by Doug Munro
303
CLIo'S LIvES
subjectivities and central questions in family and personal life as well as
to offer insights into particular periods and places in broad social and
political terms.
Moving from autobiography to biography, one can see from this volume
how large and varied a field it is. A number of prominent historians have
been the subject of excellent and expansive biographies that explore their
lives, works and personalities. Mark McKenna’s prize-winning biography
of Manning Clark is a case in point, as is Maxine Berg’s wonderful
biography of Eileen Power, or Adam Sisman’s biographies of A.J.P. Taylor
and H.R. Trevor-Roper.8 All of these biographies in their different ways
add significantly to our understanding of the work of their subjects:
the reasons why, and the way in which, they chose to study particular
periods or problems; the influences exercised on them by teachers, friends
or colleagues; the development of their methods and approaches. There
is a question here, however, as to whether the biographical treatment
provided by historians to their subjects when the subjects are historians is
different in kind from the treatment of any other subject whose biography
is written by a trained historian. Whether these works are simply good
contemporary intellectual biographies, whose subjects simply happen to
be historians, rather than something different in kind is difficult to resolve.
At the same time, it is clear that focusing on the lives of historians
currently offers a new way of writing the history of history, both as
a discipline and as a profession. Rather than focusing on institutions or
changing scholarly methods, this new approach via both individual and
collective biography is concerned with the impact of particular forms of
family life and education, of personal outlook and especially of social
networks on the work of historians. This line of enquiry allows ample
scope for exploring the very different ways of writing history of near
contemporaries – Strachey and Trevelyan, for example – and relating it
to their personalities, the way they chose to live and their understanding
of what writing history entailed. It does also serve to highlight the links
between historians and the wider social and political world they inhabited
or which served to furnish their imagination. As several essays in this
8 Mark McKenna, An Eye for Eternity: The Life of Manning Clark (Melbourne: Miegunyah Press, 2011); Maxine Berg, A Woman in History: Eileen Power, 1886–1940 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996); Adam Sisman, A.J.P. Taylor: A Biography (London: Sinclair-Stevenson, 1994); Sisman, Hugh Trevor-Roper: The Biography (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2010).
304
13 . CoNCLuDING REFLECTIoNS
volume show, a biographical approach often underlines the importance
of national stories and of the ways in which individual historians
imagined them or imagined themselves in relationship to them.
The fallibility of memory is something that many autobiographers have
to deal with. It is, as Sheila Fitzpatrick makes clear, particularly troubling
for a historian, accustomed to questioning sources and checking facts,
who is seeking in this case to use his or her own memory as an archive.
Recognition of this difficulty in recording and writing their own lives,
even for the most scrupulous of historians, alongside a much broader
interest in the many challenges involved in understanding and writing
the lives of others, does seem to have had a significant impact on how
historians see their biographical subjects – especially on how they see the
various ploys those subjects use to confuse later researchers. Where once
the emphasis for the historian writing biography would have been placed
squarely on unmasking the lies that a person told about him or herself
and on revealing the truth, there now seems to be much more interest in
how the subject constructed his or her own life, even if the construction
was clearly fictitious. The fantasies and the creation of myths by a person
have increasingly come to be seen as an important aspect of their lives and
as something that needs to be understood, rather than exposed.
In a similar way, the false leads carefully constructed for later biographers
by figures as different from each other as Manning Clark and Joseph Stalin
become a source of interest and even of amusement. For the historian as
writer, interested in the creative process of writing, it is as important to tell
the reader how the clue was laid, discovered and then disentangled and
what it is intended to hide or overlay, as it is to ascertain the actual truth
of an event or a situation. What one begins to see here then is not just,
as Fitzpatrick suggests, that the writing of autobiography by historians
challenges many common assumptions about the writing of history but
also that this wide and ever-growing interest in historians’ autobiography
and biography will fundamentally change the ways in which we see, think
about and write history.
