Guide to the Papers of John Kendrick Blogg

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MS 9473

National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record

Collection Summary

Creator
John Kendrick Blogg
Title
Papers of John Kendrick Blogg
Date Range
1869-1992
Collection Number
MS 9473
Extent
1.3 metres (5 boxes, 1 folio box)
Language of Materials
English
Repository
National Library of Australia

Introduction

Scope and Contents

The collection, which includes letters, cuttings albums, poetry, photographs and family memorabilia, provides an interesting overview of Blogg's life and work. There are records of his achievements in woodcarving, and verse and hymn writing, as well as materials relating to his career as a manufacturing chemist. Many of the items were used in the writing of Marjorie Morgan's book Legacy in sculptured wood : an appreciation of the work of John Kendrick Blogg, 1851-1936, which she published in 1993.

The collection also reflects Blogg's enjoyment of letter writing, and the papers include correspondence with some prominent individuals who shared his interest in poetry. On this topic are letters from George Meredith, Rudyard Kipling, Alfred Deakin, Nettie Palmer, Archibald Strong and Sir George Knibbs. Other notable names appearing in the collection are Sir Russell Grimwade, Henry Bournes Higgins and Atlee Hunt.

Conditions Governing Access

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2065877).

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Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions.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 Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.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 John Kendrick Blogg, National Library of Australia, MS 9473, [box number and series and/or file number]'.

Provenance

The papers of the industrial chemist, woodcarver and poet John Kendrick Blogg (1851-1936) were donated to the National Library by his grandson, Hugh Stevenson, in 1996.

In addition to Blogg's papers filed in the Manuscript Collection, a copy of the score of his war anthem 'The Heroes of Anzac' is housed in the music component of the Snell Collection at Nmba 784.71994 B65.

Arrangement

The papers were for many years in the possession of family members, most recently in the custody of Stevenson, the unofficial family historian. The resulting organisation of the collection, according to the various groupings of materials which had evolved over time, has largely been preserved in the arrangement of series.

