ANU Archives
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Current news
November 2011
Annual Archives Lecture Proud past, bright future?
On 15 September Senator John Faulkner presented the annual Archives lecture at the ANU. His lecture was a joint event as it also opened the ‘Labour history and its people’ conference hosted by with the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History in association with the National Centre for Biography.
Senator Faulkner reflected on the history of the labour movement in Australia and the Australian Labor Party and that a proud past doesn’t automatically guarantee a bright futute.
The lecture us available as a podcast
Senator John Faulkner with Maggie Shapley, Acting University Librarian and Professor Melanie Nolan, Director, National Centre of Biography and General Editor Australian Dictionary of Biography (Photo by Greg Bell)
Current Exhibition 60 Years of Anthropology at ANU, 1951-2011
This exhibition tells the story of the development of Anthropology as an area of study at ANU. It includes research papers and photographs from the ANU Archives, publications from the ANU Library and objects and tools of trade from the Department of Anthropology. The exhibition launch coincided with a conference of the same name and shows some of the challenges researchers have faced including negotiating for permission to conduct research in other countries and earning the trust of local peopleResearcher from University of Vienna
Katharina Hobiger from the Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology at the University of Vienna visited the ANU Archives Program in October to use the collections of Professor Stephen Wurm (ANUA 233) and his wife Dr Helen Groger-Wurm (ANUA 260) for her Master’s thesis entitled ‘Stephen Wurm - The early years of the linguist. His influence and importance for Cultural and Social Anthropology’. The Wurm collections were donated to the ANU Archives Program after Dr Helen Groger-Wurm’s death in 2005. The Wurm collection is the largest personal collection held by the University Archives. It is stored in 200 acid-free archives boxes that take up over 45 metres of shelf space. The collection contains personal letters between Stephen and Helen as well as detailed notes on the linguistic intricacies of rare languages from around the world. Stephen Wurm was a renowned linguist and the first professor of linguistics at ANU. He is thought to have been able to converse – either simply or fluently – in 50 languages. Wurm is probably best known professionally for his contribution to the study of Papuan languages, the development of publisher Pacific Linguistics and his series of language atlases. Ms Hobiger spent the month focusing on the German language documents in the collection. She was also able to take the opportunity to speak to many of the ANU Linguist Alumni in Canberra who knew Professor Wurm.
Katharine Holbiger using Stephen Wurm's records in the ANU Archives reading room. (Photo by Karina Taylor)
Australian Agricultural Company Maps online
In 2007 The Australian Agrivcultural Company gave the Noel butlin Archives Centre funds to help digitise some of the comapny's historic maps and plans. These includebuildings on properties at Windy, Corona and Warrah as well as the Peel Estate and a map of the Port Stephens grant from 1829. You can see these and more in the ANU's digital repository at digitalcollections.anu.edu.au.
