A.G. Stephens papers, 1859-1933

MLMSS 4937

fonds

1859-1933

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Clippings, Photographs, Drawings

421143

: 'Autobiographies of 231 Australian and New Zealand Authors and Artists', 1901-1924, mainly typescript, with an index).
: S.E. O'Brien & A.G. Stephens - 'Material for Dictionary of Australian Slang', 1900-1910).
: 'Alphabetical List of 172 Authors and Artists of Australia & New Zealand').

3.9 metres of textual material (30 boxes and 1 outsize item) - manuscript and printed
Clippings
Photographs
Drawings

Alfred George Stephens was born in Toowoomba, Queensland, on 28 August 1865. He attended Toowoomba Grammar School until the age of 15 when he went to Sydney to learn the printing trade. While there he also gained certificates in French and German from Sydney Technical College. Returning to Queensland in 1889 he entered journalism becoming editor of country newspapers at Gympie and Cairns and sub-editor of The Boomerang in Brisbane. During his stay in Cairns he won a prize of 25 pounds for an essay titled Why North Queensland wants separation which was published as a pamphlet. It was here too that he met Constance Smith whom he was later to marry.
In 1893 he visited the Worlds Fair at Chicago as correspondent for a number of Australian newspapers. He travelled in Canada and Europe before settling as a journalist in London on the Daily Chronicle. In response to an offer from J.F. Archibald he returned to Australia in 1894 to commence work on The Bulletin as a general writer and sub-editor of verses and stories. In the same year an account of his experiences abroad was published as A Queenslander's travel notes.
In 1896 he instituted, and became editor of, The Bulletin's famous literary section The Red Page. This was to be a major force in fostering an appreciation of literature among a generation of Australians. He was also placed in charge of the book publishing department and between 1897 and 1905 he selected and edited 23 works including Such is life by Tom Collins (Joseph Furphy), Steele Rudd's On our selection and the poems of Will Ogilvie, Louise Mack, Roderic Quinn and Bernard O'Dowd. It has been rightly said that most of them owed their existence, as authors, to Stephens' discernment (1). During this period he also launched The Bookfellow, a literary magazine of which 5 numbers appeared in 1899.
In 1906 he left The Bulletin to set up on his own as an independent literary agent, publisher and writer. He revived The Bookfellow as a weekly but when this venture failed because of insufficient capital, he accepted the position of assistant editor on the Evening Post in Wellington, New Zealand.
He returned to Sydney in 1909 and in 1911 he again revived The Bookfellow, this time as a monthly magazine. It was suspended in 1916 while he edited the successful Anzac memorial, a miscellany of art, prose and verse published by the Returned Soldiers Association, but was recommenced in 1919 and continued to appear at irregular intervals until 1925. It was during this period that he published a series of notable interviews with prominent people including J.C. Williamson, Gladys Moncrieff and Somerset Maugham. He also continued his policy of publishing small volumes of verse including three collections of John Shaw Neilsons poems.
Following the demise of The Bookfellow he continued as a freelance journalist, publisher and confidant of writers. Despite financial hardship he maintained his vision of a distinctly Australian literature which, while acknowledging its European origins, would nevertheless achieve an importance and value of its own. He died at Sydney on 15 April 1933.
References
1. Palmer, Vance, A.G. Stephens: his life and work, p.23
2. Stephensen, P.R., The life and works of A.G. Stephens, p.5

Guide and index to correspondents compiled in the Mitchell Library. The guide includes a comprehensive index to correspondents for A.G. Stephens' correspondence in this collection.