305
Index
Aboriginal history. See Indigenous
Australasian Association for the
history
Advancement of Science. See
Abramsky, Chimen 180, 183–5
Australia and New Zealand
Acton, J.E.E.D., Lord Acton 132–4,
Association for the Advancement
154
of Science
Adam-Smith, Patsy 67, 264
Australia and New Zealand
Adams, James Truslow 289
Association for the Advancement
Adler, Louise 20–1, 58
of Science (ANZAAS) 229, 230,
Aitken, Max, Lord Beaverbrook 21,
237, 244–5, 258
73–4, 78
Australian Broadcasting Commission.
Albany College (Oregon) 286
See Australian Broadcasting
Alcock, Henry 229
Corporation
Alexander, Fred 233, 239, 242
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
All Souls College, Oxford. See
(ABC) 82, 92, 233, 238
University of Oxford
Australian Dictionary of Biography
American Historical Association 245,
( ADB) 10, 11, 67–8, 74–5, 227,
274, 289, 297
240–1, 244, 247–72
Anderson, Perry 174, 201–2
Australian Historical Association 10,
Andrews, Charles McLean 12,
227, 245–6
273–99, 275
Australian Institute of International
Andrews, Evangeline Walker 291,
Affairs 236, 238, 243
293, 298
Australian Institute of Political
Angell, Norman 160
Science 236
Antipodeanism 9, 199–224
Australian Labor Party 6, 83, 88–9,
Armstrong, Judith 270
96. See also Dismissal
Arnold, Matthew 159–60
Australian National University
Arnold, Thomas 147, 153, 162–3,
(ANU) 1, 11, 81, 99, 240, 250–8
165–6
passim, 262
Askew, Susan 175
Australian Security Intelligence
; Auchmuty, James 262–3
Organisation (ASIO) 31
Aurell, Jaume 2, 252–3
307
CLIo'S LIvES
Bach, John 263
Boyer Lectures 82, 208
Balliol College, Oxford. See
Brack, Helen 217
University of Oxford
Brewin, Andrew 131
Baltimore Women’s College
Briggs, Asa 244
(Maryland) 282
Briscoe, Gordon 249
Banks, Sir Joseph 205–7, 213
British Labour Party (BLP) 125,
Barnard, Marjorie 234, 238–9, 255,
178–9, 183, 193, 195. See also
263
Oxford Labour Club
Barnes, Viola Florence 275, 277, 278, British Union of Fascists (BUF)
280, 282, 283, 287–90 passim,
179–80
288, 291, 296–8 passim
Brocklebank, Theaden 251, 252, 270
Bassett, Jan 71–2
Brown University 282, 283
Beaglehole, J.C. 204
Brown, George 120, 124–5
Bean, C.E.W. 267
Brown, William Jethro 229
Beaver College (Pennsylvania) 274,
Bruce, James Fawthrop 232, 237
283, 284–5
Bryn Mawr College (Pennsylvania)
Beaverbrook, Lord. See Aitken, Max,
12, 273, 274, 277–84 passim,
Lord Beaverbrook
293–4
Beilharz, Peter 215
Burn, Ian 223
Bennett, Bruce 89
Bury, J.B. 138, 153–4, 156, 160, 170
Berg, Maxine 304
Butler, Rex 223
Berkshire Conference of Women
Butlin, Noel 267
Historians 296–7
Butt, Dennis 195
Berlin Wall 81
Berndt, Catherine 266
Caine, Barbara xi, 12–13
Bindman, David 203
Calder, Isabel MacBeath 275, 280,
Blackman, Barbara 217
282, 283, 287, 289, 295
