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| 2018.0002 [NOTEBOOKS] |
| Date Range of Records: |
1972-1996 |
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The Germaine Greer Archive has been made available due to its historical and research importance. Statements which form part of the collection are not made on behalf of the University and do not represent the University’s views. It contains material that some researchers might find confronting. This includes: explicit language and images that reflect either the attitudes of the era in which the material was originally published or the views of the creators of the material but may not be considered appropriate today; names, images and voices of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in published and unpublished printed material, audio recordings and photographs; graphic descriptions of medical conditions and treatment.
This small series consists of 17 notebooks kept by Germaine Greer. The notebooks vary in size, colour and style, and are contained within a single unit in the archive. The notebooks are composed of text handwritten primarily by Greer but at times also include the hands of research assistants, and in one notebook the hand of Greer’s close friend Gay Clifford. The content of the notebooks varies but they primarily contain: research notes, bibliographies, drafts of letters, lists, general musings and observations, and journal entries completed whilst travelling.
Pages within the notebooks are generally left unnumbered, however there is the odd exception, and several of the notebooks contain entries at both ends of the book. While most of the notebooks in the series are in good condition some have loose pages and failed binding. Several of the notebooks also contain other items loose within their pages, such as correspondence, photographs, receipts, notes and remnants of pressed flowers.
Most of the notebooks were labelled on either the front cover or within the first few pages prior to accession, and where applicable these inscriptions have been use to title the items within this series. The arrangement of the series is consistent with the order in which it was received.
The earliest dated item in the collection is a small, red, A6 sized notebook with the words ‘PETTY CASH’ inscribed by hand on its cover. The first entry in the book is dated 5th of July 1972 and shows Greer’s expenses for the day: £1.55 spent at Ryman’s stationary store. According to the notebook, between 5 July 1972 and the final entry dated 12 August 1976, Greer’s “petty cash” was primarily spent on postage, taxi fares, coffee, laundry, telephone calls and ‘bog- roll’ [toilet paper].
The item with the most recent known date in the series is a red and black notebook titled and dated ‘Brisbane 20/9/96’. While the majority of the book’s pages are blank, the few pages with written content are extremely varied ranging from observations gathered during a visit to Australia, a list of poems featuring skylarks and a draft letter relating to Greer’s role in the television program ‘Travels with Pevsner’. Beginning like a personal journal entry the first line reads: ‘Brisbane 20/9/96. This town is still an extraordinary mess- the Hobart of the north – there is not a single elegant street or even precinct’. Included loose in the notebook is correspondence from the University of Nottingham, handwritten notes, a schedule to appear at the Royal National Theatre to discuss her book Slip-Shod Sibyls, and a colour photograph of a flowering plant.
Many of the notebooks in the series have been listed as undated as it is not clear when they were used. These undated books contain mostly Greer’s research on Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century literature and poetry, a subject which has been a long-term interest of Greer’s. In these notebooks research notes are written in both Greer’s hand and those of research assistants and have been gathered during research undertaken at various libraries and archives. Several of the notebooks labelled by Greer reference these collections, with titles such as ‘B.L’- British Library, ‘C.U.L’- Cambridge University Library and ‘Bodley’-Bodleian Library.
While the majority of the notebooks are filled with research notes, statistics and bibliographical information there are more personal journal entries too. Throughout the Greer Archive there is evidence of Greer’s experience travelling abroad, and the Notebook series is no exception.
While in Switzerland, Greer drafted a letter to her Uncle Bernard in a notebook: ‘I’m actually sitting in the terrace of a restaurant in Coglio writing this’. Coglio is a village in Ticino, Switzerland, where Greer’s mother Peggy’s side of the family originate from. In a different notebook labelled ‘Peggy’, Greer drafted a letter to her siblings, again regarding Ticino but this time the subject is their mother: ‘Our mother is (I hope) having a wonderful time laying waste in a Swiss clinic”.
In 1994 Greer travelled through Central Asia with her friend Ann Polis and this trip is documented in a notebook labelled ‘With Ann in Central Asia’. The notebook contains Greer's impressions of the landscape, culture and people seen during her travels through Asia. Other notebooks in the series document travels through Russia, Finland and the United States of America.
In this series, personal reflections are often juxtaposed with scholarly research. One notebook with such a juxtaposition is a small black, white and red notebook labelled 'Gay's Daybook, given to her by Rita, 13th July, 1986'. The notebook originally belonged to Greer’s close friend Gay Clifford. Clifford suffered from a stroke in 1984 and due to ongoing complications, her handwriting in the notebook is barely legible. One of the first lines Clifford has written states: ‘This is written at Germaine’s suggestion (to keep me quiet???)’. Clifford’s writing fills only the first few pages of the book as she records basic observations such as the weather, and discusses her frustrations with her memory: ‘Why can I remember everything and nothing?’. The entries written by Clifford end abruptly as Greer takes over the notebook on the very next page with a shift of focus. Greer begins by recording notes from historian David Hey’s book 'The History of Myddle' and her next entry lists plants that she would like to include in her garden at The Mills, Essex. While most of the pages in the notebook are blank, several unused pages contain remnants of pressed flowers: petals, leaves and stains of colour. Whether the flowers were slipped into the pages of the notebook by its original owner Gay Clifford or by Greer remains unknown. |
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| 1 unit (0.17m) |
| Collection Category: |
Culture and the Arts, individuals |
| Access Conditions: |
Access: Restricted |
| Finding Aids: |
Yes, listed ONLINE |
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