Exploring Heritage

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Thu, 22 Mar 2012 13:38:45 +1100

Archive blog: this blog is not longer active

More on Oscar Schindler

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:43:36 +1100

Thanks to those who have comment on our recent display of the carbon copy of what has become known as Schindler's List.

It's fascinating to see that this list (really one of many complied between 1944 and 1945) creates much interest. Interest also grows as copies of the list have been found around the world.

Why ? The story of the list is obviously a factor, and the film by Stephen Spielberg helped create many myths about not only the central story of the people saved by Oscar Schindler but also about the wonderful work. Slowly, some of these are being answered.

A recent book by Mietek Pemper, The road to rescue : the untold story of Schindler's List, was released in 2008, throws more light on the work of many people in protecting the prisoners of war.

I've found that the film Schindler, released by Thames Television in 1983 includes interviews with some people involved with the story and through these and other research, light is thrown on the character of Oscar Schindler.

Obviously, the wider story of these times is still being assessed. I'm sure there's more about Schindler's remarkable life and work to be published.

Mary Poppins: From page to screen

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:46:50 +1100

Emma Gray, who curated the Mary Poppins display just opened at the Heritage gallery, writes about P. L. Travers and her well known character. The display is in the Heritage gallery until November 2009.

Most of us have childhood memories of Mary Poppins, the Disney musical, but very few of us realise that the author of the Poppins books on which the film is based was Australian-born P.L. Travers, whose literary papers are held in the Mitchell Library's collections.

P.L. Travers (1899-1996) was born in Maryborough, Queensland and grew up in Bowral and Ashfield, in New South Wales. Travers began her writing career as a schoolgirl and headed to London in 1924 to work as a journalist.

Mary Poppins was Travers' first major literary success and was published in 1934. Over the next 50 years, Travers wrote eleven books which featured the enigmatic nanny. The Poppins series is full of symbolism and the character of Mary Poppins has variously been interpreted as a 'wise woman' or 'mother goddess', although it was Travers' lifelong policy never to 'explain' Poppins or her mysterious personality.

Floating away over the roofs of the houses, Mary Shepard

© Courtesy of N E Middleton Artists' Agency.

The Mary Poppins created by Travers was vain, strict and often accusatory. Mary Poppins as interpreted by the Disney Company and portrayed by Julie Andrews was a cloyingly sweet nanny, encouraging mischievousness in her charges and inspired by the desire to bring the children closer to their parents. Travers was dismayed by this interpretation, as well as by the Americanisation of Poppins' dialogue. Her copy of the Disney script is covered with notes, alterations and crossings-out. Her interference in the film almost led to Disney refusing to ask her to the premiere, although he relented at the last minute.

Travers' disappointment in the film was certainly not shared by the public and the musical has gone on to become one of the most popular children's films of all time. 2009 marks the 75th anniversary of the publication of Mary Poppins and the 45th anniversary of the Disney film.

Selections from the Travers papers on display in the Nelson Meers Heritage Gallery include Travers' copy of the Disney film script; her own first edition copy of Mary Poppins; printed illustrations for the Poppins books by Mary Shepard; and a selection of correspondence between Travers, Walt Disney and Julie Andrews.

Emma Gray

Death in Hawaii

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:10:25 +1100

Louise Anemaat, who curated James Cook: Death of a hero, the display now on show in the gallery, talks about the immediate impact of the death of one of history's greatest navigators.

While most of us know that Captain James Cook died in Hawaii during his third voyage (1776-1779), probably few of us have stopped to wonder about the impact his violent, unnecessary death had on his officers and crew, and on the Hawaiians who witnessed or perpetrated it.

After being treated with godlike reverence by the Hawaiians, a series of misfortunes, misunderstandings and misguided actions led to the death of James Cook, pride of the British Empire and the greatest of all navigators, on a beach in Hawaii.

The reactions and feelings, the blame and counter blame which quickly followed as the reality of Cook's death sunk in have been recorded in the journals and logbooks of several of the men under Cook's command. Written with a sense of shock and disbelief, Cook's officers convey the utter bewilderment as the reality of their loss set in. Their agonising grief is palpable.

Henry Roberts, who had also sailed on Cook's second voyage (1772-1775) and was Master's Mate on the third, wrote in his log on 14 February 1779 of the 'sorrow in every countenance.' Young Midshipman, George Gilbert, of the Resolution, wrote: 'When on the Return of the Boats we were inform'd of the Captain's Death, a general Silence ensued throughout the Ship for the Space of near half an Hour; it appearing to us somewhat like a Dream ...' We can almost feel the silence Gilbert describes.

After Cook's unexpected death, the command of the expedition passed to Charles Clerke, commander of the companion ship Discovery. (Clerke, already very ill with tuberculosis, died a few months later in August.)

While some of the Hawaiians mocked, others were moved to return Cook's burnt and disfigured body to his men for burial. On 21 February 1779, Captain Cook's remains were buried at sea with full honours. The Resolution and Discovery sailed from Hawaii to Kamchatka, on the Siberian east coast, sending letters conveying news of the death of Cook before sailing north in yet another attempt, their second on this voyage, to search of the North West Passage.

George Gilbert's log entry for that day reads: 'We sail'd from hence with great Dissatisfaction on Account of the Death of our unfortunate Commander which still lay heavy upon our Minds, as being truly sensible of our Loss this together with the Thought of the approaching Season to the Northward, the Hardships of the last being still recent in our Memory, and will never be effac'd from mine, render'd us quite dispirited.'

Antarctic maps

Wed, 20 May 2009 16:49:10 +1100

After travelling to Antarctica for nearly 16 years and after having published books and articles, delivered countless talks and curated several exhibitions on the topic of people in the far south, you'd think I'd be a little jaded.

Not really, there are too many ways to show the fascinating history of Antarctica. It's not just the tales of explorers banging away against a hostile environment, but the stories of people trying to live everyday lives in a weird and wonderful world that are really important.

Maps are a wonderful means of telling this story. Obviously about exploration and geographical discovery, maps are also about how we see a land and its features, and how people lived and worked in the new regions.

The first map displayed in the Nelson Meers Foundation Heritage Collection display of Antarctic maps is the Henrick Hondius, a detail of which is currently on the Library's home page.

Look at the decorations around the edges, and you can see glimpses of the lives of the local people and the wildlife. The bottom left hand corner for example, (the one published on the Library's home page) shows the people meeting locals, somehow diminished in form by the storytelling, but animated, and depicted against a dramatic backdrop.

On the other corner of the map we see a penguin, a little larger than we'd expect, but standing as a symbol of the new lands. If we look closer to the background of this corner we see people hunting penguins. They may be locals but they are more likely to be European sailors who hunted the penguins for food, a fact we can confirm by reading contemporary accounts of voyages through the region.

As people settled in the south, maps became more detailed and more accurate. It's a common process and one that is demonstrated in collections everywhere - and particularly in the Heritage gallery over the next few months.

Stephen Martin

A Schindler list

Tue, 12 May 2009 13:26:59 +1100

‘The list is life. All around its cramped margins lies the gulf'.1 - Keneally

While assessing material for display, Stephen Martin and I came across a flimsy yellowed document, seemingly prosaic but at once deeply moving. It is a list of male workers at Oskar Schindler's war-time factory. Typed in German, it is a simple document, one that details the nationality and religion, name, date of birth and occupation of those included. Yet it is one of the twentieth century's most resonant manuscripts.

Olwen Pryke, Stephen Martin and Tom Keneally examine pages from the copy of Schindler's List.

The list of prisoners for relocation formed the foundation of the group later identified as Schindlerjuden (‘Schindler Jews') - more than 1000 men and women Schindler defended with fierce and often stubborn determination.

It was acquired by the State Library in 1996 with an extensive collection of research material that accompanied Thomas Keneally's Schindler's List manuscript. The material includes copies of the novel in various stages of draft, as well as pamphlets, photographs and newspaper clippings that inspired Keneally while writing the novel.

Carbon copy of List at State Library New South Wales

Much of this material was given to Keneally by Poldek Pfefferberg, a ‘Schindler Jew'. While in Los Angeles in 1980, Keneally, in search of a new briefcase, entered Pfefferberg's shop. In the course of conversation Keneally revealed that he was an author and Pfefferberg, a keen advocate for Oskar Schindler, recounted what he considered to be the ‘greatest story of humanity, man to man'.

Keneally's evocative account brought Schindler's actions to the world's attention and in the process, reshaped popular understandings of the Holocaust. Published as Schindler's List in the United States, and as Schindler's Ark in other countries, the novel was awarded the Booker Prize in 1982. The Academy award-winning film directed by Steven Spielberg came later, released in 1993.

More than one

‘There is again a haziness suitable to a legend about the precise chronology of Oskar's list ... The problem is that the list is remembered with an intensity which, by its very heat, blurs'.2 - Keneally

There is no one ‘Schindler's list', but many. Several lists were made during 1944 and 1945 and an unknown number of copies have since been created. For example, it is known that Mietek Pemper made copies of the lists for administrative purposes but also in a far-sighted and confident attempt to document the events of the Holocaust for the future. A Jewish prisoner forced to work as the commandant's personal stenographer at the Plaszow camp, Pemper soon developed an understanding of the Nazi bureaucracy. He recalls that whenever prisoners were transferred from one camp to another, lists were required.3

Yad Vashem The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority holds one list believed to have been drawn up by Schindler on 18 April 1945: it contains 14 pages of male prisoners and 5 pages of female prisoners. It is held amongst the papers of Dr Schwarzbart (File M.2/420 Yad Vashem Archives). Other copies of this list are also held by Yad Vashem, including this digitised copy.

Professor David Crowe has made a study of the multiple ‘Schindler's Lists' generated during 1944 and 1945. After a great deal of research in Poland, he claims to have discovered a complete set of lists in Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum.4

Other copies of the list are known to be held by ‘Schindler Jews' and their families, including the Pfefferbergs.

Research continues

The Library is attempting to determine the exact date of the list we hold.

Recently Tom Keneally told the story behind his influential novel Schindler's List and took time to reflect on its significance today. The podcast is now available.

We invite you to come and see the copy of the list and Keneally's manuscript, on display until November in the Nelson Meers Foundation Heritage Collection Gallery . If you have any information to add to our understanding of the collection or just questions, post a comment or contact us.

Olwen Pryke

Notes

The Library's copy is missing one page, page 13 of the 14 page list of male prisoners.

1 Thomas Keneally, Schindler's Ark, Sydney:Hodder and Stroughton, 1983, p. 312.

2 Thomas Keneally, Schindler's Ark, Sydney: Hodder and Stroughton, 1983, pp.311-312.

3 Mietek Pemper, The Road to Rescue: The Untold Story of Schindler's List, Other Press, New York, 2008, pp.139-140

4 David M. Crowe, Oskar Schindler: The Untold Account of His Life, Wartime Activities, and the True Story Behind the List, Westview Press, Cambridge, MA, 2004, pp. 361-404

Treasures

Thu, 07 May 2009 14:15:22 +1100

Do you know that feeling of privilege when you see a wonderful thing or place for the first time? When you look from the stern of a vessel and gaze and the delicacy and grace of albatross hanging in the wind ? And then you come into the Library, open a volume of watercolours painted in the southern regions by a member of Cook's 1773-75 expedition and see a similar albatross pictured in a volume that stands as a permanent and engaging record of human's first venture that far south.

It's that sort of excitement - standing before a unique item of human history, one that might tie you into personal experience or a shared knowledge - that is a part of the Heritage gallery experience. It's a beautiful connection between the immediate and the recollected and a unique example of how this is maintained and represented.

Look at the items currently in the gallery - material from the famous and historic Burns and Johnson fight in Sydney in 1908, when, from the first time an African American fighter could challenge for the world heavyweight boxing championship. He did and he won. Or a carbon copy of Schindler's List, the transit list of Jewish prisoners who were sheltered from the Nazis by Oskar Schindler in 1945. Or the remarkable eyewitness accounts of the death of Captain James Cook in 1779.

All are items from the State Library of New South Wales and all mark of significant moments in world history. It's exciting and moving to see them displayed and that's why they are shown.

Stephen Martin

About the curator

Wed, 06 May 2009 14:11:22 +1100

For over 30 years I've built an interest in the communication of history and its stories. I'm an enthusiastic writer, having written many books and curated several exhibitions, including displays for the Heritage Collection gallery.

I've worked in a number of places within the Library and loved them all. Of most interest to this site is Events and Exhibitions, Mitchell and Collection Development, places that most excited the thirst for information about the Library and its holdings.

My interests are pretty diverse, although many people know me for a passion in the history of Antarctica - stimulated in no small part by the wonderful collection of Antarctic related materials in the Library. But I'm also fascinated by the many ways in which the collections reflect the European notions of indigenous life, the changes in our environment and our social growth.

The diversity of the Library's collections is one of its many strengths and I enjoy talking to a wide range of groups about the Library - and in some interesting locations; schools, websites, community groups and cruise ships. The discussions not only cover the fascinating items but also describe ways of finding out about these treasures.

When I became Coordinating Curator of the Nelson Meers Foundation Heritage Collection, I was immediately taken with the possibilities for the display of the State Library of New South Wales treasures. Here, I thought was a wonderful opportunity to exercise these interests through the gallery and its website.

Stephen Martin

About this blog

Wed, 06 May 2009 14:03:03 +1100

Here on the Exploring Heritage blog we will be discussing and analysing items displayed in the Nelson Meers Heritage Collection gallery and online.

Opened in 2003, the Nelson Meers Heritage Collection gallery is a ten-year project supported by the Nelson Meers Foundation.

The gallery exhibits a wide variety of items from the State Library collection in well-researched boutique displays. The items represent some of the greatest individual endeavours and highest achievements as well as the rich variety of material that people use in their personal lives or as research materials. The displays in the gallery are continually refreshed through the display of new items and by the periodic turning of pages of the journals or diaries.

The Gallery is as an exciting means of sustaining long term interest in the Library and its treasures.

So this blog is about these items and their contexts, the stories that surround the items and their meanings. The articles will be written by the curators of the displays and we hope to see contributions offered by you. Let us know what you think about displays or items: What do they mean to you? Have you a brickbat or bouquet to toss at us about the display or its context?

We'd love to hear from you.