MS 9864 documents 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 (9 boxes).
The Acc11.069 instalment 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 (1 box).
The Acc13.010 instalment comprises 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" (7 boxes, 1 fol. box).
Librarian. Pauline Fanning (née Dixon) was born in Hobart in 1915 and educated at the Collegiate School, Hobart, and the University of Tasmania, graduating as Bachelor of Arts in 1937. Fanning spent her entire career, from 1936 to 1980, on the staff of the National Library of Australia. She was Chief Librarian, Australian Reference, 1966-1972, Principal Librarian, Australian Reference, 1972-1975, and Director, Australian National Humanities Library, 1975-1980. 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 Fanning worked for several years as a researcher for the Australian national dictionary. She received the MBE in 1969. Fanning died in Canberra in 2012.
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