I. Correspondence, 1889-1932
Correspondents include John Le Gay Brereton the younger, 1897-1929; Victor James Daley, 1898-1905; Arthur Hoey Davis (Steele Rudd), 1898-1922; Alfred Deakin, 1906-1914; Ambrose Dyson; Henry Havelock Ellis, 1894-1924; George Essex Evans, 1895-1906; Miles Franklin, 1901-1932; Joseph Furphy, 1897-1904; *Mary Gilmore, 1903-1925; Arthur Wilberforce Jose, 1897-1905; *Francis Kenna, 1898-1924; Norman Lindsay, 1900-1923; George Gordon McCrae, 1904-1927; *Hugh McCrae, 1904-1922; Jessie Mackay, 1902-1930; Wolla Meranda, 1920-1928; *Frank Morton, 1897-1919; *John Shaw Neilson, 1916-1932; *William Henry Ogilvie, 1897-1929; Roderic Quinn, 1898-1908; *Edward Tregear, 1901-1919; *Arnold Wall, 1911-1929; William Butler Yeats, 1899. Letters of correspondents prefaced by * enclose literary manuscripts and/or pictorial material. Arranged chronologically. (Call No.: MLMSS 4937/2-5)

II. Various papers collected by or sent to A.G. Stephens, 1890-1933
A. Literary manuscripts of Australian and New Zealand writers including Barbara Baynton, Christopher Brennan, John Le Gay Brereton the younger, Ada Cambridge, Rosamond Benham, Victor James Daley, Mary Gilmore, Lionel Lindsay, Hugh McCrae, Jessie Mackay, Louise Mack, Frank Morton, John Shaw Neilson, Bernard O'Dowd, William Henry Ogilvie, Dowell O'Reilly and Arnold Wall. Some appear to be copies made by A.G. Stephens. (Call No.: MLMSS 4937/6-7)
B. Pictorial material including drawings by George Gordon McCrae and Hugh McCrae and photographs of Hugh McCrae and of The Bushveldt Carbineers. (Call No.: MLMSS 4937/8)
C. Newscuttings, ca.1898-1933. (Call No.: MLMSS 4937/8)
D. Biographical and autobiographical material re writers and artists including Barcroft Boake, Victor J. Daley, Henry Havelock Ellis, Sydney Long, Dorothea Mackellar, Nellie Melba, Sir Henry Parkes, Edward Tregear and Annie Wilson nee Adams. (Call No.: MLMSS 4937/8)
E. Miscellaneous material re Barcroft Boake, John Le Gay Brereton the younger, Albert Dorrington and others. (Call No.: MLMSS 4937/8)

III. Verses by various writers compiled and bound into volumes by A.G. Stephens, 1861-ca.1915
The writers include John Le Gay Brereton the elder, John Le Gay Brereton the younger, Rosamond Benham, James Hebblethwaite, Lala Fisher, Sydney Wheeler Jephcott, George Gordon McCrae, Francis William Ophel, Charles Henry Souter, Ethel Turner, Harry Morant, John Neilson, John Shaw Neilson, Lola Ridge, Frank Morton, Mary Gilmore, George Essex Evans, Montague Grover, Richard Hengist Horne. (Call No.: MLMSS 4937/9-10)

IV. Scrapbooks compiled by A.G. Stephens, 1860-1932
Contain newspaper cuttings and other material relating to Australia and Australian writers. (Call No.: MLMSS 4937/11-27)

V. Works by, or edited by A.G. Stephens and intended for publication, 1901-1925
A. Autobiographies of Australian and New Zealand Authors and Artists, 1901-1924 (Call No.: MLMSS 4937/28)
B. Material for Dictionary of Australian Slang by S.E. O'Brien and A.G. Stephens 1900-1910 (Call No.: MLMSS 4937/28). Contains occasional references to Aboriginal words e.g. bingy, Aboriginal for 'belly'.
C. Alphabetical list of 172 Authors and Artists of Australia and New Zealand with Place and Date of Birth and Working Pseudonyms, n.d. (Call No.: MLMSS 4937/29)
D. Austrazealand Pen-Names. 1890-1925 (Call No.: MLMSS 4937/29)
E. Station Songs and Droving Ditties by Harry Harbord Morant (The Breaker), 1923 (Call No.: MLMSS 4937/29)
F. Selected poems of John Shaw Neilson, 1915 (Call No.: MLMSS 4937/29)
G. Only Half a Villain. A Tale of the South Seas, by Robert Allan and A.G. Stephens, n.d. (Call No.: MLMSS 4937/29)
H. Australian Anthem, 1933 (Call No.: MLMSS 4937/29)
I. Articles, and interviews with notable people: including W.A. Holman and Dame Nellie Melba (Call No.: MLMSS 4937/29)

