Guide to the Papers of Philip Mead
MS 9354, MS Acc04.134
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Philip Mead
- Title
- Papers of Philip Mead
- Date Range
- 1975-2004
- Collection Number
- MS 9354, MS Acc04.134
- Extent
- 5.2 metres (16 boxes, 6 cartons)
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- National Library of Australia
Introduction
Scope and Contents
The papers include personal and professional correspondence, drafts and typescripts of poetry, copies of articles, reviews, talks, lectures, manuscripts, writings, notes, cuttings and reports relating to Mead's career as a poet, writer, editor, lecturer, teacher and literary reviewer.
Correspondents include Kevin Hart, Les Murray, Judith Rodriguez, Alec Bolton, David Brooks, Andrew Sant, Geoff Page, John Tranter, R.A. Simpson, A.D. Hope, Tom Shapcott and Chris Wallace-Crabbe.
Conditions Governing Access
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1762215).
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Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions.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 Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.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 Philip Mead, National Library of Australia, [class number, box number and series and/or file number]'.
Provenance
The papers were purchased by the National Library from Philip Mead in 1992.
Related Materials
Letters by Mead to Alan Gould are held by the Library at MS 6635.
John Tranter's papers are held by the Library at MS 5715.
Arrangement
The collection was arranged and listed by the donor before being transferred to the Library. The file titles and the arrangement of records within the files have been preserved by the Library. The Library has arranged the collection into 9 series which closely resemble alphabetical groupings made by Mead at the time of transfer to the Library.
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.
Biographical Note
Date | Event |
---|---|
1953 | Born in Brisbane, 31 August |
1975 | B.A. (Honours), Australian National University |
1981 | M.A., La Trobe University |
1982 | Dip. Ed., University of Melbourne |
1990 | PhD, University of Melbourne |
Employment
Date | Event |
---|---|
1980-81 | Teaching Fellow in English, Geelong College, Geelong |
1980-84 | Off Campus Assessor, School of Humanities, Deakin University |
1982-85 | Head of English Faculty, Geelong College, Geelong |
1986-87 | Research Assistant, School of Humanities, Deakin University |
1986 | Tutor in English, Ormond College, University of Melbourne |
1987-91 | Lockie Fellow in Creative Writing and Australian Literature, English Department, University Of Melbourne |
1987-94 | Poetry Editor, Meanjin |
1991-94 | Lockie Lecturer in Australian Writing, English Department, University of Melbourne |
1995- | Senior lecturer, English Department, University of Tasmania |
Date | Event |
---|---|
1980-81 | Teaching Fellow in English, Geelong College, Geelong |
1980-84 | Off Campus Assessor, School of Humanities, Deakin University |
1982-85 | Head of English Faculty, Geelong College, Geelong |
1986-87 | Research Assistant, School of Humanities, Deakin University |
1986 | Tutor in English, Ormond College, University of Melbourne |
1987-91 | Lockie Fellow in Creative Writing and Australian Literature, English Department, University Of Melbourne |
1987-94 | Poetry Editor, Meanjin |
1991-94 | Lockie Lecturer in Australian Writing, English Department, University of Melbourne |
1995- | Senior lecturer, English Department, University of Tasmania |
Item Descriptions
Class MS 9354. Original consignment
Comprises personal and professional correspondence, drafts and typescripts of poetry, copies of articles, reviews, talks, lectures, manuscripts, writing, notes, cuttings and reports relating to Philip Mead's career as a poet, writer, editor, lecturer, teacher and literary reviewer. Correspondents include Kevin Hart, Les Murray, Judith Rodriguez, Alec Bolton, David Brooks, Andrew Sant, Geoff Page, John Tranter, R.A. Simpson, A.D. Hope, Tom Shapcott and Chris Wallace-Crabbe.
Contained in 16 boxes.
Series 1. Correspondence, 1971-91
The series consists of personal and professional correspondence. The personal correspondence is extensive; in particular there is a large number of letters written by Mead's close friend and fellow poet Alan Gould. These letters ( ca. 120 ) often run to six pages of typescript and are usually accompanied by poems written by Gould. Other correspondents include Kevin Hart, Les Murray, Judith Rodriguez, Alec Bolton, David Brooks, Andrew Sant, Geoff Page, John Tranter, R.A. Simpson, A.D. Hope, Tom Shapcott and Chris Wallace-Crabbe.
The series consists of in-letters, postcards, greeting cards, invitations, leaflets, notices, brochures and copies of the Victorian Fellowship of Australia Writers Bulletin.
The professional correspondence includes letters relating to the publication of his poems in newspapers and journals and papers relating to his academic studies and teaching positions.
Series 3. Writings, 1985-91
This series is a comprehensive collection of drafts and typescripts of Mead's poems, articles, lectures, reviews, talks and translations. It includes a draft manuscript of This river is in the south published in 1984 by Penguin Australia. Bound copies of his theses, 'John Berryman's The dream songs'; (M.A., 1980) and 'Reading origins in Australian literature' (PhD, 1990) are located in folders 36 and 37.See also Series 7 for royalty statements for This river is in the south.
