• Entry type: Resource
  • Entry ID: AWH001791

Jean Arnot interviewed by Amy McGrath [sound recording]

  • Repository National Library of Australia, Oral History and Folklore Collection
  • Reference ORAL TRC 659
  • Date Range 8-Mar-79 - 8-Mar-79
  • Description

    2 sound cassettes (ca. 103 min.) Jean Arnot, librarian and activist for equal pay for women, speaks of her family background; Fort Street School; joining Public (later State) Library of New South Wales; transfer from Bent Street building; design of present Library building; library exams; fight for equal pay; Council of Action for Equal Pay; membership of Public Service Association; family influences; looking after aged parents; Kooroora Club; Business and Professional Women’s Club; United Nations Committee; Sydney Club, Trades and Professions Committee; National Council of Women; Royal Australian Historical Society; Freedom From Hunger, New South Wales Executive; Australian Institute of Librarians; her MBE; knowledge gained through library work; Miles Franklin papers; Havelock Ellis diaries; associated institutions of the SLNSW; book theft; slashing of section on Archbishop Laud from the Dictionary of National Biography; study tours; institutional libraries; attending international cataloguing conference, Paris; library automation; Sir William Dixson coin collection; theft from H.L. White stamp collection; Berkelouw antiquarian booksellers; Riverina CAE Library; Northern Rivers CAE Library; cataloguing private collections; donations of family papers; overseas acquisition of material; Sir William Dixson; David Scott Mitchell; pirated ed. Of The Pickwick Papers; Aboriginal, PNG collecting; cataloguer training; preservation; relocation of SLNSW material during WW2; London Library bomb damage; changes in type of staff; contemporary collectors; retirement activities.

  • Access Access open for research, personal copies and public use.
  • Finding Aid Timed summary and uncorrected transcript available (typescript, 54 leaves).

Related entries


  • Primary Creator
    • Arnot, Jean Fleming (1903 - 1995)
  • See also
    • BPW Australia (1947 - )
    • National Council of Women of Australia (1931 - )