Guide to the Papers of Pauline Fanning
MS 9864, MS Acc11.069 and MS Acc13.010
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Pauline Fanning
- Title
- Papers of Pauline Fanning
- Date Range
- 1839-2011
- Collection Number
- MS 9864, MS Acc11.069 and MS Acc13.010
- Extent
- 3.0 metres (17 boxes + 1 folio box)
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- National Library of Australia
Introduction
Scope and Contents
The papers document some of Pauline Fanning's activities during her long career at the National Library of Australia and her association and friendship with a number of politicians, writers, collectors, librarians and academics. They include correspondence, diaries, notebooks, research notes, talks, book reviews, and newspaper cuttings. There are files on the Ferguson, Nan Kivell, Palmer and Petherick collections, exhibitions, publications and a few of her colleagues. The correspondents include Lord and Lady Casey, Russell Cope, Gerald Fischer, Adelaide Lubbock, Marcie Muir and Aileen Palmer.
Conditions Governing Access
MS 9864: Part available for research; part requires permission for research (Marcie Muir correspondence restricted until 2025; Russell Cope correspondence restricted during his lifetime).
MS Acc11.069: Permission required for research.
MS Acc13.010: Part available for research; part requires permission for research (Marcie Muir correspondence restricted until 2025; Russell Cope correspondence restricted for his lifetime; Janice Kenny file restricted until 2025).
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Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions.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 Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.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 Pauline Fanning, National Library of Australia, [class number, box number and Series and/or file number]'.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The papers were donated to the Library by Pauline Fanning in October 2000. Further papers were added in February 2006. Consignments were also received in 2011 and 2013.
Related Materials
An interview with Pauline Fanning, recorded by Alec Bolton in 1988, is held in the Oral History collection at TRC 2248. Her address at the opening of the Ferguson Room in the National Library in 2000 is held at TRC 4562.
Arrangement
The correspondence and papers had been well organised by Pauline Fanning before she presented them to the Library and the files have all been kept intact. The arrangement into four Series has been made by the Library.
Collection Retrieval Advice
Please note: each consignment in this collection has a separate box number sequence (i.e. there are multiple Box 1's). Please cite the relevant Class number as well as the Box number when requesting retrieval of material from the collection.
Biographical Note
Pauline Dixon was born in Hobart on 18 January 1915. She was educated at the Collegiate School, Hobart, and the University of Tasmania, graduating as a Bachelor of Arts in 1937. On 8 May 1941 she married William Fanning, a legal officer in the Attorney-General's Department in Canberra. They had two daughters.
Pauline Fanning spent her entire career, from 1936 to 1980, on the staff of the National Library. She was a cataloguer (1936-41, 1943-47), reference librarian (1947-66), Chief Librarian, Australian Reference (1966-72), Principal Librarian, Australian Reference (1972-75), and Director, Australian National Humanities Library (1975-80). She was responsible not only for the Australian reference services but also the development of the Australian book, manuscript, pictorial and oral history collections. She worked closely with Sir John Ferguson on the Bibliography of Australia and on the acquisition of his collection and was also heavily involved in the acquisition of the Nan Kivell Collection. She curated several major exhibitions for the Library.
In her retirement Pauline Fanning worked for several years as a researcher for the Australian National Dictionary. She received the MBE in 1969 and the ISO in 1978. She was awarded an Honorary Master of Arts by the Australian National University in 1976.
Item Descriptions
Class MS 9864. Original Consignments
This material was received in 2000 and 2006.
The papers document some of Fanning's activities during her long career at the National Library of Australia and her association and friendship with a number of politicians, writers, collectors, librarians and academics. The collection includes correspondence, diaries, notebooks, research notes, talks, book reviews and newspaper cuttings. There are files on the Ferguson, Nan Kivell, Palmer and Petherick collections. Among the correspondents are Lord and Lady Casey, Russell Cope, Gerald Fischer, Adelaide Lubbock, Marcie Muir and Aileen Palmer
Comprises 9 boxes.
Series 1. Correspondence, 1940-2004 - Box 1
Although Fanning met the correspondents in This series through working in the National Library, they became friends and the letters that she kept are mostly private or semi-private. The correspondence often extended well into her retirement. The files that she created mostly contain letters, but there are also notes and cuttings about some of the individuals. There is therefore a degree of overlap with the files in Series 2.
