About the records

Administrative Information

• The collection is comprised of records from 13 accessions. The codes used to uniquely identify each accession range from MORR2005-001 to MORR2009-001.
  
  
• The records have been allocated to 22 series. The codes used to uniquely identify each series range from MORS0001 to MORS0022.
  
  
• Through the processing of the records, 3 provenance entities were identified. The codes used to uniquely identify each provenance entity, i.e. records creator or custodian, range from MOP0001 to MOP0003.
  
  
• The inventory covers 167 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 MORR00001 to MORR01029. The total collection occupies 883 linear cm of shelf space (or its equivalent).
  
  
• The documentation of the records at inventory level started on 26 May 2004. The latest additions were made on 26 August 2009. The latest modifications were made on 5 April 2011. This collection profile was updated on 5 April 2011.
  
  

Scope and Content

Philip Crosbie Morrison was a naturalist and science journalist whose life and work reflected his ongoing desire to foster people’s understanding of the importance of science in their lives. He did this primarily by encouraging people to observe and wonder at the natural world, confident this would lead to an interest in caring for and preserving the environment. In the 1940s and 1950s, though working outside academia and with little original research in his published work, Morrison became one of Australia’s best known scientists. He is particularly remembered for his long running series of radio broadcasts on all aspects of the natural world. Listeners recall his extraordinary commitment to and sincerity towards his subject, and he was renowned for his ability to infect people with an enthusiasm for nature. By combining an understanding of the power of the media with his skills as a communicator, Morrison reached people of all ages and sectors of society and kindled an interest in science in a vast new audience.

The collection is a rich and varied one, including publications, scripts, photographs and correspondence, representing all the records in Morrison's possession at the time of his death, with the exception of a small amount of family material.

Surveying and Mapping the Records

In 2005, additional records were transferred to the Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre (Austehc, previously ASAP) by Lucy Morrison, and later by Janet Morrison, granddaughter of Philip Crosbie Morrison, for inclusion in the existing collection.

Further information about this guide and the records it describes, including transfer arrangements, custodianship and other contextual information, is held in the office files and the Heritage Documentation Management System (HDMS) database at the eScholarship Research Centre, University of Melbourne.

Arrangement and Description of the Records

In 2008, the additional material received from Lucy Morrison and Janet Morrison in 2005 was transferred to the State Library of Victoria and eScholarship Research Centre (eSRC) staff described these items, including them in existing Series where applicable and adding two new Series to the collection. The 2008 HTML Edition of the Philip Crosbie Morrison Guide to Records has been produced as a result of this work.

Dates of Records

National Film and Sound Archive

How These Records Can Be Used

Where material from the Records of Philip Crosbie Morrison 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: Stuart Brash, Anne-Marie Condé, Libby Robin, Ann McCarthy, Michael Jones, Gavan McCarthy, and Tim Sherratt, Philip Crosbie Morrison Guide to Records, The University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre, 2008 [URL and date accessed].

Publication History

• HTML Edition, 2008: Stuart Brash, Anne-Marie Condé, Libby Robin, Ann McCarthy, Michael Jones, Gavan McCarthy, and Tim Sherratt, Philip Crosbie Morrison Guide to Records, The University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre, 2008
• HTML Edition, 2004: Stuart Brash, Anne-Marie Condé, Libby Robin, Gavan McCarthy, and Tim Sherratt, Philip Crosbie Morrison Guide to Records, The University of Melbourne Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, 2004
• Print Edition: Stuart Brash, Anne-Marie Condé, Libby Robin, Gavan McCarthy, and Tim Sherratt, A Guide to the Records of Philip Crosbie Morrison, The University of Melbourne Australian Science Archives Project, 1993

Copyright

The Records of Philip Crosbie Morrison are held by the State Library of Victoria. The State Library of Victoria manages any rights (including moral rights) in all material contained in the Records of Philip Crosbie Morrison.

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.