Guide to the Papers of Douglas Stewart
MS 4829
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Stewart, Douglas, 1913-1985
- Title
- Papers of Douglas Stewart
- Date Range
- 1935-1977
- Collection Number
- MS 4829
- Extent
- 0.96 metres (6 boxes)
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- National Library of Australia
- Sponsor
- This finding aid was revised and published with the assistance of the Ray Mathew and Eva Kollsman Trust.
Introduction
Scope and Contents
The papers comprise poems, reviews, essays, broadcasts, the original manuscript of The seven rivers, transcripts of interviews, the script of Stewart's adaptation of The cenci, inscribed copy of 'The garden of ships', drafts of poems by Roderic Quinn, Robert D. FitzGerald and others and a copy of R.D. FitzGerald's Heemskerck shoals, illustrated by G. Ingleton and published by the Mountainside Press. They also include: correspondence and photographs, some relating to his research on Kenneth Slessor; drafts of book reviews, manuscripts of poems, A man of Sydney, Norman Lindsay: a personal memoir, the script Ned Kelly, the script for the ABC TV adaptation of Hamlet and The broad stream and letters and manuscripts of David Campbell.
Major correspondents include Nancy Keesing, Ronald McQuaig, William Hart-Smith, Francis Webb, Eve Langley, Robert G. FitzGerald, Tyrone Guthrie, A.D. Hope, A.A. Stewart, A.A. Phillips, John Blight and Judith Wright.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is available for research.
Preferred Citation
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Douglas Steward, National Library of Australia, MS 4829, [file number]'.
Provenance
The Stewart Papers were purchased from Douglas Stewart in 1974. Additions were made to the collection by Stewart in 1976 and 1977 and by Meg Stewart in 1991.
Related Materials
Original drawings by Norman Lindsay for Sun orchids and Five bells are held in the Pictorial Collection (R7161, location 8991).
Four letters from Kenneth Slessor to Norman Lindsay (donated by Douglas Stewart) are held at MS 3098.
Biographical Note
Douglas Alexander Stewart was born in Eltham, New Zealand on 6 May 1913 and died in Sydney on 14 February 1985. He was educated at New Plymouth Boys' High School in New Zealand and Victoria University College, Wellington. Stewart married the artist Margaret Coen in 1946.
Stewart worked as a cadet journalist on newspapers in New Zealand before joining the Sydney Bulletin in 1938 as assistant editor of the Red Page. From 1940 to 1961 he was literary editor of the Bulletin and from 1961 to 1971 was poetry editor at Angus Robertson. He was a member of the advisory board of the Commonwealth Literary Fund from 1955 to 1970. His works included, plays, poetry, short stories, criticism and anthologies of Australian literature.
Date | Publication |
---|---|
1943 | Ned Kelly (play) |
1944 | The fire on the snow (play) |
1944 | The golden lover (play) |
1946 | The dosser in springtime |
1947 | Shipwreck (play) |
1947 | Glencoe (poems) |
1948 | The flesh and the spirit (criticism) |
1952 | Sun orchids and other poems (poems) |
1955 | Australian bush ballads (editor, with Nancy Keesing) |
1955 | The Birdsville Track (poems) |
1957 | Old bush songs (edited with Nancy Keesing) |
1960 | Fisher's ghost (play) |
1962 | Rutherford (poems) |
1964 | Modern Australian verse (editor) |
1966 | The seven rivers (reminiscences) |
1967 | The Lawson tradition (short stories, editor) |
1967 | Collected poems |
1973 | Selected poems |
1975 | Norman Lindsy: a personal memoir |
1975 | The broad stream (criticism) |
1977 | A man of Sydney: an appreciation of Kenneth Slessor |
1983 | Springtime in Taranaki |
Date | Event |
---|---|
1943 | Ned Kelly (play) |
1944 | The fire on the snow (play) |
1944 | The golden lover (play) |
1946 | The dosser in springtime |
1947 | Shipwreck (play) |
1947 | Glencoe (poems) |
1948 | The flesh and the spirit (criticism) |
1952 | Sun orchids and other poems (poems) |
1955 | Australian bush ballads (editor, with Nancy Keesing) |
1955 | The Birdsville Track (poems) |
1957 | Old bush songs (edited with Nancy Keesing) |
1960 | Fisher's ghost (play) |
1962 | Rutherford (poems) |
1964 | Modern Australian verse (editor) |
1966 | The seven rivers (reminiscences) |
1967 | The Lawson tradition (short stories, editor) |
1967 | Collected poems |
1973 | Selected poems |
1975 | Norman Lindsy: a personal memoir |
1975 | The broad stream (criticism) |
1977 | A man of Sydney: an appreciation of Kenneth Slessor |
1983 | Springtime in Taranaki |
Item Descriptions
Class. Original Consignment
Original illustrations by Stewart's wife, Margaret Coen. (See Pictorial Section for 36 original drawings by Norman Lindsay for Sun orchards and Five bells, R7161, location 8991) (File 4) - Box 1
Manuscripts of poems, including original manuscripts, working or rough drafts, and final manuscripts with revisions and annotations. (File 8-9) - Box 1
Original manuscripts of a short story 'The people were different', published in A girl with red hair. Published poem 'The garden of ships', with pen drawings by Norman Lindsay. (File 10) - Box 1
Original manuscripts of poems by Roderic Quinn, Robert Fitzgerald and others, mainly contributions to The bulletin. Other material including original Norman Lindsay manuscripts. (File 11) - Box 2
Class. Addition September 1977
The correspondence is in Boxes 2-6 (Files 19-56). The total (a few manuscripts included as letters) is about 1664 sub-files. Figures given for the various boxes and files are approximate only, apart from possible mistakes in counting, there has been some reshuffling from one box or files to another when files were discovered to be out of place.
Letters mainly from English writers (Edmund Blunden, John Cowper Powys, Sylvia Townsend Warner, John Betjeman, etc) ca. 22 sub-files. (File 20) - Box 3
Letters (ca. 166 sub-files), 1942-1977 (File 46-47) - Box 5
Refer to the attached Correspondence Index (see Related Documentation tab) for an indication of the contents.
Letters (ca. 204 sub-files), 1939-1977 (File 5) - Box 5
Refer to the attached Correspondence Index (see Related Documentation tab) for an indication of the contents.