Anne-Marie Schwirtlich
CEO and State Librarian, State Library of Victoria

Introduction
In November 1926 Professor Ernest Scott wrote to George Arnold Wood in the following terms:

This is confidential – I know that there is a movement to bring both the archives and the records publication [Scott was referring to the Historical Records of Australia] under the direction of the Parliamentary library. We do not want the man to be subordinate, but to run his own department. It is too big and important a work to be made subordinate to the library. If Binns [Kenneth Binns, the head of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library] calls on you, please be cautious. His idea is to get control. I think that most undesirable. [1]

Professor Scott was writing about the proposed establishment of a Commonwealth archives but the quote is emblematic of the crucial role that historians and libraries played in advocating, and (occasionally) retarding, the development of government archives in Australia. The State Library of Victoria did both over the seventy years it was involved in the preservation of the official record of Victoria.

There are, I think, four phases to the Library’s work. The first is one that might best be described as passive recipient. This was followed by a period when the Library was a proselytising selector. In the third phase the Library was an overwhelmed advocate. The last phase, between 1963 and 1973, is a schizoid one – partly characterised by rearguard action to prevent the establishment of an independent archives and then a period when the Library might have felt it was nurturing a cuckoo. As context to this history it will be useful to consider archival developments around Australia between 1903 and 1973.

Passive recipient
The Public Library of Victoria opened its doors in February 1856 with a collection of 3846 volumes.[2] The Library’s business revolved around books, newspapers and periodicals with an emphasis on those of foreign origin. The Library acquired the Batman deeds in 1879. This is how the Library noted the acquisition:

These deeds purport to convey from certain native chiefs of Victoria to John Batman and others, large tracts of land in the neighbourhood of Melbourne and Geelong. The documents, though admirable specimens of conveyancing, were not valid, as the land could only be conveyed by grant from the Crown. They are nevertheless interesting relics of the foundation of the Colony of Victoria.[3]

The Library did acquire some other manuscript material over the first fifty years of its life but it was in a desultory manner. It is with this background in mind that we can assess the Library’s role in the period 1903–1925.

Professor Bill Russell and Charlie Farrugia have documented the first transfer of official records to the Library as occurring in July 1903. Indeed, they have documented a great deal about the Library and public archives for which we are indebted. Today is the centenary of the acceptance of ten volumes of convict indents from the Law Department. In retrospect this was a significant occasion. To the protagonists it was unremarkable; it was so unremarkable an acquisition that the Library did not include it in its published calendar of significant events, the Book of the Public Library.

In the same month that the convict indents were acquired by the Library the fledgling Commonwealth Parliament printed and tabled Frederick Bladen’s report on his visit to major archives in Europe. Bladen concluded his report with a recommendation that a Commonwealth archives office be established.[4]

Six years later, in 1909, the Library received its second transfer of official records. The transfer consisted of ten volumes of duplicate despatches, between the Colonial Office and the Governor of Victoria, held by the Public Record Office of London.[5]

Over the ensuing decade it was the Historical Society of Victoria that made the running about the need for preserving Victoria’s official records. The backdrop to the Society’s anxiety was Australia’s participation in the 1914–18 War and public service efficiency measures. For example, the 1916 Royal Commission on the State Public Service led to a directive that all obsolete records be destroyed. The Mines Department was particularly zealous in complying, reporting that ‘some tons of old books and papers have been cut up and sent to the paper mills’.[6]

Between 1909 and 1920 the Public Library of Victoria was receiving and parrying overtures from the Historical Society of Victoria to become the custodian of official records in Victoria. What was happening elsewhere in Australia? In NSW in 1912 the Premier’s Department issued a circular to all NSW government agencies directing that no official records be destroyed unless there had been consultation with the Principal Librarian. In 1916 South Australia established an Archives Department in the State Library and three years later it appointed its first archivist.[7]

In May 1919 the President of the Trustees of the Public Library of Victoria wrote to the Premier explaining that the Trustees had ‘recently been urged to establish a Records Office in connection with the institution, and would be glad to do so except for the question of room.’[8] The Trustees suggested some land that would be ideal for the purpose. The request was eventually declined.