Blackman, Charles 215–16
California Western University 283
Blainey, Ann 267
Cambridge Apostles 138–9, 140, 149,
Blainey, Geoffrey 237, 267
151–3, 158. See also Bloomsbury
Bliss, Michael 129
Group
Bloomsbury Group 8, 138, 140–1,
Campbell, Mildred L. 280, 282–4
143, 149, 167, 170
passim, 287, 296
Blunt, Anthony 201–2, 203, 208
Campbell, Persia 234–5, 236
Bolton, Geoffrey v, xi, 10–11, 242,
Campion, Edmund 87–8
267
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Bonyhady, Tim 269, 302
(CBC) 103
Bourne, Ruth May 280, 282–5
Cannadine, David 8
passim, 287, 298
Capon, Edmund 266
Bowling Green State College (Ohio)
Carey, Peter 84
285
Carlyle, Thomas 23, 86, 107, 117,
Boyd, Arthur 87, 212, 214, 215, 220,
149, 154, 159, 170
266
Carr, E.H. 261
Boyd, Robin 214
Casey, Maie 66, 266–7
308
INDEx
Cassirer, Ernst 204
Creighton, Donald 104
Catalyst Club 234
Crisp, L.F. (Fin) 239, 241
Charteris, Archibald 236
Crowe, Harry 124–5, 127–8
Childe, Vere Gordon 267
Crowley, Frank 242, 245, 263
Church of England 50–1, 117
Currey, C.H. 239
Clark, Dora Mae 275, 280, 282, 283,
Curthoys, Ann 267
286, 287, 289, 298, 299
Curtin, John 87
Clark, Dymphna 6–7, 84, 86, 94–5,
97, 99, 270
Danos, Michael (Misha) 31–6
Clark, Sir Kenneth 203, 214, 217–18
Dark, Eleanor 238
Clark, Manning 6–7, 9, 20, 81–102,
Davidson, Jim 231, 249–50, 251–2,
241–2, 244, 248, 259, 262, 265,
256, 270
267, 270, 302, 304, 305
Davison, Graeme 269, 302
Clarke, Mary Patterson 274–5, 280,
De Berg, Hazel 262
282, 283, 284–5, 286
Deakin, Alfred 63, 87
Clendinnen, Inga 72–3, 248
Dening, Greg 210
Clune, Frank 264
Deutscher, Isaac 29
Coghlan, Timothy 267
Dicey, A.V. 132
Cold War 18–19, 26–31, 76–7, 118,
Dickinson, Goldsworthy 138, 153
125, 187–93, 197, 208, 214, 215, Dictionary of National Biography
217, 220
( DNB) 252, 256, 257
Colley, Linda 268
Dilthey, Wilhelm 260–1
Collingwood, R.G. 251, 260, 270
Dismissal (1975) 89–91
Columbia University 278, 280, 283
displaced persons (DPs) 30, 31–2, 33,
Communism. See Communist Party
35–6
of Great Britain; Historians’
Disraeli, Benjamin 138, 167, 168
Group of the Communist Party;
Drysdale, Russell 212–13, 266
Marxism; Soviet Union
Dudley, Louise 280–2 passim
Communist Party of Great Britain
Dunbabin, Robert 229
(CPGB) 174, 178–88, 192–6
Dunham, William H., Jr 291–2
Conlon, Alf 239
Dutton, Geoffrey 90
Conway, Jill Ker 4, 70–1, 78, 248,
Dyason, E.C. 235–6
266
Conway, John 71
Eagleton, Terry 138
Cook, Florence. See Fast, Florence
Eakin, Paul John 301–2
Cook
Edel, Leon 143–4, 149
Cook, George Russell 106–17, 120–1
Edele, Mark 31
Cook, James 204–6, 212
Eisenstadt, A.S. 291
Cook, Lillie Ellen 106, 107, 109–11,
Eldershaw, Flora 234, 238, 255
114–16
Elkington, John 228
Cook, Ramsay 6–7, 103–34
Ellis, Ellen Deborah 280, 282, 290
Cornell University 278
