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The collection comprises correspondence, speeches, articles, personal documents and working papers, photographs, newspaper cuttings, awards and degree certificates of Sir Mark Oliphant, and copies of papers by other scientists and academics; also notebooks, reprints and correspondence of Lord Rutherford and articles about him collected by Oliphant for Rutherford Recollections.

The papers cover the period 1927-1999 and include some records relating to Oliphant's period at Cambridge and his war-time work on radar, but principally document his career as Director of the School of Physical Sciences, A.N.U. (1950-1963), as Governor of South Australia (1971-1976) and subsequent to his retirement from public office.

For biographical details of Sir Mark Oliphant, see Oliphant, The Life and Times of Sir Mark Oliphant, by Stewart Cockburn and David Ellyard (Axiom Books, 1981).

The papers were donated to the Barr Smith Library by Sir Mark in March 1984. Access to some of the material (mainly confidential references and letters sent in confidence to Sir Mark by others) is at the discretion of the Librarian. These files or papers are identified in the following list as RESTRICTED.

Additional papers were donated after Sir Mark's death by his daughter Vivian Wilson.  These comprised correspondence, speeches and addresses, largely dating from 1984 but also including some earlier material retained by Sir Mark after depositing the original collection.  The correspondence kept chronologically has been added to Series 2; that arranged into subject files has been integrated into the original Series 3, while files containing speeches and addresses have been added to Series 4.
In May 2003 Dr Len Hibbard donated some valuable additional material relating to the Homopolar generator and his own research on its construction (see Series 25).

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CONDITIONS FOR USE OF THE PAPERS OF SIR MARCUS L.E. OLIPHANT

When depositing his papers with the University of Adelaide in 1984, Sir Mark Oliphant placed a formal restriction only on his correspondence with Sir Walter Crocker, leaving the control of access to all other material to the discretion of the Archivist (D.2495/83).

To enable the widest access to these papers for research purposes while guarding against possible actions for breach of confidence, defamation or infringement of copyright, the following conditions of use have been formulated.

ACCESS
Access will be provided to all records except those specifically closed or restricted below on approval of an application on the prescribed form. Some items may be supplied only as copies, in order to protect the originals.

RESTRICTIONS
Some files or items from Series 2 and Series 3 have been restricted. In general only confidential references and reports and correspondence between Sir Mark and others of an intensely personal nature or with comments on a third party or parties detrimental to their reputation or potentially actionable at law, has been thus restricted. In general such material will be closed until 12 months after the deaths of the parties concerned.
These files are clearly indicated in the Special List.  A summary description of the items restricted can be made available upon request if appropriate notice is given.
 

COPYING AND PUBLICATION

The University does not own copyright in the Oliphant Papers. Copying of individual items for researchers (except those closed or restricted) will be undertaken as far as is consistent with the provisions of the Copyright Act Amendment Act 1981, and where the record will not be damaged by such copying. Copying of copyright material by the University for a researcher, and publication or further reproduction of any item by the researcher or another person can be undertaken only in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Copyright Act and/or the authorisation of the appropriate copyright holder(s).

sw
23/9/1988

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OLIPHANT PAPERS

Contents Listing

Series 1.  Biographical and autobiographical information and personal documents.

[Biographical notes/Curricula vitae and publication lists; birth (1901) and marriage (1925) certificates; passports; copy of Unley High school report June 1916; instructions for procedures after death; extracts from ASIO file [compiled c1952-57]; reflections at New Year 1987 and 'Nunc Dimittis' (partial autobiographical memoir); newspaper and magazine articles/profiles 1988 and 1991; trans. of interviews with Ann Meyrl-Hazel de Berg for National Library 1993; obituaries, including transcript of public Commemoration by the Academy of Science 25 August 2000 and video and programme of Memorial service held at Bonython Hall, University of Adelaide, 18 August 2000]
AAS Memoir by Bob Compton (final draft, typescript and published copy) and tribute by the Governor General at the ANU service, 25 August 2000.
see also Series 2, including file 1967 incorporating letters 1960-70 relating to Oliphant's views on God/religion.
 