In 1922, as a result of the continuing pressure applied by the Historical Society of Victoria, the Victorian Government issued a circular assigning to the Public Library’s Trustees a formal role in the destruction of official records. The government now required departments to consult the Library Trustees before destroying official records. The government also approved a responsible officer of the Library visiting departments. Ernest Pitt recalled ‘Mr Boys visited various departments, but the time was not quite ripe for such an innovation as the transfer of departmental records away from the departments concerned, as his reception was not over-cordial, and little was achieved.’[9]

Proselytising selector
It is between 1925 and 1944 that I would describe the Library as a proselytising selector. This is because not only were significant quantities of records transferred and housed, but they were also documented and made available. It is during these years that the interest, the energy and the hand of Ernest Pitt, who was appointed Chief Librarian in 1931, can be seen very clearly in the work of the Library.

In 1927, two years after South Australia enacted the first piece of Australian archives legislation, and the year that the Commonwealth drafted its first piece of archives legislation, Victoria commissioned another board of inquiry, this one into ‘Methods in the Public Service’. [10] On the plus side the inquiry recommended a conference of Chief Clerks to devise uniform methods of registration of records and correspondence. On the alarming side the inquiry recommended that ‘departmental committees be formed to decide upon and arrange the destruction … of old papers’.[11]

As a result, the Historical Society wrote to the Premier advocating that the terms of the 1922 circular again be brought before all departments. Departments were duly reminded that no records should be destroyed without reference to the Public Library Trustees. The circular also flagged that a systematic inspection of departmental records would be carried out.[12] Ernest Pitt conducted the survey and suggested that inactive records selected by the Library be transferred immediately. In 1928 not only was Pitt’s survey work raising awareness in departments but the Chief Librarian was writing to them seeking records in words such as:

The Public Library of Victoria is endeavouring to form, for the use of students engaged in historical research, a collection of State documents, and the Trustees would esteem it a favour if you would transfer these interesting records to the Public Library.[13]

Significant quantities of records were transferred including shipping records, convict indents, education records, surveyors' records, penal records, police records and records of the Law Department and from the Chief Secretary’s Office. Despite the fact that the volume of transfers tested the storage ingenuity of the Library, in 1937 Pitt prompted the reissue of the circular advising departments that destruction of official records ought not take place without reference to the Library.

The 1939-45 War and the appointment of a State Controller of Salvage in 1940 brought renewed drives to salvage material including paper leading to consternation on the part of the Library and historians and to useful publicity.

In September 1942 the Library Association of Australia wrote to the Premier recommending that the Public Library of Victoria create a position of archivist. This flowed from the unanimous adoption of a resolution at the association’s annual meeting noting the successful archival work being done in South Australia and arguing that ‘the importance of this State warrants a like venture.’[14] The Trustees could not see a way of implementing the suggestion but ‘recommended that an Archives Department be established in the Public Library as soon as man-power conditions permit.’[15]

Elsewhere in Australia, in 1942 Prime Minister Curtin established the War Archives Committee to consider how best to collect Commonwealth documents and records about the war. The following year Tasmania enacted archives legislation and, in 1944, the Commonwealth appointed its two foundation archivists – one at the National Library to deal with the records of civilian departments, one at the Australian War Memorial to deal with records of the defence departments.

In 1944, back in Victoria, a board of inquiry that Ernest Pitt had chaired for the preceding two years presented its report, which dealt in part with archives. The inquiry recommended that the State Library Board prepare legislation to ensure the collection and preservation of archives by the State Library. It also recommended the appointment of three archivists.[16] Despite the efforts of the Chief Librarian the Public Library, National Gallery and Museums Bill of 1944 omitted any reference to archives.

Overwhelmed advocate
I have described the Library between 1945 and 1962 as the overwhelmed advocate. In July 1948 the Library appointed its first archivist only to lose him to an academic career within six months. In 1949 the Acting Chief Librarian and Rosemary McGowan, the recently appointed archivist, attended the conference of Commonwealth and state archival authorities convened in Canberra.[17] The conference led to far stronger relationships between archival authorities and to a decision to invite an eminent authority from the USA to visit Australia.

