Guide to the Papers of Robert F. Brissenden, ca. 1942-ca. 1993

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Summary

Collection number:
MS 8162 et al
Creator:
Robert F. Brissenden
Extent:
9.95 metres and (45 boxes, 11 cartons)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Robert F. Brissenden, National Library of Australia, [class number, box number and series and/or file number]'.
Availability:
Available
Access conditions:
Available for research. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:
The collection includes manuscripts (drafts of poems, short stories and reviews), correspondence (personal, literary, business and copies of many of his own letters), and papers relating to the Australia Council and the David Nichol Smith Memorial Seminars.
Biographical Note:

Robert Francis Brissenden was born in Wentworthville, Sydney in 1928 and was educated at the Universities of Sydney and Leeds. He held teaching and research positions at several Australian and overseas universities, including the Australian National University where he was a lecturer and then a reader in the English Department (1957-85).

He was a member of the Literature Board of the Australia Council (1977-81) and its chairman (1978-81). He was also an associate editor of Meanjin (1959-64) and literary editor of the Australian (1964-65).

Brissenden edited the anthologies Southern harvest (1964) and Australian poetry (1972). His published works include Winter matins and other poems (1971), Elegies: nine poems (1974), The whale in darkness (poems) (1980) and Sacred sites (1990). In his retirement he wrote crime fiction: Poor boy (1987) and Wildcat (1991).

He was also the convener and chairman of the Executive Committee of the David Nichol Smith Memorial Seminars (1964-77).

Brissenden died in Canberra in 1991.

See: Who's who in Australia 1980, p.135; The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature, p. 113-114.

Collection Retrieval Advice:

Please note: each consignment in this collection has a separate box number sequence (i.e. there may be multiple Box 1s). Please cite the relevant Class number as well as the Box number when requesting retrieval of material from the collection.

Provenance:

The papers were purchased from Bob Brissenden in September 1990. Another consignment of papers, found in the English Department of the Australian National University, was acquired in August 1997.

Indexed terms

Names:
Robert F. Brissenden

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn45761).
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 Robert F. Brissenden, National Library of Australia, [class number, box number and series and/or file number]'.
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact:
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