Keast Burke - further papers, 1861-1987, 2007

MLMSS 9162

fonds

1861 - 1987, 2007

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Photographs

457515

2.55 metres of textual records and photographs (17 boxes)

Eric Keast Burke, photographer and journalist, was born in 1896 at Christchurch, New Zealand. In 1904 his family moved to Sydney where he was educated at Sydney Church of England Grammar School (Shore). In 1917 he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force serving as a sapper with the Anzac Wireless Squadron, Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force.
After the war he became associate-editor of the Australasian Photo-Review. He married Iris Lily Daniell in 1925 and in 1932 published 'Achievement', a photographic study of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. He exhibited his work in Australia, Europe, London and the United States of America. In 1938 he was appointed Australian chairman of Kodak International salons of photography. During World War II he served as a captain in the Volunteer Defence Corps in intelligence. He was later was employed as Kodak's advertising manager.
In 1953 he found Otto Holtermann's collection of Beaufoy Merlin's and Charles Bayliss's glass plates of the gold fields in 'a small suburban backyard shed'. In 1973 he published, 'Gold and Silver: photographs of Australian goldfields from the Holtermann Collection’. He also lectured on the collection, prepared exhibitions and presented a television series.
Following his retirement in 1960, Burke was editor and art director of Australian Popular Photography until 1969. He was a member of the Book Collectors' Society of Australia, and in 1963 founded the short-lived Australian Documentary Facsimile Society. He died in 1974.

Reference:
Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 13, 1963

I.KEAST BURKE PAPERS
CORRESPONDENCE
BOX 1
General correspondence, 1915-48 (includes letters & military documents written during World War II).

Box 2
General Correspondence, 1949-54.

Box 3
General Correspondence, 1955-59. Correspondents include

BOX 4
General Correspondence, 1960-64.

BOX 5
General Correspondence, 1965-74, undated.

BOX 6
General correspondence – two sequences of letters arranged alphabetically by name of writer, 1940s-70s. Correspondents include Alec H. Chisholm, Jack Cato, Max Dupain, Leon Gellert, Frank Hurley, Pat Lawlor, J.K. Moir, David Moore, Tom Inglis Moore, Bernard Smith, Douglas Stewart and Walter Stone.

BOX 7
Correspondence – mainly photographic, 1947-74, undated.

BOX 8
Correspondence with booksellers, 1956-71.
Correspondence re ‘Gold and Silver’, 1953, 1968-70.
Correspondence with William Heinemann re ‘Gold and Silver’, 1968-71.
Correspondence re Charles Bayliss, 1952-54.
Correspondence (with newscuttings & notes) re F.T. DeCourcy Browne, 1969-71.

Correspondence with the National Library of Australia, 1962-70.
Travel Letters from Office, 1966.

SUBJECT FILES
BOX 9
George Charles Johnson, 1870s, 1960s.
Freeman Brothers.
John Degotardi, 1870s, 1951-70.
History of Graphic Art, 1903-05, 1926, 1958-7-59.
Australasian Photo-Review, 1930s-1959.
William Hetzer.
Antoine Faucherry.
Early Processes.
Lists of Books, 1988-89 with book plate..
Hill End & Holtermann newscuttings, 1952-55.
Eclipse of the Sun, 1922.
Partial draft of ‘Thomas Alexander Browne (Rolf Boldrewood’.
Extract from the diary of the late Mark John Hammond.

BOX 10
Partial draft of ‘Gold and Silver’.
‘Gold and Silver’ Queries, 1970-72.
‘Gold and Silver’ slide lecture and article, 1973.
Reviews of ‘Gold and Silver’, 1973-74.
University of New England Seminar on Local History, 1966.
Australian Documentary Facsimile Society, 1964-67.
Haydons,
Charles Bennett File, 1952-62.
Index of Australasian Photo Journal, 1982-1929.
Governor Sir John Northcott’s visit to Gulgong, 1955.
‘Peeps into the Past’, 1950s.