Through the 1950s the Library struggled to store the flow of archives and to balance the work required to document the holdings whilst providing services to the public. These tensions were manifest in all of the institutions of the time and, indeed, continue today. This sense of the enormity of the task was possibly emphasised by the visit of Dr Theodore Schellenberg in 1954. Schellenberg’s visit, a result of the 1949 conference of archival authorities, involved an extensive lecture tour during which he delineated the full scope of a responsible records management and archival regime. To the staff of the Library this must have been both catalysing and deeply dispiriting. Catalysing in painting a picture of what might be but dispiriting when compared with the realities of the work to be done and the available resources.

Fired by Schellenberg’s visit the Library’s Trustees presented the Premier with a report and recommendations. They recommended that:

• the archives remain under the control of the Library but be expanded in accommodation and staffing;
• archives legislation be deferred for at least a year, to enable a decision as to the kind of Act required for Australian conditions; and
• archival work in Victoria concentrate on the preservation of records and on bringing the archives already in the custody of the Public Library under physical control and on making them available.[18]

The report resulted, in 1955, in the creation of the position of Senior Archivist, to which Harry Nunn was appointed, and to the creation of two additional archivists' positions. And so, an Archives Division in the State Library was formed.

This small team had an enormous task, particularly in the area of regulating disposal, but tackled it with immense zest. One other issue that Harry Nunn pursued indefatigably was that of legislation and separation of the archives from the Library. In 1961 Nunn wrote to the Under Secretary proposing legislation along the lines of the Public Records Act of Great Britain and arguing that the establishment of a separate archives department would not involve a big increase in expenditure.[19] The Chief Secretary took the view that ‘in the present financial position of the state perhaps little can be done for some years to come’ but suggested that in the meantime Nunn develop his suggestions.[20]

Nunn would have been well aware of the 1957 Report of the National Library Inquiry Committee which recommended the separation of the archives from the Library and which resulted in the establishment, in 1961, of the Commonwealth Archives Office in the Prime Minister’s Department.[21]

A schizoid decade
The decade between 1963 and 1973 was the last phase of the Library’s direct relationship with the archives and it was a decade dominated by the question of whether the two should be separated.

Sir John Jungwirth, who was appointed a board of inquiry in 1963, was asked to report on the question ‘Should the Archives Section be removed from State Library control?’[22] Senior historians, senior librarians and senior public servants gave evidence.

Harry Nunn’s evidence comprehensively and unambiguously argued for separation. Colin McCallum, Chief Librarian between 1945 and 1960, gave evidence to the effect that separation should occur but not at present. The Reverend Irving Benson, the President of the Library’s Trustees, was completely opposed to separation. JA Feely, the Principal Librarian from 1960, did not support the separation of the archives from the Library. John Metcalfe, who had been Principal Librarian of the Public Library of NSW and then became the pre-eminent library educator, gave extensive evidence to the inquiry opposing the separation.

The arguments adduced against separation rested on integration of resources better serving the needs of researchers, on the ability of library authorities to manage multiple functions and on the advantages to staff of having both the archival and library professional streams open to them.

The board of inquiry reported in 1964 and recommended that the head of the Archives Division should be titled the Keeper of Public Records and directly responsible to the State Librarian. It recommended the establishment of a Public Records Advisory Committee and the drafting of legislation dealing with public records.

While the board of inquiry did not recommend the independence sought by Harry Nunn and others, it did support measures of professional autonomy. The Trustees, under the direction of Reverend Benson, opposed the recommendations and they remained in stasis for two years.

In November 1965 when the Library Council of Victoria Bill was prepared it included the new function ‘to manage and control the preservation of public records’. This function represents the first archival legislation in Victoria. In 1966 the Library Council sought from Nunn a submission on the creation of a public records division. Nunn provided a detailed report reminding the Council that ‘the principle of separation [of official archives from libraries] has been almost universally accepted’.[23]

Jungwirth did recommend that an archives advisory committee be established to advise the State Librarian. In 1967, three years after Jungwirth reported, Nunn wrote a chivvying note explaining how useful the committee would be and who might be on it. The committee was established and met for the first time in February 1969.[24]

The committee was of significance as another important voice on archival matters, particularly about archives legislation. The appointment of Ken Horn as the State Librarian was timely as he was receptive to, and supportive of, arguments for independence and legislation.

