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Working Papers of Eric Russell, Council Historian, 1911-1985

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Unique IDAS-0849DateBetween 1st January 1911 and 1st January 1985Date qualifiercircaFormatManila Folder CardDescriptionOn 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During his nine years with Council, Russell worked on the manuscript of the City history, answered historical reference enquiries, listed the records in Council's Archives, and participated in the preparation of three Council publications, "Know Your City Council", "Your City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".

The working papers in this series contain his research notes, drafts, photographs to be used in the history, index cards, and correspondence relating to this work. It includes the draft of Russell's history of Sydney.

Russell accumulated a certain amount of material that has been returned to its original series or place of origin. This includes a volume of the Sydney Morning Herald for 1842 to 1843 which has been returned to the Sydney City Library; photograph albums which have been placed in CRS 51, Demolition and Resumption Books; City Surveyor's Reports for 1882 to 1906, which have been placed in CRS 42, Annual Reports; and a photograph of silverware presented to a former Mayor and Mayoress, which has been placed in CRS 80. Miscellaneous Photographs.

On 6 August 1994, the Director of Civic and Public Affairs, wrote a minute asking that the City Librarian evaluate the manuscript of Russell's city 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
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Working Papers of Eric Russell, Council Historian, 1911-1985