Guide to the Papers of Albert Dryer

Searching...

MS 6610

National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record

Collection Summary

Creator
Albert Dryer
Title
Papers of Albert Dryer
Date Range
1915-1963
Collection Number
MS 6610
Extent
2.4 metres (12 boxes + 1 large folio box + 1 medium folio box)
Language of Materials
English
Repository
Special Collections (Manuscripts)

Introduction

Scope and Contents

Papers: 1. Internment 1918-1919; 2. Petition seeking repeal of the Government of Ireland Act; 3. Irish National Association, 1916-1919, 1949-1953. 4. Australian League for Undivided Ireland, 1948-1954; 5. Correspondence 1930-1963; 6. Miscellaneous, including photographs. Added to Collection. 7. Manuscript music scores and miscellaneous papers including correspondence, clippings of articles, receipts.

Conditions Governing Access

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2184989).

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Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions.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 Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.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 Albert Dryer, National Library of Australia, MS 6610, [series and/or file number]'.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The original collection was purchased by the Library from Albert Dryer's son, Mr A. Dryer, in 1981. Additions were received in 1986 and 1990. In 2002, an addition was transferred to the Dryer Papers from the Patrick O'Farrell Papers (MS 6265).

The Patrick O'Farrell Papers (MS 6265). Photographs transferred to the Pictures Collection.

Biographical / Historical

Albert Dryer founded the Irish National Association in 1915 in Sydney, with the object of propagating the principle of Irish independence. For this cause he was interned in Darlinghurst Gaol in 1918. He practised medicine from 1938, in Sydney and Singleton, N.S.W., where he died in 1963.

Item Descriptions

Class 1. Original Consignment

The collection comprises correspondence, photographs, newspaper cuttings, articles, typescripts, speeches, petitions, reports, ephemera, certificates, and manuscript music scores. It includes both original material and photocopies.

Series 1. Correspondence, 1930 - 63 - Box 1 (MS 6610)

This series consists of correspondence as listed by Patrick O'Farrell, including a folder of circulars, Irish Book Depot 1920, and Irish Prisoners' Relief Committee 1918.

Series 2. Internment, 1918 - 19 - Box 2 (MS 6610)

Correspondence and papers relating to efforts to secure the release of internees. Includes personal notes on A Dryer and biographical sketches of other prominent activists for the Irish movement.

The series also includes texts of a number of speeches prepared by Dryer for various occasions up to the 1950s and some correspondence relating to the affairs of the Irish National Association.

Series 3. Irish National Association (INA), 1916 - 53 - Box 2-3 (MS 6610)

The Irish National Association of New South Wales was formed in 1915 on the initiative of Albert Dryer (1888-1963), an Australian of Irish-German descent who had suddenly become converted to the cause of Irish nationalism. It was the only Irish organisation in Australia that supported the 1916 Easter Uprising. Membership increased from 600 in 1916 to 1500 in 1919 and small branches were set up in Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne. These branches died within a few years,but Dryer's dedication ensured that in Sydney the Association has survived.

The series consists of reports, 1916 - 19, 1949 - 53 and a file relating to the development of a library collection.

There are further papers pertaining to the Irish National Association throughout the remainder of the collection, particularly those relating to the internment in Series 2.

Series 4. Australian League for an Undivided Ireland, 1948 - 54 - Box 3-4 (MS 6610)

In 1948 Eamon de Valera, the leader of the Fianna Fail Party and former Taoiseach, went on an overseas tour to enlist support for his campaign against the continued partition of Ireland. In Sydney he charged Albert Dryer with the task of organising the Australian League for an Undivided Ireland. Dryer worked hard to enlist support in all States, but the League never flourished, it met with hostility from Catholic clergy, and by 1955 it was virtually defunct.

The series includes: Propaganda, newspaperse, pamphlets, 1949 - 56; Minutes, 1948; Correspondence: c. 1500 letters consisting of correspondence with the several Australian branches of the League and overseas correspondence; Petition seeking repeal of the Government of Ireland Act: petition prepared by the League to the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia seeking that the government should use its influence to endeavour to induce the Government of GreatBritain to repeal the Government of Ireland Act. Probably incomplete, includes several hundred signatures.