Correspondents in the two Files of miscellaneous letters include Sir John Crawford, Bobbie Maple-Brown, Manning Clark, UrsulaHoff, Pat Tillyard, Janey Marshall, Dorothy Green, Ros Kelly, David Fairbairn, Leonie Baxter, Grenfell Rudduck, Lady Ferguson, Betty Ferguson, Hilda Abbott, Lady Bailey, Clyde Cameron, C.K. Bliss, Phyllis Mander-Jones, Jean Ross, Lady Copland and Hazel De Berg. Explanatory notes by Fanning are attached to several of the letters.
The letters of Marcie Muir are restricted until 2025 and the letters of Russell Cope are restricted during his lifetime.
Series 2. Subject files, 1946-2004 - Box 1
There is some overlap between Series 1 and 2, as a few of the files in Series 2 contain letters. In general, however, the papers in This series comprise drafts of Fanning's writings, notes, research material, cuttings. Many of the files document work and projects at the Library, especially with major collections and exhibitions. There are also files created during her retirement, relating to articles and talks and her work as a valuer for the Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme.
Series 3. Diaries and notebooks, 1959-1979 - Box 1
The broken run of diaries and notebooks record some of Fanning's activities in her last twenty years at the National Library. In particular, they contain details of numerous field trips and visits to prospective donors of papers. There are also notes taken during meetings in the Library.
Series 4. Miscellaneous papers, 1964-1994 - Box 1
This series contains five documents unrelated to the National Library: a paper by Frederick Wheeler on the administrator and the Public Service (1964) and an obituary of him (1994), copies of correspondence concerning the dismissal of Clyde Cameron from the Whitlam Government in 1975 (1977), a paper by R.W. Cole on the development of top administrators (1979), and an unsigned paper on Prime Ministers and the Royal Canberra Golf Club.
Class MS Acc11.069. Consignment received 2011
Comprises correspondence, notes and miscellaneous papers pertaining to Fanning's career at the National Library and her related interactions with Russell Cope, Kathleen McArthur, W.S. and Joan Ramson and Marcie Muir.
Class MS Acc13.010. Consignment received 2013
Correspondence, research notes and miscellaneous papers pertaining to Fanning's career with the National Library. It includes research notes and transcripts of Lady Franklin's diary; correspondence and papers pertaining to the acquisition of the Kivell, Cope, Muir and Ramson collections; notes on the history of the National Library and significant staff members including Harold White, Arthur Wadsworth and Allan Fleming; and a substantial collection of small press publications including "The Pump Press".
Comprises 7 boxes + 1 folio box.
Papers incl: correspondence; greeting cards; pamphlets; A. D. Hope memorial program; publications by 'The Pump Press' and other small presses. Folded hand written carbon copy of Aileen Palmer annotated poem housed inside 'Poems' by To Huu., 1962-1999 (File) - Box 1
Correspondence and photos pertaining to Arthur H. Tange. Unpublished transcript by W.E. Hearn titled 'The Cabinet the Premier'. Letters from Russell Cope (2005-2011). Letters and other papers relating to W.S. And Joan Ramson (c. 1980s-2011). Personal Correspondence (c. 1960s). Letters from Marcie Muir. Australian Academic and Research Libraries (AARL) issue pertaining to Sir Harold White., 1964-2011 (File) - Box 2
Russell Cope correspondence restricted for his lifetime. Marcie Muir correspondence restricted until 2025.
Personal papers pertaining to Jean Whyte (c. 1978). Writing file containing "To All Typists" memo belonging to William Doyle Fanning (husband of Pauline Fanning). Edward A. Pethrick papers (1981-1996). Correspondence to NLA re working from home. Also contains newspaper clippings. NLA clipping and miscellaneous file, incl. "Metcalf Report" and index cards. Notes on preparing speeches about Harold White. Drafts about Arthur Wadsworth (2005), and history of National Library of Australia., 1949-2011 (File) - Box 3
Drafts about Allan Fleming (2001-2011). Papers pertaining to Sir John Alexander Ferguson, incl photos of Ferguson and papers addressing rights agreement matters (1965-2011). Papers pertaining to Jan Kenny (1980), Norman Lynravn and Peter Saunders (1997). Copies of preparation for Senate Estimates regarding Nan Kivell (1947). Copied map re: construction of Burma railway (1943). Research notes and transcripts pertaining to Lady Franklin's diary (1839) cont. box 5 (small portion of oversized notes moved to folio box 8). 2 x transcripts of lectures and miscellaneous notes. Cabinet copy, minutes (1939). Score to "A Company of Carols" by Maie Casey, Marnie Bassett, Rosemary Dobson and Joan Lindsay with music by Margaret Sutherland., 1839-1997 (File) - Box 4
Janice Kenny file restricted until 2025.