2017.0004
CORRESPONDENCE WITH LIBRARIES [1966-2014]
Creator(s): 
Greer, Professor Germaine [29 January 1939-]

The 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appropriate today; names, images and voices of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in published and unpublished printed material, audio recordings and photographs; graphic descriptions of medical conditions and treatment.
The Correspondence with Libraries series in the Germaine Greer Archive comprises 3 units of material, primarily seeking permission to reproduce library collection material (see also the Permissions series, 2014.0053) and organising visits to, speaking engagements at, and membership of libraries. Greer’s position on the board of the London Library (held at 2017.0004.00045) and her involvement with the British Library Regular Readers Group’s protests about the new British Library building at St. Pancras (held at 2017.0004.00011 and 2017.0004.00012) are also well-represented in the collection. 
The 79 files in this series include handwritten and typed correspondence, printed emails, faxes, postcards, and photo reproduction forms. Photocopies and transcripts of manuscripts and secondary resources testify to the series’ relationship with the Women and Literature Series (2014.0047), with the last six files in the series originally part of Women and Literature. The series also contains the volume The Letters of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, ed. Jeremy Treglown, published in 1980, with Greer’s own handwritten annotations (held at 2017.0004.00037).
Greer has a sustained and even reverential relationship with libraries and archives. In her own words, ‘Libraries are reservoirs of strength, grace and wit, reminders of order, calm and continuity, lakes of mental energy’ (Daddy, We Hardly Knew You, 70). This series provides clear evidence of this via Greer’s retention of numerous pieces of library-related ephemera, including library cards dating back to 1966 (held at 2017.0004.00045), and informational pamphlets and brochures and readers’ rules from many of the libraries she visited. 
The series also holds copies of journals and magazines produced by libraries, including an incomplete run of The Female Spectator, published by Chawton House Library, (issues held are 4.2, 4.4, 5.1, 7.1, 'Summer 2002', 'Autumn 2002', 8.1-8.2, 9.1-9.2, 10.1-10.4, 11.1, 11.3, 12.1-12.2, 12.4, 13.1-13.3, 14.3, 15.1-15.4, 16.1-16.3), and several issues of Upfront, the journal of the friends and supporters of the State Library of New South Wales (issues held are 3.3, 6.1, 9.4, 10.1).

3 units (0.51m)
Culture and the Arts, individuals