Kelly family aggregated collection of papers and photographs, 1893-1950

fonds

1893-1950

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Photographs

923938

1.2 metres of textual material (6 boxes and 1 outsize box)
Approximately 200 photographic prints

Ethel Knight Kelly (nee Mollison), actress and author, was born in Canada in 1875. She arrived in Sydney in March 1903 to perform in a J.C. Williamson play. In October she married Thomas Herbert Kelly and retired from the professional stage. She became a prominent member of Sydney society, involving herself in fund raising for charities and organising various theatrical performances and pageants in which she often took a role. She wrote several plays and novels and published her memoirs, Twelve milestones, in 1929. In 1922 she became editor of the women's page of Smith's Weekly. From 1925 to 1934 she lived mainly in Forence, Italy. On her return she and her husband built an Italianate villa at Darling Point where she resided until her death in 1949.

Reference: Australian Dictionary of Biography Online.

Collection 1:
Kelly family papers, 1893-1950
Includes the papers of Ethel Knight Kelly

Collection 2:
Participants in a tableau organised by Mrs T.H. Kelly in aid of Italian Red Cross Day Fund at the Palace Theatre, June 20th, 1918

Collection 3:
Kelly family further photographs, ca. 1880-1945