The Nancy Keesing Fellowship, 1994-

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Following the death of writer Nancy Keesing in 1993, her husband Dr Mark Hertzberg AO generously endowed The Nancy Keesing Fellowship in her honour. The Fellowship aims to promote the State Library of New South Wales as a centre of original research into any aspect of Australian life and culture; to provide a readily accessible record of the research undertaken through the Fellowship; and to promote to the fullest extent the use of the collections of the State Library of New South Wales.
In 1994 Meg Stewart, the inaugural Fellow, prepared a selection of Nancy Keesing's uncollected poems for publication. This project resulted in the publication in 1995 of The Woman I am: poems by Nancy Keesing selected and introduced by Meg Stewart. Based on her research into Nancy Keesing's life and work, Meg Stewart presented a lecture to members of The Library Society on 1 June 1994. A cassette recording of this lecture is located at ML OH 254/1.
Jennifer Hill, the 1995 Fellow, wrote a collection of essays based on architectural records held in the Mitchell Library. These essays are located at ML MSS 6175.
The Library holds an extensive collection of Nancy Keesing's papers. Her published works include poetry, fiction, literary criticism, autobiograohy, and non-fiction writing on folklore and Jewish history. Her papers are located at ML MSS 2828.