Nancy Phelan further literary papers, 1946-1999

MLMSS 8887
MLOH 709

fonds

1946-1999

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Nonmusical Sound Recordings, Photographs

403154

2.24 metres of textual material (14 boxes)

Nancy Phelan (1913-2008), author, was born in Sydney in 1913, daughter of William John Creagh, solicitor, and his wife Florence Amelia, sister of the Australian writers Louise and Amy Eleanor Mack. Nancy Phelan was educated at the University of Sydney and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. She lived in England from 1938 to 1945, returning to Australia after World War II with her husband Raymond Sydney Phelan and their daughter Vanessa. In 1945, she became Director of Illustration Research of the newly-formed Common Ground Ltd, which produced visual aids for education. Phelan returned to Australia in 1946 and continued her work in this field. With her husband and Axel Poignant she established Filmstrips, the Sydney-based agent for Common Ground.

From 1951 to 1956 Phelan served with the South Pacific Commission, initially in the Literature Bureau and then in charge of the Visual Aids Project. Her travels in the Pacific and Gilbert Islands provided the basis for her first book, Atoll Holiday (1958) and Pieces of Heaven. A six-month appointment followed as Visual Aids Adviser for the Cook Islands Administration at Rarotonga. She travelled widely in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, South America, Japan and the USSR. While living in Paris in 1957, Phelan became interested in Hatha Yoga, an Oriental philosophy of physical, mental and spiritual well-being. Phelan befriended a number of well known artists and writers, among them Dorothy Hewett, Patrick White and Kylie Tennant (qq.v.). Three of Phelan's aunts, Louise Mack, Amy Mack and Gertrude Mack (qq.v.), were also Australian writers.

Nancy Phelan's publications include four novels, The River and the Brook (1962), Serpents in Paradise (1967), The Voice beyond the Trees (1985) and Home is the Sailor (1987); two volumes of memoirs, A Kingdom by the Sea (1969) and The Swift Foot of Time (1983); and a local history, Mosman Impressions (1993). An inveterate traveller, her experiences have been recorded in Atoll Holiday (1958), Welcome the Wayfarer: A Traveller in Modern Turkey (1965), Pillow of Grass (1969), Some Come Early, Some Come Late (1970), The Chilean Way (1973), Morocco is a Lion (1982) and Pieces of Heaven: In the South Seas (1996). She has also written two biographies, one on her cousin, the conductor Sir Charles Mackerras and another on her aunt, Louise Mack. Her friendship with Russian emigre Nina Nicolaieff resulted in their collaborating in writing The Art of Russian Cooking (1969).

Reference:
AUSTLIT. http://www.austlit.edu.au (accessed 20 March 2013)

BOXES 1-2
Correspondence with Elizabeth Harrower, Judy Hasse, Justin O'Brien, Roslyn Poignant, Edgar Aloysius Trimnell Ritchard, Mildred F. Schmertz, Judy Mackerras and Janet Venn-Brown, 1946-1999

BOXES 3-7
Literary manuscripts, with working papers of The Treacle Well, Pieces of Heaven: In the South Pacific (1996), The Art of Russian Cooking (1969), The Chilean Way (1973), Home is a Sailor (1987) and 'Panamericana'

BOX 8
Correspondence with publishers and literary manuscripts, ca. 1965-1995, including research papers for an article concerning Janet Venn-Brown, Australian artist living in Italy

Published and unpublished literary manuscripts, ca. 1962-1982

Page proofs of ‘The World is Round’ by Louise Mack w2ith introduction by Nancy Phelan, ca. 1993

BOXES 9-14
Photographs, negatives, and contact prints for various books, including pictures relating to the Pacific Islands: Gilbert Islands; Samoa; Tonga; Fiji; Cook Islands; Tahiti for Atoll Holiday (1958) and Some Come Early, Some Come Late (1970)


Sound recording
1 sound cassette: a taped recording by artist Janet Venn-Brown about her life with notes, 1991

Copyright status:: In copyright - This collection has multiple rights owners
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

Information upgraded as part of the Manuscripts Unprocessed eRecords Project 2012-2013

Detailed contents list on file
MLOH 709 - Transcript of interview is available in Mitchell Library Reading Room