MS 8006 comprises papers organised in the following series: 1. Diaries, 1879-1913. 2. Correspondence regarding the anthropology of Australian Aborigines, 1893-1918. 3. Notebooks, mostly anthropological and linguistic, 1872-1910. 4. Anthropological and linguistic working notes. 5. Drafts of papers on the anthropology of the Australian Aborigines. 6. Photographs of Australian Aborigines and Aboriginal rock art with accompanying notes. 7. Miscellaneous papers, 1870-1946, including biographical and bibliographical material on Mathews assembled by A.P. Elkin, 1942-46. 8. Publications and reprints of articles by Mathews on anthropology, 1890-1910 (13 boxes).
The Acc09.011 instalment largely comprises binders containing notes and transcripts relating to genealogical research undertaken by Mathews' son, William Washington Mathews. The remaining papers comprise correspondence, both from family and with anthropological societies in Europe and Australia; notebooks from R.H. Mathews years as a surveyor; family photograph albums; and ephemera. There are also papers accumulated by Janet Mathews (granddaughter-in-law of R.H. Mathews), who was an anthropologist in her own right. Much of the material is biographical rather than anthropological in nature (20 boxes, 1 folio box).
Surveyor and anthropologist. After his retirement as a surveyor in the early 1890s, he spent twenty years researching the anthropology and languages of the Australian Aborigines. During this time he had over 100 papers published in anthropological and scientific journals. R.H. Mathews was the father of ornithologist Gregory Mathews.
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