Biographical Note

DateEvent
1851Born 19 March, Toronto, Canada
c. 1860s-77Member of Cooks Methodist Church, Toronto, Canada
c. 1868Studied chemistry at Toronto University
c. 1869Junior partner in uncle's firm, J. Davids and Co., dispensing chemists, Toronto
1877June Sailed to Australia from New York aboard the Antelope
1877Arrived in Melbourne 18 September, taking up employment with Messrs Herbert Rocke and Company, wholesale druggists (later Rocke Tompsitt and Co.)
1878Married Annie Matilda Derham, St Matthew's Anglican Church, Prahran
1884In partnership with Herbert George Grist as manufacturing chemists, 161-163 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
1884Oct. Registered own firm, J.K. Blogg and Company Limited, operating from factory in Moray Street, South Melbourne
1889Name of firm changed to J.W. Tod Company Limited
1892Company name changed to Blogg Bros., operating from 15-17 St James Street, Melbourne
1893Death of first wife Annie; took up woodcarving as a hobby; resident of'Balmoral', Albany Crescent, Surrey Hills, Melbourne
1895-1900Blogg Bros. appointed perfumers to Lord Brassey, Governor of Victoria
1897Married Margaret Campbell Mackiehan
c. 1898Blogg Bros Proprietary Limited moved to larger premises at 24-38 Spencer Street, Melbourne
1901Carved a music cabinet, his earliest dated piece
c. 1910Carved pulpit at St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Surrey Hills; presented a panel of gum leaves to Lord Carmichael, Governor of Victoria
1912Carved pulpit ornament for Chambers' Church (later the Scots' Church), Adelaide
1913-36Member of Surrey Hills Bowling Club, where the Blogg Pairs competition was initiated in 1920
1914Carving of wattle branch displayed in the window of Messrs Glen and Company, Collins Street, Melbourne; two pieces selected by Victorian Government for the Agent General's Office, London
1915Carved pulpit panels at Centenary Methodist Church, Canterbury Road, Surrey Hills; prepared tablet for the Belgium Relief Fund Committee and carved a casket for King Albert of Belgium
1917Fire at Bloggs Proprietary Limited premises, destroying factory
1918Published Leaside (a tribute in verse to his childhood home in Toronto); visited Canada and United States to purchase new factory machinery; contributed carvings to the war memorial in Surrey Gardens, Surrey Hills
1920A sculptured panel presented to the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) during his visit to Melbourne
1920-24Member and exhibitor with the Victorian Artists' Society
1927Publication of his Selected poems by Disabled Men's Association
1929Retired and devoted spare time to woodcarving; published article'The art of woodcarving' in The Argus, 28 September
1932Last dated carved panel
1934Unsuccessful entrant in the Victorian Centenary Poem Competition
1936Died 23 September, Surrey Hills Examples of Blogg's work are held by the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria and Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, and in numerous family and private collections.
DateEvent
1851Born 19 March, Toronto, Canada
c. 1860s-77Member of Cooks Methodist Church, Toronto, Canada
c. 1868Studied chemistry at Toronto University
c. 1869Junior partner in uncle's firm, J. Davids and Co., dispensing chemists, Toronto
1877June Sailed to Australia from New York aboard the Antelope
1877Arrived in Melbourne 18 September, taking up employment with Messrs Herbert Rocke and Company, wholesale druggists (later Rocke Tompsitt and Co.)
1878Married Annie Matilda Derham, St Matthew's Anglican Church, Prahran
1884In partnership with Herbert George Grist as manufacturing chemists, 161-163 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
1884Oct. Registered own firm, J.K. Blogg and Company Limited, operating from factory in Moray Street, South Melbourne
1889Name of firm changed to J.W. Tod Company Limited
1892Company name changed to Blogg Bros., operating from 15-17 St James Street, Melbourne
1893Death of first wife Annie; took up woodcarving as a hobby; resident of'Balmoral', Albany Crescent, Surrey Hills, Melbourne
1895-1900Blogg Bros. appointed perfumers to Lord Brassey, Governor of Victoria
1897Married Margaret Campbell Mackiehan
c. 1898Blogg Bros Proprietary Limited moved to larger premises at 24-38 Spencer Street, Melbourne
1901Carved a music cabinet, his earliest dated piece
c. 1910Carved pulpit at St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Surrey Hills; presented a panel of gum leaves to Lord Carmichael, Governor of Victoria
1912Carved pulpit ornament for Chambers' Church (later the Scots' Church), Adelaide
1913-36Member of Surrey Hills Bowling Club, where the Blogg Pairs competition was initiated in 1920
1914Carving of wattle branch displayed in the window of Messrs Glen and Company, Collins Street, Melbourne; two pieces selected by Victorian Government for the Agent General's Office, London
1915Carved pulpit panels at Centenary Methodist Church, Canterbury Road, Surrey Hills; prepared tablet for the Belgium Relief Fund Committee and carved a casket for King Albert of Belgium
1917Fire at Bloggs Proprietary Limited premises, destroying factory
1918Published Leaside (a tribute in verse to his childhood home in Toronto); visited Canada and United States to purchase new factory machinery; contributed carvings to the war memorial in Surrey Gardens, Surrey Hills
1920A sculptured panel presented to the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) during his visit to Melbourne
1920-24Member and exhibitor with the Victorian Artists' Society
1927Publication of his Selected poems by Disabled Men's Association
1929Retired and devoted spare time to woodcarving; published article'The art of woodcarving' in The Argus, 28 September
1932Last dated carved panel
1934Unsuccessful entrant in the Victorian Centenary Poem Competition
1936Died 23 September, Surrey Hills Examples of Blogg's work are held by the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria and Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, and in numerous family and private collections.

Item Descriptions

Series 1. Chemical notebooks, 1869-87

Blogg's career as a chemist began in 1869 as a junior partner in his uncle's Toronto pharmacy. In Melbourne in 1884 he established a successful manufacturing enterprise, initially known as J.K. Blogg and Company, which prospered and became well known for its products such as 'Ontario' laundry blue, 'Argus' worcestershire sauce, 'Sunshine' shoe blacking and 'Snow White' baking powder. The firm, which operated under a succession of names, also pioneered the extraction of perfume from Australian native trees and plants, and exported large amounts of wattle blossom and boronia extracts to London. Trading as Blogg Bros., the company held the appointment of official perfumer to the Governor of Victoria, Lord Brassey, between 1895 and 1900.

