Iron Rations Amongst the Archives

As ANZAC day approaches, spare a thought for soldiers who depended on ‘iron rations’ when out in the field.  The ‘Iron Ration’ was first carried by British soldiers during WW1 for use in the event of their being cut off from regular food supplies. The ration pack was generally made up of items such as preserved meat in a can, meat extract, cheese, hard biscuit, tea, sugar and salt. Adopted by many nations, iron ration packs tend to reflect the foods of those nations.

The holdings of Sir Laurence Hartnett record his activities during the 1940s as Managing Director of General Motors and his war service. The collection includes the item pictured below.

'A Military Iron Ration' Prepared by MacRobertson Pty. Ltd. Fitzroy, Victoria, January 1942, Lawrence Hartnett, 1982.0106 Box 10, University of Melbourne Archives
‘A Military Iron Ration’ Prepared by MacRobertson Pty. Ltd. Fitzroy, Victoria, January 1942, Lawrence Hartnett, 1982.0106 Box 10, University of Melbourne Archives

These instructions are for preparing the fruit component of a ‘Military Iron Ration’ in 1945 by the MacRoberstons Company.

Another item in the collection of the Archives (object 5, UOM 280) reveals what Australian soldiers carried as iron rations in 1942.  Featuring a key to open the tin, it contains 3 complete meals, meal one containing

Carrot biscuits 3 oz pkt, Fruit & nut 3 oz block, Meat & vegetable stew 4 oz tin, Peanut butter 1 ½ oz tin, Barley sugar rolls (4) 1 oz, Caramel bar ½ oz, Skim milk powder ¼ oz pkt, Sugar 2 tablets, Tea 4 tablets and Salt 2 tablets

The reverse of the tin is printed with the following statement:  “This Ration is intended for use in circumstances where normal rations cannot be supplied. This tin contains three complete meals separately wrapped in waterproof cartons. When one meal has been consumed, the remaining two meals can be carried on the person and the Tin discarded.  The contents form a completely balanced ration with ample protective (Vitamin) cover. The complete ration in the tin will keep indefinitely, and can be submerged or buried.”  The one at UMA hasn’t been opened, so we can neither confirm or deny this claim.

Contributors: Melinda Barrie & Sophie Garrett

'A.M.F Operation Ration', UOM 280, University of Melbourne Archives
‘A.M.F Operation Ration’, UOM 280, University of Melbourne Archives

 

In Search of Frank Keating

"Prell's Building" on the corner of Queen St and Flinders Lance, owned and partly occupied by Gibbs, Bright and Co. Sears Studio, late 1880s, Gibbs, Bright and Co, 1980.0115 (BWP 3325)
“Prell’s Building” on the corner of Queen St and Flinders Lance, owned and partly occupied by Gibbs, Bright and Co. Sears Studio, late 1880s, Gibbs, Bright and Co, 1980.0115 (BWP 3325)

Economic Historian Bernard Attard recently discovered some key records in the Gibbs, Bright and Co collection concerning Frank Keating’s role in the pastoral rent battle between the Queensland Labour Government and business during the 1920s. Keating was a prominent businessman of that time -partner with the merchant firm Gibbs, Bright and Co and Chairman of the Australian Pastoral Company.

The discovery of a letter series of Keating correspondence between Keating and the Sydney, Melbourne Gibbs Bright & Co office c1910-1925 provided crucial insight into continued British influence on the Australian economy and connections to the mining industry. This was a major find and Attard highlights the value of our business archives and emphasised the importance of institutional collaboration for the success of his project– specifically citing Jane Beattie, Reading Room Officer as been the ‘real explorer’ here.

The image featured above is of one of the buildings built by property developer F.W Prell, Keating was married to one of his daughters. This grand building built in 1886 and located at 7-9 Queen Street, Melbourne is an example of the Chicagoesque architectural style and featured a distinctive crown cornice. Unfortunately this building has since been demolished and the land redeveloped.

Read more about Attard’s research in the latest edition of the UMA Bulletin

Collections used in this research include:

1980.0115 Gibbs Bright & Co

1975.0089 Sir Wilfred Russell Grimwade

Text, Drawing & Print: A Portrait of Joachim von Sandrart

Together with fellow artist historians Geogio Vasari and Karel van Mander, the works of Joachim von Sandrart I (1606–1688) helped lay the foundation for the art historical philosophies in the Western tradition. Unlike Vasari’s Le Vite de’ più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori  (1550) and van Mander’s Het schilder-boeck (1604), Sandrart’s dictionary of art and compilation of artist biographies, the Teutsche Academie (1675-1679), differs from its predecessors in that it is sumptuously illustrated and of practical appeal.[1]

The scope of Sandrart’s publication exceeded all previous examples of art historiography, but also includes some curious interludes such as translations from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, a reference to the beer produced on his wife’s family estate in Stockau, Germany, and a lengthy autobiography.

