
File includes a photocopy of Peter Russo's last will and testament; licence and identification card of Peter Russo, newspaper clippings, including photocopies.
Newsletters and correspondence, 1949 - 1965 (File 147)
File includes articles by Brian Fitzpatrick.
Labor News Letter, 1962 - 1965 (File 148) - Box 26
Vol. 4, No. 37/1-46; Vol. 5, No. 56-59, 60-62; Vol. 6, No. 63-70; Vol. 72, No. 75; Vol. 7, No. 73, 75.