This series comprises two notebooks kept by Blogg in his work as a manufacturing chemist, containing handwritten entries and pasted extracts from newspapers. The first, begun in Toronto in 1869, records methods for experiments and gives recipes for a range of chemical products such as boot and furniture polish, perfumes, parchment and cleaning fluids. The second volume opens in 1887, and lists ingredients and processes for the manufacture of soaps, inks, sauces, glues and other commercial lines.

Other papers relating to the operations of Blogg's chemical companies are filed in Series 2.

Notebook of John Kendrick Blogg, 1869 (File 1) - Box 1

Notebook of John Kendrick Blogg, dated 14 September 1887, with index and November 1888 balance sheet [for J.K. Blogg and Company Limited?] included as an insert (File 2) - Box 1

Series 2. Correspondence and papers, 1880-1936

Letters and other papers documenting Blogg's various endeavours as a chemist, woodcarver and poet, which were formerly kept by family members in presentation binders, together make up this series. Featuring amongst the items are letters Blogg exchanged with prominent individuals such as the statistician Sir George Knibbs, the poet Archibald Strong, prime minister Alfred Deakin, the businessman and art collector Sir Russell Grimwade and the writer Nettie Palmer. Blogg also wrote to George Meredith and Rudyard Kipling admiring their writings, and their replies, dated 1909 and 1914, are filed in Folder 3.

Amongst other varied documents filed in Folder 1 are instructions for the manufacture of soap, patent documentation for the polymerisation of vegetable oils, and agreements and registration documents relating to the firms Rocke Tompsitt and Company, J.K. Blogg & Co. and Blogg Bros. Folder 2 contains scientific papers written by Blogg on the distillation of Australian essential oils, together with copies of his baptism certificate, and letters of introduction brought with him to Australia in 1877.

Folder 3 includes long letters written by Blogg to his wife whilst overseas in 1918, and three entries in the Victorian Centenary Poetry Competition, in which he was an unsuccessful entrant in 1934.

Blogg's scientific notebooks are filed in Series 1; other letters from Knibbs and Palmer can be found in Series 6.

Correspondence and scientific notes, together with legal documents relating to chemical manufacturing companies, 1880-1930 (including Knibbs and Palmer) (File 1) - Box 1

Correspondence and scientific notes, 1905-36 (including Deakin, Strong and Henry Bournes Higgins) (File 2) - Box 1

Correspondence, 1909-34 (including Meredith, Lord Carmichael, Kipling, Knibbs, Sir Russell Grimwade and Atlee Hunt) (File 3) - Box 1

Series 3. Woodcarving, c. 1903-90

According to family tradition, Blogg took up woodcarving as a hobby following the death of his first wife Annie in 1893. His immersion in the craft has also been attributed to an increasing deafness, although it is known that he had always decorated cabinet work and made items of furniture. The works were carved from solid pieces of wood using only hand tools, without joins or superimposition of timbers. In later years Blogg moved away from the decorated panels featured in his early work, to representations of native gums and wattles which were notable for their lightness of effect.

This series is chiefly comprised of photographs of Blogg's carvings, but also includes some design sketches of panels and details, and articles written about his work in wood. The photos include examples of his many commissions, such as the carved panel presented to the Governor of Victoria, Lord Carmichael (1859-1926) and decorated box given to the King Albert of Belgium (1909-1934), as well as the pulpits and hymn boards which decorate a number of Victorian churches.

Other papers and photographs relating to Blogg's carvings are filed in Series 2 and 6.

Photographs of carvings made by Blogg in the period 1910-28, together with covering letter from Howard Shrimpton (cousin of Hugh Stevenson) dated May 1987 (File 1) - Box 1

Photographs of carvings made by Blogg in the period 1921-31 (including negatives) (File 2) - Box 1

Photographs of carvings made by Blogg in the period 1912-36, together with sketches, articles and other items relating to his work (File 3) - Box 1

Photocopied articles about woodcarvings of Blogg; 'Flora and Fauna in Art and Design' exhibition catalogue, 1986; Leonard Joel auction catalogues, 1988, 1990 (File 4) - Box 2

Photographs of woodcarvings made by Blogg in the period, 1903-15, 1933, including panel for Lord Carmichael, together with a panel pencil design (File 5) - Box 2

Photographs of woodcarvings made in the period, 1911-22, together with pencil sketch of leaf detail (File 6) - Box 2

Series 4. Verse and hymns, 1916-36

Throughout his life Blogg wrote poetry and hymns, but immersed himself more fully in writing as his deafness became more pronounced. As well as exploring the themes of love, war and religion, many of the verses celebrate his passions for roses and the game of bowls. These regularly featured in the Australian rose annual and the journals Bowls and Bowling life, and Blogg also submitted poems to the Bulletin under the pseudonym 'Ralph the Rover'. An anthology of Blogg's poetry was published as Selected poems by the Melbourne chapter of the Disabled Men's Association in 1927 to assist in fundraising.