Ellis, Malcolm 74–5, 239, 241,
Crawford, R.M. (Max) 10, 232, 234,
258–9, 262
239, 242, 253, 254–5, 263, 267
Elton, Geoffrey 74, 261
309
CLIo'S LIvES
Evatt, H.V. 255
Gray, Geoffrey xii, 3–4
Eyre, Joe 42, 54–5, 61
Great Depression 67, 108–9, 209,
285, 287, 295
Fast, Florence Cook 280–1, 290,
Great War. See First World War
294–6
Green, Frank Clifton 263
Fernon, Christine 75
Green, H.M. 254–5, 260
Finnis, Harold 263
Green, J.R. 117
First World War 24, 44, 51, 71, 74,
Greenwood, Gordon 243
127, 132, 139, 151, 160–1, 164,
Greer, Germaine 69
209, 227, 230, 233, 235, 297
Grenville, Kate 88
Fitzhardinge, Laurie 240, 257–8,
Griffin, Helga 68
260–2 passim
Griffin, Jim 68
Fitzpatrick, Brian 20–5, 30, 31, 32,
Grimshaw, Patricia 68–9
34–5, 42–3, 45, 50, 57, 70, 76,
258, 267, 270
Hall, Hessel Duncan 232–3, 236
Fitzpatrick, Doff 32, 42–3,
45, 48
Hall, Stuart 191–2
Fitzpatrick, Kathleen 70, 233, 248,
Hancock, Ian 99
260, 266, 270
Hancock, W.K. (Sir Keith) 11, 74–5,
Fitzpatrick, Sheila xi, 2–3, 4, 17–37,
233, 240–1, 244, 247–72, 254,
39–63, 76–7, 265, 270, 302–3,
255
305
Harper, Norman 243
Foss, Paul 223
Hartwell, Max 242
Foster, Leonie 235
Harvard University 71
Franklin, Miles 212, 238
Hasluck, Alexandra 67–8, 266
Frear, Mary Reno 280, 282–4 passim,
Hasluck, Paul 67, 239, 264, 267
292
Heaman, Elsbeth 105
Fry, Roger 153
Hearn, W.E. 228
Fussell, Paul 164
Hebrew University, Jerusalem 184
Heilbrun, Carolyn 77
Gabriel, R.H. 287
Henderson, George 229, 230, 233,
Garner, Alice 75–6
238
Garner, Helen 75
Herder, Johann Gottfried 128
Garrison, Helen Stuart 280, 282–4
Higgins, Esmonde 233
passim, 291
Hill, Caroline Miles 279–80, 282
Gibbon, Edward 1, 86
Hill, Christopher 188, 190
Gibson, Frederick 130
Historians’ Group of the Communist
Gilmore, Dame Mary 66, 238
Party (HGCP) 174, 187–90
Goldsmith, Oliver 7
History Workshop 9, 174–6, 197
Gollan, Robin 267
Hobsbawm, Eric 196
Gordon, Lindsay 200, 202
Hofstadter, Richard 125
Gosse, Edmund 24
Hoggart, Richard 55, 61
Goucher College (Maryland) 282
Holmes, Richard 155
Grant, Jane. See Strachey
Holroyd, Michael 8, 94
Grass, Gunter 92
Holt, Stephen 85
310
INDEx
Holton, Sandra 251
Labaree, Leonard Woods 277, 278,
Hood College (Maryland) 283
286, 294
Hoon, Bessie E. 280, 282–4 passim,
Labor Party (Australia). See Australian
285–6, 287, 292, 298
Labor Party
Horne, Donald 69, 90
Labour Party (United Kingdom). See
Hughes, Robert 218–19
British Labour Party
Hunter College (New York) 283, 286
Lambert, Sheila 74
Hutchinson, Emilie J. 291, 299
Lamont, Peter 103, 104, 134
La Nauze, John 241, 242
Indigenous history: Australia 11,
Lane, Terry 92
72–3, 83, 87, 97–8, 205, 208,
Laski, Harold 167, 238
238, 246, 248–9, 271; Canada
La Trobe University 72
115, 118, 120
Laurence, Margaret 113, 123
Inglis, Amirah 68