Rona Murray fonds
| Record No. | SC085 |
| Main Entry | Murray, Rona, 1924-2003 |
| Title | Rona Murray fonds |
| Dates | 1940-2003 |
| Physical Description | 25 m of textual records. -- 4 video reels. -- 61 sound tapes. -- 64 computer disks. -- 36 photographs. |
| Bio/Admin History | Rona Murray (1924-2003 ) was born in London, England but lived in India, until she was eight, where her father commanded a Ghurka regiment . She came to Vancouver Island, Canada in 1932 and graduated from Queen Margaret's School (Duncan, B.C.) in 1941 and then studied at Mills College, Oakland, California until 1944. She received a B.A. from Victoria College (1961), an M.A. in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia (1963) and a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Kent at Canterbury (1972). In 1944 Murray married Gerry Hadden and had 3 children. She later divorced, and married ceramics artist Walter Dexter with whom she collaborated on The Art of Earth (1993). Murray was a poet, playwright, fiction writer, and reviewer. She has written or edited 13 books, 5 of which were poetry. She taught for 25 years across British Columbia, including periods at Douglas College, Selkirk College, Castlegar, UVic, and UBC. |
| Scope and Content | The fonds consists firstly, of correspondence, incoming and outgoing (1945-2003): business, personal, and professional, including among the correspondents: Earle Birney, Susan Musgrave, Howard O'Hagan, P.K. Page, Jane Rule, Robin Skelton, Phyllis Webb, George Woodcock, and many others; secondly, of manuscripts of her own work - principally, her many works of poetry, drama, reviews, and prose, including her books: Journey Back To Peshawar ; Memory of Elsewhere-and the play A Family of Sorts . There are also manuscript of some of her colleagues - including J. Michael Yates, Michael Walbank, Theresa Kishkan, and Robin Skelton; thirdly, of materials from several literary organizations that she was involved with, including the Victoria Literary Arts Festival and the League of Canadian Poets - Women's Caucus ; fourthly, of ephemera, including photographs. The fonds consists of correspondence between Rona Murray and Phyllis Serota and a first draft typescript of "Adam and Eve in Middle Age". |
| Title Source | Title based on the contents of the fonds. |
| Finding Aids | File list available. |
| Online Finding Aids | File List File List for Accession 1992-030 (PDF, 25 kb) File List for Accession 1995-057 (PDF, 37 kb) File List for Accession 1996-034 (PDF, 39 kb) File List for Accession 1998-074 (PDF, 43 kb) File List for Accession 2000-078 (PDF, 36 kb) File List for Accession 2003-008 (PDF, 41 kb) File List for Accession 2005-015 (PDF, 469 kb) File List for Accession 2008-016 |
| Restrictions | Some correspondence files are closed until after the death of Ms. Murray and the correspondent in question. |
| Notes | |
| Provenance | Murray, Rona, 1924-2003 |
| Repository | University of Victoria Libraries Special Collections |
| Subject Headings | Birney, Earle, 1904-1995 Kishkan, Theresa League of Canadian Poets. Feminist Caucus Murray, Rona, 1924-2003 Musgrave, Susan, 1951- O'Hagan, Howard Page, P. K. (Patricia Kathleen), 1916-2010 Rule, Jane, 1931-2007 Serota, Phyllis, 1938- Skelton, Robin, 1925-1997 Victoria Literary Arts Festival Walbank, Michael B., 1933- Webb, Phyllis, 1927- Woodcock, George, 1912-1995 Yates, J. Michael |
| Related Links | Literature Collections Theatre Collections (Canadian) |