 

The Ephesian Artemis
The Ephesian Artemis from the Teutsche Academie (image from BibliOdessey blog; Melbourne UL copy currently on exhibit).

 

The red chalk drawing of Sandrart in the Baillieu Library Print Collection, which had no previous artist attribution, was identified just last year by Sandrart expert, Assistant Professor Susanne Meurer (University of Western Australia), as a self-portrait.[2] Below the drawing is an inscription written in his hand, similar in appearance to those inscriptions which appear below printed portraits. Although he was widely travelled, as the inscription indicates, Sandrart identified himself as being from Stockau, which dates the drawing to after the time of his marriage in 1637.

 

Sandrart self portrait in red chalk.
Sandrart self portrait in red chalk.

 

This drawing parallels his painted self-portrait of 1641, which likewise depicts the same bust in the background.  A close match to the drawing appears in Dr Johann Jacob Volkmann’s ‘improved’ edition of the Teutsche Academie, which portrays Sandrart’s dignified mien, along with his inscription, in the full clarity of a print.[3]

Sandrart’s output of paintings and drawings is substantial, but while he oversaw the production of many prints, he produced few of his own. In the Baillieu’s impression of Sandrart’s Cupid pissing (1640), the wretch holding a urinal for Cupid has been described as both an old man and an old woman.

 

'Cupid Pissing' (1640); etching
‘Cupid Pissing’ (1640); etching

 

Often Cupid is depicted with Venus, his mythological mother, or another strong and beautiful woman. Sandrart’s intention seems to be ambiguous or subversive rather than erotic, although it may also have been an applied one, as the composition is reminiscent of models in an artist’s studio. The grid overlaid on the print suggests that it was copied and used as a primary source. The entry for the print in the Hollstein catalogue records three separate copies have been made after the print.[4]

These works of art provide insights into the discipline of art history and that of Sandrart’s working methods and his character. The Baillieu’s copy of the Teutsche Academie, its important chalk drawing and the overlaid print, all contribute to the construction of an intriguing portrait of Joachim von Sandrart.

Kerrianne Stone (Special Collections Curatorial Assistant (Prints))

 

[1] Baillieu Library Special Collections holds early editions of all three works: the 1550 first edition Vasari; a 1618 edition of van Mander; and the first edition of Sandrart’s Teutsche Academie (1675–79, four volumes bound in two)

[2] For more on Meurer’s prior research into Sandrart, see her article “‘In Verlegung de Autoris’: Joachim von Sandrart and the Seventeenth-Century Book Market” in The Library: The Transactions of the Bibliographical Society 7:4 (Dec. 2006): 419-449

[3] Special Collections does not hold a copy of the Volkmann edition of Sandrart’s Teutsche Academie. The printed portrait, however, is reproduced in Princeton University’s Marquand Library of Art and Archaeology blog post “The ‘German Vasari’?” (accessed 7 April 2014)

[4] F. W. H. Hollstein, German engravings, etchings, and woodcuts, ca. 1400-1700 (Amsterdam: M. Hertzberger, 1954-), 40:16

Fletcher Jones Archive

Fletcher Jones Factory, Pleasant Hill Warrnambool, photograph taken by Melinda Barrie May 2012.
Fletcher Jones Factory, Pleasant Hill Warrnambool, photograph taken by Melinda Barrie May 2012.

The Fletcher Jones collection held at the University of Melbourne Archives provides insight into the events, people and places that shaped the career of this charismatic business entrepreneur and philanthropist; from his early days as a hawker of goods in the Western District, until his retirement in the early 1970s as Managing Director of his successful clothing retail chain, Fletcher Jones & Staff. The company has a special significance to the Warrnambool community, where everybody knows somebody who had been connected to the business. Beyond Warrnambool the clothing brand Fletcher Jones is a household name.

The records documenting this innovative manufacturing business will be available for research access later in 2014. A news release about the Fletcher Jones collection was published in the Warrnambool Standard earlier this week.

