John Shaw Neilson notebook n.d., together with associated papers, 1945-1963

MLMSS 3845

fonds

1945-1963

918613

1 volume of textual material - photocopies

John Shaw Neilson, poet, was born at Penola, South Australia, in 1872 and died in 1942. His formal education was limited and he spent most of his working life as an itinerant rural labourer. Later in John Shaw Neilson's life defective eyesight made it increasingly difficult for him to write down his own poetry and he often dictated it to fellow workmen. A. G. Stephens, as literary editor of the Bulletin, encouraged Shaw Neilson in his work and later became his literary agent

a. Notebook of John Shaw Neilson, n.d.
This notebook is the missing one of a series of John Shaw Neilson notebooks which are held in the Mitchell Library and filed at A3036-A3038. These notebooks were acquired from Frank Neilson, brother of John Shaw Neilson, in 1949. Prior to their acquisition Frank Neilson extracted leaves from some notebooks and pasted them into other books. These leaves have now been separated and remain loose in the books into which they were pasted, and are at A3038. Further fragments from the notebooks which had been removed by Frank Neilson and which were not transferred in 1949 were acquired from Mr R. J. McKim, John Shaw Neilson's nephew, in 1977 and are filed at MLMSS 3354. Photocopies of these are filed at MLMSS 2576X

b. Associated papers, 1945-1963
Includes explanatory notes by Harry F. Chaplin regarding the acquisition of the notebook by the National Library of Australia and correspondence of James Devaney, 1945-1948 with Kate Baker, n.d., Harry F. Chaplin, 1947, Frank Neilson, 1948 and the Commonwealth Literary Fund, 1945 regarding the Neilson notebook

Originals held in the National Library of Australia, NLA MS. 1145 item 60

Information transferred from Manuscripts Leaf Catalogue No. 1 (8-670C) as part of the eRecords Project, 2010-2011