Unique IDPE-000004SurnameRussellGiven namesEricBirth date1st January 1911Birth date qualifierNo DateBiographical noteOn 2 April 1976 the Town Clerk, L P Carter, approved the appointment of an historian Eric Russell to prepare the history of the City of Sydney. It appears that no contract was entered into between Council and Mr Russell but his duties were described as "historical and statistical research into City records; records of other metropolitan local governments; State Archives; Mitchell Library and other national libraries; indexing for record purposes and for publication; picture research, including fine art, photographs, etc; photography for records and for publication". (CRS 34, TC 3087/1976). He was appointed on an hourly contract basis.
During his nine years with Council, Russell worked on the manuscript of the City history, answered historical reference enquiries, listed the records in Council's Archives, and participated in the preparation of three Council publications, "Know Your City Council", "Your City Council Guide", and "Sydney, the City and the City Council".
On 6 August 1984, the Director of Civic and Public Affairs, wrote a minute asking the City Librarian evaluate the manuscript of Russell's history with a view to its publication. Her response was that a "superficial consideration of the manuscript ... engendered a sense of disappointment that Sydney could not have been better served in its history". She suggested that it would be premature for Council to embark upon the subsidised publication of the manuscript at this stage, as it would cost $40,000 to publish, with only some of this amount being recouped from sales. In a letter to Russell on 25 February 1985, the Town Clerk advised that Council would not be proceeding with the history, and that the newly established Civic and Public Affairs Department would take over preparation of the leaflets Russell had worked on. (CRS 116, 37.06.0099).
Russell ceased working for Council on 5 March 1985. In 1987, Council appointed Dr Shirley Fitzgerald to prepare a history of the Council for its sesquicentenary in 1992. "Sydney 1842 to 1992" was published in 1992, as well as a number of smaller books dealing with Chippendale, Surry Hills, Millers Point, and Ultimo/Pyrmont.Relationship legacy dataRELATED TO: Ceremonial events and civic occasions FN-0020 Occupational history1976-1985 Consultant Historian to to Sydney City CouncilSource system ID4