BOX 11
Walter Burke – biographical notes, programs & correspondence, 1904-06, 1945, 1954-55 & diary, 1951..
Keast Burke – autobiographical notes.
Lists of Keast Burke’s books, with letters, photographs and other archival material. 1960s-2001.
Cards, letters, menu etc, re Keast Burke’s retirement from Kodak, 1960.
Malaspina bibliography, correspondence and draft of article, 1966-67.
University of Sydney Tutorial Classes, 1958-62 (2 folders)

RESEARCH PAPERS
BOX 12
Henry Kingsley:
Correspondence, 1955-73.
Lists of Kingsley’s novels.
Extracts from books and magazines on Kingsley.
‘Sorting Facts from Fiction – Henry Kingsley in Australia’, article by Keast Burke.
Copy of ‘Travelling in Victoria’ by Henry Kingsley, 1861.
Miscellaneous references including a letter from G.H. (George Henry) Kingsley (brother of Henry & Charles) to Furnivale, 16 May 1885.

BOX 13
Gulgong:
Correspondence, 1961, 1969-71.
Original notes and annotations from the ‘Gulgong Guardian’, 1971-72.
Notes, newscuttings and article by Keast Burke on Anthony Trollope’s visit to Gulgong in 1871.
Newscuttings.
Photographs of Gulgong streets (past & present) and a panorama.
Gulgong Centenary, 1970.
Miscellaneous notes, newscuttings, photographs, posters and other research material (2 folders).

MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS
BOX 14
Diary (wit photographs) of ‘Easter at Singing Water [Nattai River,] 24 March t0 2nd January 1932’.
Personal Documents including: passports and various certificates,1959, 1966; press pass.
Exhibition catalogues, invitations, menus etc., 1938-67.
Various research notes, references & fragments.
Writings by Keast Burke, 1921-70 including:
‘The Course of Unemployment since 1890’, 1921.
‘Some Notes on Flashlight Photography’, in ‘Australasian Photo-Review’, 14 Jan. 1922.
‘A Mesopotamian Trilogy’ in ‘The Morpeth Review’, Mar. 1929.
‘The Photography of Professor John Smith’, in ‘The Union Recorder’, 27 Sep. 1962.
‘In the Steps of the Crusaders’ in ‘Image’, Nov.-Dec. 1967.
‘Solving Old Photo-Mysteries’ in ‘Australian Photo-Graphy’, Oct. 1969.
‘Photography – An Australian Corollary’, 1965.

BOX 15
Journals and other printed material including: ‘Harrington’s Photographic Journal’, Dec. 1914 & June 1915; ‘The Australasian Photo-Review’, Jan. 1943, July 1949, Feb. 1950, Dec. 1953, Dec. 1956; ‘The Photographic Journal’ July 1962; ‘The British Journal of Photography, 22 June 1956; ‘The Australian Genealogist’, 1953, 1958-59; ‘Emerson the Mystic’ by Michael Sawtell; ‘Faraday and Photography’ by Arthur Gill, 1967; ‘An Interview with Dr Julian Smith, 1946; ‘The Australia Hotel’.
Newscuttings mainly related to photography, 1860s-1970s.

II. BURKE FAMILY PAPERS
BOX 16
Letters received by Iris Burke, 1925-87.

BOX 17
Letters from Dame Mary Gilmore to Iris Burke with related newscuttings, 1956, 1958, 1962.
Travel Diaries of Iris Burke, 1961, 1966, 1981 with passports, 1964, 1966, 1979.
Poems by Iris Burke with her book plate.
Inventories of items owned by Keast Burke compiled by Iris Burke.
Biographical Notes on Keast Burke by Iris Burke, undated, and Sandra Piggott (nee Burke), 2007.
Letters from Harold Cazneaux to Sandra Piggott/Burke, 1952.
Picture album belonging to Sandra Piggott/Burke.
Photographs of Sandra Piggott/Burke and her family, 1960s.

This collection includes pictorial material and realia at PXE 1603/1-2, PXD 1385, ON 564-ON 565, SLIDES 286 & R 2133

Copyright status:: In copyright - This collection has multiple rights owners
Approval for reproduction required:
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy copyright owners

Information updated as part of the Unprocessed Manuscripts eRecords Project, 2013-2014