VI. Printed Books
Auguste Dorchain, Lart des vers, Paris, n.d.
Henry Lawson, Short stories in prose and verse, Sydney, n.d. (filed at C755-2)
Agnes Conor O'Brien (MacLeod), MacLeod of the Bulletin, Sydney, 1931
A.B. Paterson, The man from Snowy River and other verses, Sydney, 1895
A.G. Stephens, (ed.), Anzac memorial, Sydney, 1916
A.G. Stephens, (ed.), A southern garland, Sydney, 1904
A.G. Stephens, Pamphlets: The Griffilwraith, 1893; Why North Queensland wants separation, 1893; The Suffield case, 1897
A.G. Stephens, Victor Daley, Sydney, 1905 (Call No.: MLMSS 4937/30)

Guide to the papers of Alfred George Stephens in the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW / arranged and described by Warwick Hirst of the Manuscripts Section in 1989. Sydney : Library Council of New South Wales, 1990. Click here to see extended guide to this collection in Guide to Australian Literary Manuscripts at the University of Western Australia: onesearch.library.uwa.edu.au/view/delivery/61UWA_INST/12364184920002101

Several volumes of scrapbooks of newspaper cuttings compiled by A.G. Stephens have been transferred from the Mitchell Library printed books collection to the manuscripts collection since the compilation of the Guide. A copy of this guide (Guide to the papers of Alfred George Stephens) is available on open access from the Mitchell Library and has been annotated to reflect these recent transfers.

Microfilm - CY 1437, frames 1 - 25 (Miles Franklin letters, 1901 - 1932, selected from MLMSS 4937/2 - 3 and MLMSS 4937/5).
Microfilm - CY 3460A, frames 1 - 711 (MLMSS 4937/2: Correspondence, 1889 - 1902).
Microfilm - CY 3461, frames 1 - 661 (MLMSS 4937/3: Correspondence, 1903 - 1909).
Microfilm - CY 3462, frames 1 - 655 (MLMSS 4937/4: Correspondence, 1910 - 1923).
Microfilm - CY 3463, frames 1 - 455 (MLMSS 4937/5: Correspondence, 1924 - 1932).
Microfilm - CY 1316, frames 1 - 51 (MLMSS 4937/6, Items 3: re Ada Cambridge).
Microfilm - CY 4377, frames 1 - 136 (MLMSS 4937/14, Item 4 ; MLMSS 4937/16, Item 5: Scrapbooks re Henry Cargill, Miles Franklin, Wesley Caddy, Robert Crawford & Albert Dorrington).
Microfilm - CY 1161, frames 1 - 116 (MLMSS 4937/19, Item 3: Newscuttings re Louisa Lawson & Marcus Clarke).
Microfilm - CY 1404, frames 1 - 56 (MLMSS 4937/25, Item 2: Newscuttings re Steele Rudd).
Microfilm - CY 3579, frames 1 - 218 (MLMSS 4937/27, Item 2: Newscuttings, etc., re Ethel Turner).
Microfilm - CY 791, frames 1 - 388 (MLMSS 4937/28, Item 1, previously located at QA920/A and MLMSS 3942: 'Autobiographies of 231 Australian and New Zealand Authors and Artists', 1901 - 1924, mainly typescript, with an index).
Microfilm - CY 1538, frames 1 - 200 (MLMSS 4937/28, Item 2: S.E. O'Brien & A.G. Stephens - 'Material for Dictionary of Australian Slang', 1900 - 1910).
Microfilm - CY 806, frames 549 - 574 (MLMSS 4937/29, Item 1, previously at A920/S: 'Alphabetical List of 172 Authors and Artists of Australia & New Zealand').
Microfilm : CY 2694, frames 1 - 461 (MLMSS 4937/7, Items 4 - 5 ; MLMSS 4937, Item 1: John Shaw Neilson (frames 5 - 48), Shaw Neilson (frames 49 - 143) Lola Ridge (frames 144 - 237).
Letter from John H. Nicholson to A. G. Stephens, 4 March 1895 at MLMSS 4937/Box 2/p. 11: Transferred from An 37