Altering Shakespeare: An Interleaved Copy of Antony and Cleopatra

On 23 February 1855, the steamship Pacific docked in Melbourne harbour. Descending the gangway for his first tour of Australia was the Irish actor Gustavus Brooke, along with his wife Marianne, Brooke’s leading lady Fanny Cathcart, and his stage manager Richard W. Younge.

How Younge worked up a play for performance can been seen in his interleaved copy of Antony and Cleopatra, A Tragedy ([London?], ca. 1800), highlighted in this week’s post, along with some commentary on its provenance and use.

 

Half-title signed by R. W. Younge
Half-title inscribed by Richard Younge

 

The inscription shown above reads ‘R. W. Younge Theatre Royal Melbourne Feby 1856’. By ‘Theatre Royal’, Younge is most likely referring to Queen’s Theatre, also known as Queen’s Theatre Royal, where Brooke’s company opened with Othello to wide acclaim, and not the Theatre Royal owned by John Black. At the time of Younge’s February 1856 inscription, Black was in direct competition with the man responsible for Brooke’s Australian tour: the entrepreneurial actor-manager George Coppin, lessee of Queen’s Theatre and owner of the prefabricated Olympic. It was not until June 1856 that Coppin took over the Theatre Royal from his then insolvent rival, and so it is highly doubtful that Younge would have infringed upon his contractual obligations by being in the Theatre Royal before then.[1]

Potential confusion about the inscription aside, what makes this copy particularly interesting are Younge’s notes and textual edits.

 

Opening scene of play with annotations and notes.
Opening scene of play with annotations, notes, and a second inscription by Younge (p. [1])

Not a single page of printed text escaped his pen. Younge crossed out text, jotted down stage notes, cut entire scenes, changed characters, such as Demetrius and Philo being replaced by Enobarbus and Eros at the opening of Act 1, Scene 1 (see above image), and made numerous smaller alternations throughout the play in order to adapt the text to suit the production.

 

Younge's changes to Act 2, Scene 2, with a further inscription
Younge’s changes to Act 2, Scene 2, with a further inscription (p. 26)

 

Younge clearly made good use of the interleaving. His notes range from single lines to full pages of text, including many explanations and interpretation of phrases, definitions of words, musical accompaniment and stage directions, and even the occasional sketch of the set.

 

Sketch of set with stage notes.
Sketch of set with stage notes (p. 50)

 

Further stage notes (p. 51)
Further stage notes (p. 51)

 

Despite the amount of editing and annotation, no evidence could be found that Brooke and his company ever performed Antony and Cleopatra in Australia. Contemporary newspapers record the group performing scenes from Othello, Hamlet, Richard III, Macbeth, and Merchant of Venice. According to the Dictionary of the Australian Theatre, 1788-1914, Antony and Cleopatra was not performed at Melbourne’s Theatre Royal until 1867, six years after the actors returned to England.[2] 

 

Final page with notes.
Final pages (p. 141).

 

Perhaps Brooke and Younge found the existing repertoire sufficiently successful and did not feel the need to introduce scenes from another play.[3] Regardless of the reasons why Antony and Cleopatra was not used, this copy, with its copious notes and amendments, offers a fascinating study in nineteenth-century stage production and a fine connection with a booming Melbourne during Victoria’s early gold rush years.

Anthony Tedeschi (Deputy Curator, Special Collections)

—-

Antony and Cleopatra; A Tragedy by William Shakespeare; Accurately Printed from the Text of Mr Steeven’s Last Edition ([London?], ca. 1800); from the library of Dr John Chapman with his bookplate; purchased by the University of Melbourne from the Chapman sale, Melbourne, 24-25 February 2004 (lot 340)

[1] According to Brooke’s entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, when the juvenile lead Robert James Heir married Fanny Cathcart the pair left Brooke’s company for an engagement at Black’s Theatre Royal. They were brought back by a court injunction. See H. L. Oppenheim, ‘Brooke, Gustavus Vaughan (1818–1866)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/brooke-gustavus-vaughan-3064/text4519, published in hardcopy 1969, accessed online 26 March 2014.

[2] Eric Irvin, Dictionary of the Australian Theatre, 1788-1914 (Sydney: Hale & Iremonger, 1985), 28.

[3] Along with the inscription, the fact the play went unused suggests Younge bought the book in Melbourne where he had it interleaved and bound. His working up of the text for a potential addition of Antony and Cleopatra to an already full programme seems more probable after the company’s arrival in Australia than having such plans in place at the start of the tour and then dropping them.

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