The Australian Women's Register

Records in the collection document the long career of artist and art educator Frances Derham. Professional papers document her career as a teacher at the following institutions: Swinburne Girls Junior Technical School, Kindergarten Training College, Mercer House, Preshil Kindergarten, and Columbia University Teachers College. Professional papers in the collection also include those relating to her involvement in societies for art educators, including: International Society for Education through Art, Australian Society for Education through Art conferences, Art Teachers Association of Victoria. Professional records in the collection include: correspondence, student assignments and exams, syllabi, teaching notes, conference papers, articles on art education, typescripts of ‘Art for the Child under Seven’, and published journals. Personal papers in the collection document her childhood, artistic process, and extensive communications with immediate and extended family members. Personal records in the collection include: art sketchbooks and designs, correspondence with family and friends, Christmas cards, postcards, notebooks, appointment diaries, address books, personal financial accounts and tax returns and family photographs. Collection also documents the personal and professional life of Frances husband, Dr A.P. Derham, and those of other members of the Anderson family, including: Alice Anderson, Joshua Thomas (J.T.) Noble Anderson and Ellen Mary Anderson. The collection does not contain any obvious, consistent and overarching system of arrangement. There is some evidence that Frances Derham may have tried to put her papers in order, but this arrangement was only applied to a small number of files. The order in which the collection was received has largely been maintained, as listed by Barbara Piscitelli in 1994. When present, original files have been retained. However, a large amount of material in the collection was not in files. In such cases, obvious divisions such as bundles or those indicated by dividers were respected, and in general minimal rearrangement was carried out. In cases where the records were loose in the box with no obvious arrangement, file groupings were created and titles assigned based on the content of the records, with the aim of creating coherent groupings. Original titles were used when present, and were elaborated if necessary to reflect the content of the file. Annotations on original folders were photocopied onto archival quality paper and placed in the file. In cases where the annotations on folders were too extensive or drawings were present, the original folder has been retained. Original files without titles were assigned titles based on the content of the records. Abbreviations and acronyms, especially of associations and institutions, were written out in full for the sake of consistency and to avoid confusion.