Letter from G.W.L. Marshall to A.G. Stephens, 12 July 1897, MLMSS 4937/Box 2/pp. 189-192: Transferred from Ah 82

Letters from John Le Gay Brereton to A. G. Stephens, MLMSS 4937/Box 2/pp. 217-219 (20 Sept. 1897), 261-264 (26 Nov 1897), 265-268 (4 Dec 1897), 279 (28 Dec 1897), 843 (3 Apr 1900), 847 (1900): Transferred from Ab 164

Letter from Maud Jacob to A.G. Stephens, 17 October 1899 at MLMSS 4937/Box 2/pp. 702a-702d: Transferred from Aj 26

Letter from Arnold Kramer to F.S. Delmer, 22 September 1900 at MLMSS 4937/Box 2/pp. 880a-880d: Transferred from Ak 28

Letter from Rev. J.S. Hassall to A.G. Stephens, 8 January 1903, MLMSS 4937/Box 3/pp. 11-13: Transferred from Ah 83/1

Letter from John Le Gay Brereton to A. G. Stephens, 25 Sept. 1903, MLMSS 4937/Box 3/pp.167-169: Transferred from Ab 164

Letter from Claude E. F. McKay to A.G. Stephens, 30 April 1904 at MLMSS 4937/Box 3/pp. 233-236: Transferred from Am 138

Letters from David M. Ross to A.G. Stephens, MLMSS 4937/Box 3, pp. 257 (dated 22 July 1904), 291 (dated 15 Oct., ca. 1904) & 457 (dated 23 Aug. 1905): Transferred from Ar 60

L. Fisher poems, at MLMSS 4937/Box 3/pp. 485, 487-488: Transferred from Af 63

Letter from J.W. Harbinson to A.G. Stephens, June 1906, MLMSS 4937/Box 3/pp. 653-655: Transferred from Ah 80

Letter from Ivan A. Rosenblum to A.G. Stephens, 24 Sept. 1906, MLMSS 4937/Box 3/p. 693: Transferred from Ar 62

Letters from William Henry Dyson to A. G. Stephens, MLMSS 4937/Box 3/pp. 697-698, 979-981: Transferred from Ad 59

Letter from A. Deakin to A. G. Stephens, 23 June 1909 at MLMSS 4937/Box 3/pp. 989-994: Transferred from Ad 48

Letter from G. H. Reid to A. G. Stephens, 20 December 1909 at MLMSS 4937/Box 3/p. 1043: Transferred from Ar 57/Item 1

Letter from Ambrose Dyson to A.G. Stephens, MLMSS 4937/Box 4/pp. 43-45: Transferred from Ad 63

Letters from A. Deakin to A. G. Stephens, MLMSS 4937/Box 4/pp. 307-309 (16 Feb. 1912), 457-463 (18 July 1914): Transferred from Ad 48

Letter from John Liddell Kelly to A.G. Stephens, 15 March 1917 at MLMSS 4937/Box 4/pp. 563-464: Transferred from Ak 38

Letter from John Le Gay Brereton to A. G. Stephens, 7 June 1922, MLMSS 4937/Box 4/pp. 831-834: Transferred from Ab 164

Letter from John Le Gay Brereton to A. G. Stephens, 1 Sept. 1925, MLMSS 4937/Box 5/pp. 59-62: Transferred from Ab 164

Letter from William Gray to A. G. Stephens, 27 July 1932 at MLMSS 4937/Box 5/p. 617: Transferred from Ar 72/Item 5

Letter from William Gray to A. G. Stephens, 8 August 1932 at MLMSS 4937/Box 5/p. 619: Transferred from Ar 72/Item 6

Robert Kaleski story, 'The Kelpie' at MLMSS 4937/Box 6/Item 5: Transferred from Ak 26

R. Kidston (Maurice Tybert), 'Selected Poems of Maurice Tybert', February 1913 at MLMSS 4937/Box 6/Item 5[f]: Transferred from Ak 29/1

Ambrose Pratt poem, 1898 at MLMSS 4937/Box 7/Item 6[d]: Transferred from Ap 61