Guide to the Papers of Kenneth Joseph Kenafick, 1938-1974

 

Collection context

Summary

Collection number:
MS 2048
Creator:
Kenneth Joseph Kenafick
Extent:
16.05 metres and (86 boxes)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:
Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Papers of Kenneth Joseph Kenafick, National Library of Australia, MS 2048, [series and/or file number]'.

Background

Scope and content:
Correspondence, diaries and journals, Australian Broadcasting Commission radio scripts, minute books, manuscript notes and drafts, newspaper cuttings, leaflets and pamphlets and various publications by Kenafick relating to Australian political issues. The papers cover Kenafick's involvement with the League for Freedom and World Friendship, the Anti-Conscription Council of Victoria, the Australian and New Zealand Congress for International Peace and Disarmament and the Australian Peace Council.
Biographical / historical:

Kenneth Joseph Kenafick was born in Norseman, Western Australia, in 1904. He graduated from the University of Western Australia as a Master of Arts (1932) and was later trained at the Melbourne Teachers' College. He taught at various high schools, higher elementary schools and correspondence schools in Victoria. As a young man he wrote poetry and a novel and three volumes of his poems were published by Thomas Lothian in Melbourne in 1935-39 (under the pseudonym James Kennedy).

Kenafick was an active member of the Australian Labor Party and the Victorian Teachers' Union. From 1943 to 1946 he ws Secretary of the No Conscription Campaign (founded by Maurice Blackburn in 1942) and he continued for many years as the Secretary of its successor organisation, the League for Freedom (later the League for Freedom and World Friendship). He stood unsuccessfully for the seat of Maribyrnong in the Federal election in 1943. In 1948 he published Maurice Blackburn and the no-conscription campaign in the Second World War and in 1958 he published The Australian labour movement in relation to war, socialism and internationalism.

In 1968, following his retirement, Kenefick moved to South Australia. He died at Loxton in 1982.

Immediate source of acquisition:
The collection was donated to the Library by Kenafick in five instalments between 1952 and his death in 1982. Later additions were also made to the collection between 1986 and 1995 comprising papers found amongst printed material which had been received earlier by the Library.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged essentially in the order that the consignments were received. The material found in boxes 1-7 includes correspondence as well as papers relating to the League for Freedom and the Anti-Conscription Council of Victoria. Boxes 8-62 are not listed by the Library. The bulk of papers contained within boxes 63-66 (added 1986) are scripts for broadcasting to schools. These are sorted by subject. Boxes 67-81 (added 1987) comprise subject files, arranged chronologically. Boxes 82-86 (added 1995) contains correspondence, diaries, personal documents and other papers.

Indexed terms

Names:
Kenneth Joseph Kenafick

Access and use

Conditions governing access:
Please refer to the collection's catalogue record for the access conditions (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2952542).
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 Kenneth Joseph Kenafick, National Library of Australia, MS 2048, [series and/or file number]'.
Location of this collection:
Parkes Place
Canberra ACT 2600, Australia
Contact: