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| Manuscript Name | Papers of Suzanne Spunner |
| Manuscript Number | MSS 221 |
| Last Updated | June 2021 |
| Extent | 8 boxes + 1 AV box |
| Location | Special Collections, UNSW Canberra |
| Abstract | Manuscripts of published and unpublished works of Suzanne Spunner along with archival material of the Women's Theatre Group and Lip Feminist Arts Journal. Includes theatre programs, reviews, correspondence, notebooks, research material, and audiovisual material |
Collection Subject Type
Literary
Scope and Content
The collection of Suzanne Spunner includes her own literary work along with papers of the Women’s Theatre Group (of which Spunner was briefly a member and appeared in one production) and Lip Feminist Arts Journal (of which Spunner was a co-ordinator from 1977-1978). Contents include correspondence, programs, reviews, scripts, articles, publicity material, submissions, applications, and manuscripts. Extensive material relating to drama Running Up a Dress: A Mother and Daughter Dialogue (1988) includes dressmaking patterns and information, interviews, scripts drafts, and notes
Date Range of Content
1978-1990
Biographical Note
Suzanne Spunner was born in 1951 in Dromana, Victoria. After graduating from the University of Melbourne in 1973, she worked across a range of sectors including tutoring and lecturing, review writing for the Melbourne Times, conducting radio programmes and co-ordinating Lip Feminine Arts Journal.
In 1987 she moved with her family to Darwin where she lived for a decade and began engaging with Aboriginal art and culture, eventually undertaking a Graduate Certificate in Art Authentication and a PhD examining the works of Rover Thomas. In addition to these activities, she has been a board member of the Australian National Playwrights Centre in Sydney and 24 Hr Art, a founding member of the Home Cooking Theatre Company, and established Paradise Productions in Darwin. Her publications include dramas such as Running Up a Dress: A Mother and Daughter Dialogue (1988) as well as essays, reviews, articles, and the co-composition of textbooks in Australian studies
References:
Austlit : Suzanne Spunner https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A20712 retrieved 23 June 2020
Suzanne Spunner: Writer, researcher, playwright, Aboriginal Art Authenticator https://www.suzannespunner.com/ retrieved 23 June 2020
Administrative Information
Access and Copying Conditions
Access: Open Access
This collection contains a variety of copyright material. Copyright is held by the creator of each item. Specific conditions for this collection are listed below. If no conditions are stipulated then the standard terms of the Copyright Act apply for published and unpublished items. Digitised material from manuscript collections is provided to clients by UNSW Canberra in good faith for private study and research only, and may not be published or re-purposed without the express and written permission of the individual legal holder of that copyright. Refer also to the UNSW copyright, disclaimer and takedown policy.
Copying: Copying of material for private study and research is approved
Preferred Citation
Papers of Suzanne Spunner, Special Collections, UNSW Canberra, Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra, MSS 221, Box [Number], Folder [Number].
Provenance
Check with Curator
Subject Keywords
Subjects
Suzanne Spunner — Archives
Australian drama — 20th century
Feminism — Australia — Periodicals
Mothers and daughters — Drama
Personal Names
Suzanne Spunner
Corporate Names
Lip Feminist Arts Journal
Women’s Theatre Group
Occupations
Dramatists
Authors
Container List
Box 1
Folder 1
‘Not Still Lives’ : semi final draft, 1984; Publication - Redress, Greenhouse, Yackandandah, Currency Press; Applications for performance
Theatre program - ‘Basket Weaving for Amateurs’ plus reviews of play
Folder 2
‘Not Still Lives’ : draft with clippings; printed programs
‘Looking In ... Looking Out’ : programs and reviews
‘I Am Whom You Infer” : reviews, correspondence, manuscript of play
Folder 3
Lip Feminist Arts Journal : correspondence and reader; photocopied articles
Folder 4
Lip Feminist Arts Journal : reader; photocopied articles
Folder 5
Lip Feminist Arts Journal : correspondence, minutes of meetings, photographs, art work
Folder 6
Script drafts
Box 2
Folder 7
Script drafts
Folder 8
‘Not Still Lives’ : rough copies of script
Folder 9
‘Not Still Lives’ : press releases and publicity leaflets; reviews
Folder 10
‘Not Still Lives’ : photocopies of photographs; notes; draft of script; press clippings of advertisements
Folder 11
‘Not Still Lives’ : Program, bookings; Native Flowers; curriculum vitae; submission/budget; press releases, correspondence
Folder 12
Correspondence, clippings and publicity material concerning women, Arts Festival and Nimrod Theatre Company
‘The Video’ : script of ‘Mrs Preston’s Kitchen Demonstration’
Folder 13
‘Not Still Lives’; photocopied draft of script
Box 3
Folder 14
‘Not Still Lives’ : three notebooks
Folder 15
‘Not Still Lives’ : two sketch books
Folder 16
Photocopied draft of ‘Still Life Painters, But Not Still Lives : Margaret Preston and Thea Proctor’
Folder 17
Receipt book
Box 4
Folder 18
Draft script of ‘Edna for the Garden’
Advertisement for play
Folder 19
Draft script of ‘Edna for the Garden’
Research material on Edna Walling
Home Cooking Theatre Company correspondence
Grant applications
Correspondence and report to the Victorian Ministry of the Arts
Folder 20
Home Cooking Theatre Company : applications for grants; 1985 current business; promotional material; name and address lists
Folder 21
Photocopies of books and articles by and about Edna Walling
Folder 22
Two combined diary/notebooks on Edna Walling material
Box 5
Folder 23
Correspondence with Victoria Chance of Currency Press concerning publication of article on ‘Women’s Theatre’ by Suzanne Spunner and Hilary Glow in A Companion to Theatre in Australia
Draft manuscripts of ‘Women’s Theatre’ : article in A Companion to Theatre in Australia
Correspondence with Hilary Glow
Folder 24
Material on Edna Walling, gardening, and reference to Walling and her work
Folder 25
Expanding Masterfile A-Z (contents) :
(a) - Women’s Theatre Workers Group correspondence
(b) - Promotional material for plays, Women’s Theatre material and correspondence
Folder 26
Expanding Masterfile A-Z (contents) :
(c) - programs for Melbourne Theatre Company productions
(d) - Women’s Theatre material
Folder 27
Expanding Masterfile A-Z (contents) :
(e) - Women’s Theatre material including - promotional material, play programs and information, Playbox Theatre Company material, theatre reviews, press clippings
Folder 28
Expanding Masterfile A-Z (contents) :
(f) - Women’s Theatre material - Jeanie Lewis ‘For a Dancer’, Robyn Archer ‘The Pack of Women’ and ‘A Star is Torn’
(g) - La Mama Theatre material
(h) - Women’s Theatre material including - Universal Theatre, Flying Trapeze Cafe and others
Folder 29
Expanding Masterfile A-Z (contents) :
(i-j) - Women’s Theatre promotional material, reviews
(k) - Women’s Theatre material
(l) - Women’s Theatre material - comedy
Folder 30
Expanding Masterfile A-Z (contents) :
(m) - Women’s Theatre Group notes, Pram Factory, Women’s Festival material
(n-o) - Women’s Theatre Group notes, Pram Factory material, Women’s Festival material, press clippings
Box 6
Folder 31
Expanding Masterfile A-Z (contents) :
(p-q) - ‘Women and Theatre’, seminar paper by Pam Heckenberg
(r) - Material on the history of women’s theatre in Australia
(s) - Draft copies of paper ‘If Betty Could Jump Then, She Can Certainly Run Now : the Impact of Feminism on Theatre in Melbourne’
Folder 32
Expanding Masterfile A-Z (contents) :
(t) - Notes about writing for the theatre
(u-v) - Correspondence with Nick Williams of Croom Helm Australia. Submissions for grant. Correspondence with Margaret (Williams ?)
(w) - ‘Women and Theatre in Australia’ material
Folder 33
(w) (continued) - three notebooks
Folder 34
(x-y-z) - ‘Women and Theatre’ material, notes. ‘Women and Labour Conference’ material - bulletin and notes
Folder 35
Fringe Festival 1990 material ‘Gossip’
Script of Running up a Dress
Folder 36
Car Park Project : earlier, plus final drafts of ‘Safe ‘n’ Sound : the Driver as Mother’ - a radio play
ABC Radio drama preview
Correspondence with ABC Radio
Folder 37
Car Park Project : notes and early draft of ‘Safe ‘n’ Sound’
Car child safety leaflets
Programs and reviews for ‘Automania at the Carpark’
Working draft of Running up a Dress
Folder 38
Running up a Dress : Northern Territory tour material
Box 7
Folder 39
Running up a Dress : script drafts
Folder 40
Running up a Dress : script drafts
Folder 41
Running up a Dress : script drafts and publicity
Folder 42
Running up a Dress : proposals to Literature Board / Theatre Board, report to same
Folder 43
Running up a Dress ; reviews, articles, press clippings
Folder 44
Running up a Dress : correspondence, proposed reports to Literature Board / Theatre Board
Folder 45
Running up a Dress : script, photocopied material about dressmaking
Folder 46
Running up a Dress : small notebook, photocopied material about Suzanne Spunner, her mother and sewing notes
Box 8
Folder 47
Running up a Dress : notes
Folder 48
Running up a Dress : three notebooks
Folder 49
Running up a Dress : clothes patterns
Folder 50
Running up a Dress : clothes patterns, Australian Home Journal, November 1964
Folder 51
Running up a Dress : clothes patterns, sewing material
Folder 52
Material concerning the Touring and Access Fund and The Australia Council
Press clippings
Photograph Album/s
Photo Album 1
Running up a Dress : Slides (refer Folder 52)
Audio Visual material
AV1
Audio cassette tapes (six) : interview with Bernard and Kate Smith on Preston, Proctor
AV2
Audio cassette tapes (six) ; Gloria Spunner, reviews, interviews