Series 2.  Personal and general correspondence.  1927-99.  3 m.

[Arranged chronologically (with some early distinction between personal and miscellaneous correspondence) and kept separate by Oliphant from the Correspondence files of series 3.  Early correspondence includes items from an alphabetical concertina letter file (re Oliphant’s 1951 Scholarship, his grant of a Scholarship by the Royal Society 1931-35, appointment as assistant Director of Research in Physics at Cambridge, 1935, election to the Royal Society, 1937, etc.); also papers re the construction of his house in Canberra, 1949-50 and correspondence with his parents (1951), his medical adviser, Dr. Bruce Lindsay (1970-72) and his son Michael (1970-77).  There are only a relatively small number of items for the period 1952-71 - but see file Miscellaneous in Series 3 for some general correspondence 1956-71. From 1975 more undifferentiated personal correspondence is included, as is unsolicited correspondence of a similar nature to that categorised in the Correspondence files (Series 3) as Cranks.  Additional personal correspondence is contained in the Personal, M.L.O. and many other files in Series 3]

Series 3.  Correspondence files.  1953-99. 5 m.

[Received initially in two alphabetical sequences, a formal file registration system covering the period 1953-75 (subdivided c.1965 into 'old' and 'current' files for administrative convenience by Oliphant's secretary), and an informal series of titled and untitled files for 1975-83. Further files were received after Sir Mark's death from his daughter, some created entirely after 1983 but others of earlier date that had been retained by Sir Mark on the initial transfer of his papers.  These have now been integrated in the interests of research access. The original lists of the registered files created during the ANU years are filed at the beginning of the series - note that only the files underlined in those lists were received by the University of Adelaide in 1983. A Special List of file titles received in all transfers to 2000 appears below.]

Series 4.  Speeches and addresses. 1954-94.  4 m.

[Arranged chronologically. Until 1975 and from 1984-88 the speeches are largely in individual titled files detailing the date and purpose of the address.  Series 2 includes correspondence relating to many other invitations to speak and the Series 3 files include papers relating to other lectures.
see also Sound Recordings (Series 19) and Publications and reprints (Series 21)

Series 5.  Scrapbooks - Newspaper cuttings relating to Oliphant's term as Governor of South Australia. Nov.1971-Nov.1976. 3v.
see also Photographs (Series 7) and Government House and other files in Series 3

Series 6.  Newspaper cuttings.  1964, 1967, 1975, 1977-93. 5 cm.
see also Series 17

Series 7.  Photographs.  c1927-92 (many undated). 20 cm.
1. Family and personal.  2. Portraits of Oliphant.  3. Groups including Oliphant.  4. Other individuals and events.  5. Albums of visit to University of Ghana, 1969 and of opening of 3rd session of the 40th Parliament of South Australia 18 July 1972.
Item listing is in course of preparation

Series 8.  Commissions, medals, certificates, warrants and plaques.  c.1949-80. 50 cm.
[see Special List]

Series 9.  Typescript of Oliphant's doctoral thesis 'The Cathode Region of the Glow and Arc discharges of electricity through gases'.  Aug. 1930. 1v.

Series 10.  Laboratory notebooks c1930-70.   v.
Physics Lecture Notes {mainly lectures given at Cambridge} c.1930-36, 1947 and undated.
Cavendish Laboratory - at front Abstracts (date span October 1932-1937) and at rear Notes of experiments November 1933-[1934?].
Untitled {Birmingham}15 May 1945 -April? 1946 re construction of cyclotron, examination of various requirements and tentative specifications; in back, draft of letter to professor R. Peierls and to Mr. Warren, BTH, re equipment associated with the accelerator; and notes on Atomic Energy and its application to medicine and biology [start of a lecture?]
'HPG [Switchgear?] - Brushes'  - notes and calculations 1962-63.
'Mercury or NaK'  - notes and calculations 1963.
'Magnet' - notes and calculations - possibly also 1962-63 but with 'Mark III' additional notes 1970.
[Exercise book] 'Misc. Charge exchanges, etc.' Berkeley? 1965? Includes a ms paper 'An Accelerator for very high Energies using Superconductors' {ie the proton synchrotron}
Untitled calculations, notes on apparatus etc. - no indication of date or place of creation but possibly also on US visit 1965.
ANU Laboratory workbook 'left behind when he retired' - notes and calculations
Laboratory notebook [not Oliphant] December 1939-March 1940.