As a result, by 1970 the Library and its council determined to identify a way of moving forward. The drafting of legislation began and in 1972 it was circulated. The Bill was a surprise because it provided for a council to manage the public records rather than for a Keeper to do so. Harry Nunn condemned the Bill as did the archives staff.[25]

Harry Nunn worked to produce another draft of the Bill, one faithful to the recommendations of the Public Records Advisory Committee. This became the third draft of the Bill and was introduced into the Legislative Assembly in November 1972. The Bill caused some dissent because of its definition of a public record and its provisions for the recovery of estrays.[26]

Following discussion, debate and minor amendment, the Bill was passed and proclaimed in April 1973, three months short of the seventieth anniversary of the transfer of official records to the Library.

The year 1973 was also archivally significant in other jurisdictions. It saw the establishment, at the University of NSW, of the first postgraduate course in archives management in Australia. On 16 August 1973, the Australian Historical Association was formed in Perth. The objects of the Association included ‘to formulate archives and library policies and express opinions on such issues of public policy as concern historical study.’[27] Perth was the site of another professional meeting of significance that year. Members of the archives section of the Library Association of Australia met on 21 August and agreed that the formation of an association of archivists was desirable.[28] Also in 1973 was a visit to Australia of Dr Kaye Lamb, former Dominion Archivist of Canada, at the invitation of the Commonwealth. Following a study tour of six weeks, Dr Lamb presented a report on the Commonwealth Archives Office making ‘recommendations for its development into a full-fledged National Archives of Australia.’[29} These recommendations included the urgent need for archives legislation for the Commonwealth jurisdiction – something that would take another decade.

Conclusion
The Library was the first state archive. Between 1903 and 1973 it evolved from being the unwitting or unconscious custodian of public records to an organisation seeking to implement a comprehensive and professional records and archives program for the official records of the state.

It has been thirty years since the establishment of Public Record Office Victoria. It is with admiration that the Library recognises the enormous achievements of PROV over its three decades. Libraries and archives should be natural allies and productive partners and it is with great satisfaction that, on behalf of past and present colleagues at the Library, I say happy birthday to PROV.

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[1] National Library of Australia, MSS2490, 19 November 1926
[2] ELT Armstrong, The Book of the Public Library, Museums, and National Gallery of Victoria 1856—1906 (Trustees of the Public Library, Museums, and National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1906), p 4
[3] Ibid, p 40
[4] FM Bladen, ‘Archives. Report on European Archives’, Commonwealth Parliamentary Papers 1903, Volume 2, p 993 ff
[5] EW Russell, ‘The first years of the Victorian Archives’, Provenance, Volume 1, Number 2, 2003, pp 12-13
[6] Ibid, p 28
[7] RC Sharman, ‘Archives and Research’, Design for Diversity, H Bryan and G Greenwood eds, (UQP, St Lucia, 1977), p 212
[8] Russell, ‘The first years’ pp 32 and 34
[9] EW Russell, The Victorian Archives to 1973: Public Records from Colonial Times to the Creation of PROV, unpublished draft, version 16 dated 1 April 2003, p 22
[10] Russell, ‘The first years’ p 36
[11] Ibid
[12] Ibid, p 37
[13] Ibid, p 40
[14] EW Russell, ‘Celebrating 30 Years of the Victorian Public Records Act’, Provenance, Volume 1, Number 1, 2003, p 18
[15] Ibid, p 53, quoted from the Public Library Annual Report 1942, p 34
[16] Ibid, p 18
[17] Ibid, p 23
[18] Ibid, pp 24 and 26
[19] Ibid, p 28
[20] Ibid, p 29
[21] Report of the National Library Inquiry Committee 1956-57, Chairman GW Paton, see chapters III (A)(4), p 15
[22] Russell, ‘Celebrating 30 Years’, p 29
[23] EW Russell, The Victorian Archives to 1973: Public Records from Colonial Times to the Creation of PROV, unpublished draft, version 16 dated 1 April 2003, p 55
[24] Russell, ‘Celebrating 30 Years’, p 32
[25] Ibid, pp 33-34
[26] Ibid, p 35
[27] M Saclier, ‘Miscellany’, Archives and Manuscripts, Volume 5, Number 5, November 1973, p 127
[28] Ibid, p 126. The Australian Society of Archivists was established in 1975
[29] Dr W Kaye Lamb, ‘Report. Development of the National Archives – September 1973’, Commonwealth Parliamentary Paper No. 16 of 1974, p 3

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