Talks, lectures, radio programs and public performances: Radio review of John Tranter, Under Berlin: new poems 1988; Seamus Heaney, The haw lantern, ABC Radio 'First edition', 1988; Chris Wallace-Crabbe, I'm deadly serious, ABC Radio 'First edition', 1988 (File 11) - Box 5
Talks, lectures, radio programs and public performances: 'The place of poetry now', Spoleto Festival, 1988 (File 12) - Box 5
Talks, lectures, radio programs and public performances: 'Writing the object: the language of art criticism,' 1988, a talk later published as 'Talking pictures', Agenda: Contemporary Art Criticism, 1988 (File 13) - Box 5
Talks, lectures, radio programs and public performances: 'Constructions of the colonial in Australian writing and painting', lecture to the Fine Arts Department, University of Melbourne, 1988 (File 14) - Box 5
Talks, lectures, radio programs and public performances: 'Poets and dreamers: history and apocalypse in McAuley's Quiros', The Australian Centre, 1989 (File 15) - Box 6
Talks, lectures, radio programs and public performances: 'Poetic theory/poetic practice,' Department of English, University of Melbourne, 1988 (File 16-17) - Box 6
Talks, lectures, radio programs and public performances: 'Horizon, then home', Cultural practice and the environment seminar series, The Australian Centre, May 1991; papers relating to a seminar titled 'Perception-language-description', 1991 (File 18) - Box 6
Talks, lectures, radio programs and public performances: 'Crucifixion and rose: religious art in Australia', The Catholic Worker, 1987 (File 19) - Box 6
Talks, lectures, radio programs and public performances: 'Memoranda of our feelings: John Ashbery's A wave', Scripsi, 1986; 'Self-fashioning and self-portraits: John Ashbery and Stephen Greenblatt', ABC 'Radio Helicon', 1988 (File 20) - Box 6
Talks, lectures, radio programs and public performances: 'Topopoesis: Laurie Duggan's The ash range', Scripsi, 1987 (File 21) - Box 6
Talks, lectures, radio programs and public performances: 'Charles Harpur and the fate of poetry', ABC Radio, 'Fictions', 1988; Charles Harpur selected poetry and prose, ed Michael Ackland, 'In the first place: Charles Harpur and the fate of poetry', The Age Monthly Review, 1987; Charles Harpur, Stalwart the bushranger, ed Elizabeth Perkins, 'Invisible heritage', The Age Monthly Review, 1989; 'Charles Harpur's disfiguring origins', Australian Literary Studies, 1990, delivered as a paper at a conference 'Romanticism and the Imagination', University of Melbourne, 1989 and published in collected papers Imagining romanticism: essays on English and Australian romanticisms, 1991 (File 22-23) - Box 6, 7
Talks, lectures, radio programs and public performances: 'Map-makers' colours: Paul Carter's The road to Botany Bay, Scripsi, 1989 (File 24-25) - Box 7
Poetry manuscripts: 'Poetry and biology', 'The Dante shirt' and 'Wallace Stevens and John Ashbury: the central of our being' (File 33) - Box 8
Collaborations: 'Designs upon the reader: new critical perspectives on Australian literature', a proposal written with Kevin Hart (File 38) - Box 9
Series 4. Penguin book of modern Australian poetry, 1989-91
The Penguin book of modern Australian poetry was edited by Philip Mead and John Tranter and published in 1991. Both have also contributed poems to the publication. The papers provide an interesting insight into the publication of the anthology as Mead was living in Melbourne and Tranter in Sydney. Much of the discussion was carried out in correspondence or by exchanging annotated copies of poems. The drafts of the introduction also went back and forth between the two editors.
The series consists of correspondence with John Tranter and Penguin, original selections, drafts of the introduction, galley proofs, permission letters, notes and journal articles and a draft manuscript.
Series 5. Manuscripts by others
The series consists of typescript copies of poems and writings by other Australian poets. There is evidence within the correspondence in Series 1 that material was circulated amongst this group and others for comment and criticism and general information.
Series 6. Committees, 1988-91
In 1988 Mead was a judge for the ABC Bicentennial Literary Awards. From 1989-91 he was a member of a number of advisory groups for the Victorian Ministry for the Arts. These included the Premier's Literary Awards and the Literature Advisory Panel. He was also a committee member for the Melbourne International Writers' Festival in 1990 and 1991.
The series consists of correspondence, agenda, minutes of meetings, notes and reports.
Series 8. Open Door Press
Open Door Press was the initiative of a small group known as Canberra Poetry. The group was formed in 1972 when Alan Gould, David Brooks and Philip Mead, all students at the Australian National University, joined with Mark O'Connor, a lecturer in the English Department, to start a small quarterly magazine. The magazine was meant to serve those Canberra writers who had not been published before. A series of fortnightly Broadsheets was launched on 1 January 1975. Each broadsheet was a limited edition of between 100 and 150 copies, signed and numbered by the author.
A almost complete set of Broadsheets from 1 -26 ( items 10 and 22 are missing). They include poets such as R. F. Brissenden, David Campbell, Tom Shapcott, Les Murray, Judith Rodriguez and three of the original Canberra group - Alan Gould, David Brooks and Philip Mead. There are also copies of other publications including The skald mosaic by Alan Gould; Lyrical dust by Robert Crocker; Sketches from Herodotus by R. F. Brissenden; Encounters by David Campbell and The Convert by Kevin Hart (File 1) - Box 16
Class Acc04-134. Consignment added 2004
Comprises papers covering the period 1986-2004 and includes personal and professional correspondence, printouts of about 630 e-mails, papers relating to conferences and seminars, articles, reviews, references and papers by Mead, other writings by Mead, papers relating to Mead's co-editorship of the literary magazine RePublica, and manuscripts and drafts by others sent to Mead. There is some poetry by Mead, and titles include Hearts of the world, On this day she begins her fortieth year, Adult concepts, Melbourne or the bush, Postmodern love, Tell me everything and Cinema point. The major correspondents are Judith Rodriguez, John Tranter, John Barnes, Alan Gould, George Papaellinas, John Lucas, Amanda Lohrey and Ann Vickery.
Contained in 1 carton, 5 A3 cartons.