Summary heading

Series registration completed as part of the Prime Ministers Papers’ Project (Nov 2001).

Function and purpose

Related legislation

Using the series

Language of material

Physical characteristics

Mainly photographic prints, including some black/white negatives and documents.

System of arrangement and control

Single number system imposed by National Archives of Australia.

Relationships with other records

Finding aids

Access conditions

As a purchased collection, the access status of the series has been determined by National Archives.

Series history

This series mainly consists of some 50 early family photographs (including a few duplicate prints) of Francis (Frank) Michael Forde and his wife Veronica (Vera) Catherine Forde. The photographs cover the period from about 1890 to 1945, vary considerably in size and are mostly either sepia or black/white studio portraits. Photographic studios in Melbourne, Sydney, Wagga Wagga, Goulburn and Brisbane are represented in the collection.

The photographs of Forde appear to date from about 1910 and include several from the early 1930s when he was becoming prominent as a federal Labor Party politician. There is also a slightly later framed pencil drawing of him signed ‘McBain’. The photographs of Mrs Vera Forde date from the time of her marriage to Forde in February 1925 with later ones including their four children. The other photographs in the collection predate World War I and are probably of Frank and Vera Forde’s respective parents and members of their families.

There is also a small number of documents in the series, the more important of which originate from Mrs Forde. These include late World War II press releases, speech notes and transcripts of radio interviews given when she accompanied her husband to New Zealand in 1944 and to the United States the following year (including the United Nations Conference in San Francisco).  

Provenance

Forde family.  

Immediate source of acquisition

The series was purchased by National Archives from Lawson Auctioneers and Valuers in Sydney on 15 October 2001 (ref. NAA RKS file 2001/2038).

Custodial history

Quantity in agency custody

Disposal history

Publication note

Additional information

End notes

Sources