Included in this series is a leather covered note pad of draft verse (dated 1916-26), together with many single sheet manuscripts of poetry. Other papers and correspondence relating to poetry and hymns written by Blogg are filed in Series 2.

Notebook containing manuscripts of verse and hymns, 1916-26; single issue of Verse, v. 1, no. 1, January-February 1930, with annotations by Blogg (File 1) - Box 2

Draft verse, 1916-26 (File 2-3) - Box 2

Draft verse, 1927-29 (File 4-5) - Box 3

Draft verse, 1930-31 (File 6) - Box 3

Draft verse, 1932-36 (File 7) - Box 3

Draft and printed rose verse (undated), together with 'The ballad of the boots' advertisement for Blogg Bros' 'Sunshine' shoe blacking (File 8) - Box 3

Draft rose verse, 1921-36, including last poem written 'Serenade to the rose', together with small number of clippings from Bowling life (File 9) - Box 3

Draft miscellaneous verse (File 10) - Box 3

Draft Anzac and war verse (File 11) - Box 4

Draft miscellaneous verse and hymns (File 12) - Box 4

Draft religious verse (File 13) - Box 4

Draft bowling verse (File 14) - Box 4

Cuttings book with clippings of published verse by Blogg to journals including Bowls, with notes by Marjorie Morgan inserted (File 15) - Box 4

Series 5. Biographical and family papers, 1876-87

This series comprises family history papers and memorabilia relating to Blogg, his children and his second wife Margaret. Also included are two miniature paintings of scenes linked to the Davids family, Blogg's maternal grandparents. A number of items document the history of St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Surrey Hills, of which Blogg was an active member for many years.

A copy of Blogg's baptism certificate is filed in Series 2/Folder 2.

Family Bible of Margaret Campbell Mackiehan (second wife of John Kendrick Blogg), first inscribed in 1876 and updated with family history information to 1935 (File 1) - Box 5

Correspondence and biographical information regarding John Kendrick Blogg collected by Hugh Stevenson, c. 1986-88, including articles about his work (File 2) - Box 5

Family history papers and memorabilia, 1906-87, including photographs, postcards, cruise programs, miniature paintings relating to the Davids family, Sydney Harbour Bridge opening souvenir serviette, items relating to St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Surrey Hills (File 3) - Box 5

Series 6. Papers relating to Legacy in sculptured wood by Marjorie Morgan, 1884-1992

In 1993 , Box Hill City Historical Society Archivist, Marjorie Morgan published a study of Blogg under the title Legacy in sculptured wood : an appreciation of the work of John Kendrick Blogg, 1981-1936. She had been an admirer of Blogg's ornate carvings for many years, and set about researching and documenting his varied career as a permanent tribute to his achievements.

This series comprises one folder of notes, correspondence, photographs and family papers borrowed by Morgan from Hugh Stevenson for purposes of her research. Amongst the materials are letters from Sir George Knibbs (1938) and Nettie Palmer (1929?), a photograph of Blogg & Grist premises (c. 1884), and a copy of Leaside (a poem about Blogg's childhood home which was destroyed by fire in 1914). As well as using this specific grouping of papers, Morgan also drew widely from items in other series in the compilation of the book.

Colour photographs of woodcarvings, black and white family photographs, Blogg Bros. memorabilia, Leaside by John Kendrick Blogg [1918], biographical notes and correspondence used by Marjorie Morgan in the writing of Legacy in sculptured wood (File 1) - Box 5

Series 7. Newspaper cuttings, 1894-1943

A cuttings album kept by Blogg containing clippings from papers including the Dandenong advertiser, Stock and station journal, The Age, Mount Alexander mail, The Argus, The illustrated London news, The Hamilton spectator and Table talk. A number of the items record Blogg family events such as weddings. The album continued to be added to by Blogg's second wife, Margaret, after his death in 1936.

Cuttings album, 1894-1943 (File 1) - Box 5


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