Miscellaneous Papers relating to War-Time Radar and Uranium Enrichment  Work (Series 11-18)

Series 11.  Address and notebook [U.S. trip]. Aug.-Sept.1941. 1v.  [unbound].
Copy of letter from W.D. Coolidge to F.B. Jewitt, 11 Sept. 1941 referring to Oliphant's visit.

Series 12.  Pages from war-time note book n.d. (c.1942). 1 cm.
[Appear to relate to Oliphant's visit to Australia on radar work in 1942-43.]

Series 13.  “Instructions” for visit to U.S., n.d. 3 p.

Series 14.  Letters from E.V. Appleton, 15 November 1943 re Oliphant's appointment to Tube Alloys Research in the U.S. - [working on uranium enrichment by electromagnetic methods], and 3 August 1945 re Oliphant's "scheme" for a new type of particle accelerator; also copy of letter to Dr J.W. Jenkin from the ministry of Aircraft Production 18 September 1944 re flash welding mission to America.  1943-45. 4 items
(see also Gowing file in Series 3)

Series 15.  R.A.F. Ferrying Commands, accommodation order Newfoundland Airport I.D. card and air travel card.  1941. (5 items) and unidentified photographs.

Series 16.  Report on the Possible use of High Flying Dirigible Balloons by Japanese, as observed 19 May 1942 on H.M.T. Dominion Monarch. 1942.

Series 17.  Copy of publication Statements Relating to the Atom Bomb, 1945 and newspaper cuttings re radar and atomic weapons/energy (including Daily Telegraph 7 August 1945 re the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan and re the proposed development of uranium at Mt. Painter in South Australia).  c1945-47.

Series 18.  'Radar Period 1938-44'  Manuscript and typescript record by Oliphant of the history of the war-time radar project, principally re the formative role of (Sir) John Cockcroft.  n.d. 2 cm.
see also Series 2 1987 which includes a typescript memoir of John Randall and microwave radar by Maurice Wilkins.

Series 19.  Sound and visual recordings. 1949, 1958, c.1967, 1977 and undated. [1976]. 5 items.
[Movietone News interview, 1949 (16mm sound film); J.N. Kirby lecture on the possibilities of Thermo-nuclear power and its significance for Australia, 1958 (reel-to-reel
tape); television interview with Leonard Bickel, c.1967 (16mm film); speech ‘Science, Technology and Society’ October 1977 (cassette); and television programme ‘Farewell Sir Mark’ n.d. [1976] (colour video cassette).]
see also Series 1, video of Memorial service

Series 20.  Typescripts of articles and reviews by Oliphant for the Sydney Morning Herald 1977-80; Age 1977, 1979 and Canberra Times 1980, with some related correspondence. 1977-80.   4 cm.

Series 21.  Publications and reprints (articles and contributions by Oliphant). 1928-82.
see Special List
see also Series 4

Series 22.  Miscellaneous notes and mementos. 1935, 1946, 1967 and undated.
[Including copies of poem "Aston's Dilemma" by A.E. Kempton, sung at Cavendish dinner 1935, and sketch of Peter Kapitza and Sir John Cockcroft, 1967.]