Series 5. Manuscript music scores - Box 5-6 (MS 6610)

This series consists of manuscript music scores. The genres represented include Irish national songs, patriotic songs, military music, folk music, and sacred music. They include vocal, piano and instrumental works. Composers include Victor Herbert, Robert O'Reilly, Jack O'Sheehan, P. W. Joyce and Chas W. MacCarthy. There are also arrangements of classical works by composers such as Schubert, Chopin, Gurlitt, Bach, Handel, Mozart and Haydn. The series alsocontains harmony excercises, theory notebooks and exam certificates belonging to Albert Dryer and Lizzie Hayes (later Elizabeth Dryer).

Series 7. Photographs, sketches and artwork - Box 7 (MS 6610)

The series includes two artbooks with geometric designs, one in chalk and the other in pastels. These were found amongst the music scores in Series 5.

Series 8. Miscellaneous papers - Folio-Box 1, Folio-Box 2

Class 2. Consignment received 2022, 1916 - 63

This consignment was transferred from the Patrick O'Farrell Papers (MS 6265). There are significant links and areas of overlap between the O'Farrell and Dryer collections. Following Dryer's death, his widow, Elizabeth Dryer, made her husband's vast collection of papers available to O'Farrell to photocopy and then return, a process that continued throughout the 1960s - 70s. The process of copying reflects the phases of O'Farrell's writing on subjects to which Dryer was central. This writing was motivated, in part, by O'Farrell's promise to Elizabeth Dryer that he would do historical justice to Dryer. O'Farrell continued his work on Dryer after Elizabeth Dryer's death in the late 1970s through to the 1990s, which explains his retention of some of the Dryer material. In addition, some of the material, such as Christmas cards, remained in O'Farrell's possession because it had a low photocopying priority.

This consignment includes both originals and copies.

