About the records

Administrative Information

In February 1989, the Australian Science Archives Project transferred the personal papers of Lawrence Percival Coombes from his home in South Yarra, Victoria, to it's office at the University of Melbourne. The transfer comprised some 36 archive boxes of material which was maintained, as far as possible, in the order it had been filed and stored in the home. The core of the collection was a set of personal diaries covering the period 1939-1963 with support material from the period 1852 - 1988.

Funds to start work on the preparation of the records for deposit in the La Trobe Library, State Library of Victoria, were provided by Coombes daughters, Jo Johnson and Shirley Macleish in September 1989. We were fortunate to have one of Coombes granddaughters, Mandy Johnson, available to do some of the early work on the records. She was able to identify many people, places and events captured by the records but not documented. In August-September 1993, an appeal was launched at the L.P.Coombes Lecture, held by the Aviation and Space Engineering Branch of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, to raise funds to complete work on the collection. Contributors to the appeal are listed below.

• The collection is comprised of records from 1 accessions. The codes used to uniquely identify each accession range from COOM2007-001 to COOM2007-001.
• The records have been allocated to 16 series. The codes used to uniquely identify each series range from COOMS001 to COOMS016.
• Through the processing of the records, 1 provenance entity was identified. The code used to uniquely identify this provenance entity, i.e. records creator or custodian, is COOMP01.
• The inventory covers 5 items, and may include records of continuing value, records sentenced for destruction and records that have been destroyed. The codes used to uniquely identify each inventory item range from COOM00001 to COOM00416. The total collection occupies 543 linear cm of shelf space (or its equivalent).
• The documentation of the records at inventory level started on 5 March 2004. The latest additions were made on 14 September 2007. The latest modifications were made on 6 March 2009. This collection profile was updated on 23 March 2009.

Scope and Content

Laurie Coombes, the first Director of the Aeronautical Research Laboratory, was noted for the vision and presence he displayed in the way he established the ARL and defined his links with industry. This collection provides a valuable adjunct to the official ARL records and captures the spirit of the times in which Laurie worked. His sense of humour, which is well documented in various parts of the collection, must have done wonders to build co-operation and cohesiveness in the fledgling Laboratory.

Copyright

The Lawrence Percival Coombes Collection is held by the State Library of Victoria. The State Library of Victoria manages any rights (including moral rights) in all material contained in the Lawrence Percival Coombes Records.

All information in the guide to this collection and in the material of the collection itself, served from Australia, is administered under Australian Intellectual Property Laws.

How These Records Can Be Used

Where material from the Lawrence Percival Coombes Collection is copied or quoted the source of the material must be acknowledged.

Preferred Citation

For citation of the published guide, an acceptable form would be: Rod Buchanan, Mandy Johnson, Ann McCarthy, Gavan McCarthy, Lisa O'Sullivan, Mark Scillio and Angela Taylor, Lawrence Percival Coombes Guide to Records, eScholarship Research Centre, 2008 [URL and date accessed].