Series 23.  Copies of miscellaneous articles and addresses, principally by and about other scientists. 1956-96. 6 cm .
['On the moral obligation of the scientist' by Albert Einstein October 1952 (reprinted in The Bulletin March 1979); Royal Society anniversary address by Lord Adrian, 1956; ‘The Evolutionary Vision’ by Sir Julian Huxley, 1959; ‘Man and Nature’ by Sir Harold Hatley, Romanes Lecture 1964; ‘A Theologian's View of De Chardin’ by D.S. Kemsley 1966; Gandhi Memorial Lectures by P.M.S. Blackett, 1968; articles on Sir Peter Medewar, Nature Sept. 1969 and The Listener August 1972; 'Reflections on the resonances of Physics history' by Robert Oppenheimer 1971; ‘Rutherford's Electrical Method’ by T.J. Trenn, 1971; ‘Newton's Health and Confusion to Mathematics’ 1971 and ‘Samuel Johnson as Anti Scientist’, 1975 by J.R. Philip; ‘After the Dreaming’ by W.E.H. Stanner, 1972; ‘Inflation’ and ‘Portrait of a Lady’ [Joan Robinson] by G.C. Harcourt n.d. (c.1975); 'T.H. Laby' by H.S.W. Massey 1980; 'Rudolf Peierls: the scientist in public affairs' by R.S. Pease 1996; 'The Cavendish high-voltage laboratory 1935-39' by W.E. Burcham 1999; draft of article on J.C. Jaeger by M.S. Paterson, n.d.; collection of reprints and photographs collected in Russia in April 1965; issues of Adelect 1930-35 with cartoons and articles by K.M. (Dick) Oliphant; and miscellaneous articles, book reviews, etc.]

Series 24.  Collection of ‘Rutherfordiana’, comprising reprints of Rutherford's papers, correspondence, photographs, obituary notices, notebooks and articles about Rutherford.
1896-1974, 1987. 30 cm.

1. Laboratory notebook, Oct.1896 1v.
2. Notes on experiments re Emanation from Radium and Diffusion of Emanations. April-July [no year]. 1v.
3. Reprints of published papers and of lectures. 1901-36. 15 cm.
4. Letter of application and testimonials for McDonald Chair of Physics at McGill University, Montreal. 1898. 1v.
5. Correspondence (originals and copies) c.1906-37, mainly with Professor Schuster (1906, 1919) and re purchase of Lenard Ray Tubes, 1937; also copy of letter to Professor Nagaoka re work in the Cavendish laboratory, 1911, correspondence conducted by Oliphant re the Rutherford carving by E. Gill, 1933-34, and report on the thesis of W.B. Lewis, n.d.  2 cm.
6. Obituary notices and newspaper cuttings re Rutherford's funeral 1937-38. 2cm.
7. Articles about Rutherford, including Oliphant's Rutherford article in Endeavour 1987. 1939-74, 1987.   4 cm.
8. Photographs. c.1905-37 (mostly undated) 4 cm.
9. Rutherford Memorial Lecture 1956 by Charles Darwin.
see also Rutherford and Campbell, J.A. in Series 3

Series 25.  Papers of Len Hibbard relating to his article, ’Oliphant – Engineer’ and the construction of the ANU Homopolar generator.  1946-97.  15 cm.
These papers were donated by Dr Hibbard in May 2003.

1.’Oliphant – Engineer’.  73 p. typescript and CD-ROM copy.
2. Documents collected by Hibbard relating to research for his paper on Oliphant and the Homopolar generator, including correspondence with Oliphant and others, articles, photographs and newspaper cuttings. 1946-64.  File also includes a letter from Hibbard to Oliphant 1971 on the death of Michael Oliphant, and menu of the official dinner given to Sir Mark and Lady Oliphant 8 october 1981.  6 cm.
3. Additional documents re the construction of the Homopolar generator, including minutes of the Accelerator Committee November 1956 and of Homopolar Generator Design and Construction meetings 1959-61.
4. Correspondence of Hibbard with John Lawson, Rutherford Appleton Laboratories, and Bill Burcham 1995 re Lawson’s research on early synchroton work in England, with copies of Lawson’s notes and published paper 1993 and 1997 and Proceedings of the Birmingham Synchroton 40th anniversary reunion symposium September 1993.
5. Correspondence with Ken Inall re his research on Oliphant, with a copy of Inall’s paper ‘Some of what Mark Oliphant did and others who worked with him’, May 2001.

See also Series 3, Homopolar Generator files.