Series 9. Papers, 1906-1958

Canavan, Rev. W. Sermon notes, Strathfield New South Wales, ca 1920 (File 1) - Box 9 (MS 6610)
Christmas cards and invitations to Dryer. Many from Eamon De Valera., 1940s - 60s (File 2) - Box 9 (MS 6610)
Correspondence, 1943 (File 3) - Box 9 (MS 6610)
Correspondence, 1945 (File 4) - Box 9 (MS 6610)
Correspondence 1946. Includes Irish Art exhibition (File 5) - Box 9 (MS 6610)
Correspondence, 1947 (File 6) - Box 9 (MS 6610)
Correspondence, 1948 (File 7) - Box 9 (MS 6610)
Correspondence between Dr Albert Dryer and the Irish Embassy, 1948 (File 8) - Box 9 (MS 6610)
Correspondence between Dr Albert Dryer and the Irish Embassy, 1949 (File 9) - Box 9 (MS 6610)
Correspondence between Dr Albert Dryer and the Irish Embassy, 1950 (File 10) - Box 9 (MS 6610)
Correspondence between Dr Albert Dryer and the Irish Embassy, 1951 (File 11) - Box 9 (MS 6610)
Correspondence between Dr Albert Dryer and the Irish Embassy, 1952 (File 12) - Box 9 (MS 6610)
Correspondence between Dr Albert Dryer and the Irish Embassy, 1953 (File 13) - Box 9 (MS 6610)
Correspondence between Dr Albert Dryer and the Irish Embassy, 1954 (File 14) - Box 9 (MS 6610)
Correspondence between Dr Albert Dryer and the Irish Embassy, 1955 (File 15) - Box 9 (MS 6610)
Correspondence between Dr Albert Dryer and the Irish Embassy, 1956 (File 16) - Box 9 (MS 6610)
Correspondence re book 'A new history of Ireland by Seumas MacManus' (File 17) - Box 9 (MS 6610)
Correspondence with Irish Book Depot, 1916 - 20 (File 18) - Box 10 (MS 6610)
Correspondence. Eamon De Valera, 1949 - 59 (File 19) - Box 10 (MS 6610)
Correspondence. F. Aiken, 1948 - 59 (File 20) - Box 10 (MS 6610)
Correspondence. Irish Book Depot, 1916 - 20 (File 21) - Box 10 (MS 6610)
De Valera clippings, 1948 (File 22) - Box 10 (MS 6610)
De Valera visit. Correspondence. Arrangements, 1948 (File 23) - Box 10 (MS 6610)
De Valera. Visit pamphlet, 1948 (File 24) - Box 10 (MS 6610)
Dr Thomas Kieran reception, 1947 (File 25) - Box 10 (MS 6610)
Dryer, 1915 (File 26) - Box 10 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1915. Correspondence (File 27) - Box 10 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1915. Papers (File 28) - Box 10 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1916. Correspondence (File 29) - Box 10 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1916. Papers (File 30) - Box 10 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1916 - 20. Rough notes for committee meetings (File 31) - Box 10 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1916 - 23. Newspaper extracts (File 32) - Box 10 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1917. Papers (File 33) - Box 10 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1918. Australian Sons of St Patrick (File 34) - Box 10 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1918. Correspondence (File 35) - Box 10 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1918. Dryer's trial notes and instructions to lawyers (File 36) - Box 10 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1918. Fegan Case (File 37) - Box 10 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1918. Fr C. Jerger deportation (File 38) - Box 10 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1918. Miscellaneous (File 39) - Box 10 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1918. Newspaper reports - arrests, inquiry (File 40) - Box 10 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1918. Papers. Trial transcript. Day one (File 41) - Box 10 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1918. Relief Fund. Documents and speeches (File 42) - Box 11 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1918. Songs and poems (File 43) - Box 11 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1918. The Irish National Association. Correspondence, including Archbishop Mannix references. (File 44) - Box 11 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1918. Trial. Harvey's report on internments and court douments (File 45) - Box 11 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1918 - 19. Correspondence (File 46) - Box 11 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1919. Dryer's speech on release (File 47) - Box 11 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1919. Papers (File 48) - Box 11 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1919 - 22. Business correspondence (File 49) - Box 11 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1919 - 22. Business correspondence (File 50) - Box 11 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1919 - 22. Business correspondence (File 51) - Box 11 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1920. Correspondence (File 52) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1920. Papers (File 53) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1921. Papers (File 54) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1922. Papers (File 55) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1923. Papers (File 56) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1924. Correspondence (File 57) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1924. Papers (File 58) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1946 - 63. Correspondence and notes. Largely re Irish National Association (File 59) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Dryer correspondence, 1940 (File 60) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Dryer correspondence, mainly 1919 - 22 (File 61) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Dryer diary, 1906 (File 62) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Dryer on Irish nationality. Original speech at first meeting Irish National Association, 1915 (File 63) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Dryer papers. Miscellaneous (File 64) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Dryer. 'The Irish in Australia', 1938 (File 65) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Dryer. Irish Book Depot, 1919 (File 66) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Dryer. Irish Book Depot, 1920 (File 67) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Dryer. Irish Book Depot, 1922 (File 68) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Dryer. Irish Embassy, 1947 (File 69) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Dryer. United Irish League Examinations, 1906 - 10 (File 70) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Dryer's notes (File 71) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Dryer 1954 - 58. Rough notes and correspondence (File 72) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Duplicates (File 73) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
'Ireland's English Question'. Copy of handwritten manuscript (File 74) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Irish Ireland League, 1918 (File 75) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Miscellaneous from Dryer papers (File 76) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Letter from Parishioners to the Reverend John Fleming, Wagga Wagga, 1907 (File 77) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
'The Partition of Ireland'. Typescript (File 78) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
Partition of Ireland, 1950s. Notes, typescripts (File 79) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
'The independence of Ireland: Source material for the history of the movement in Australia'. Compiled by Dryer, 1956 (File 80) - Box 12 (MS 6610)
The Irish in Australia. A. Dryer. Notes (File 81) - Box 12 (MS 6610)

Top