[2016.0134] PAPERS OF GRAEME DAVISON RELATING TO UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE HISTORY DEPARTMENT

Description

IdentifierUMA-ACE-20160134Extent1 boxLinear Meterage0.17Scope and ContentThe papers relate to activities and debates within the Melbourne History Department in which Davison had a key role. Sets of papers include:
1. Papers generated by a faculty committee, chaired by Davison, to promote the development of the social sciences within the Faculty of Arts. There were longstanding debates about whether or not sociology should be taught at the University of Melbourne. Davison, who had studied social theory at Oxford, was eager to see it included. Dean Sam Hammond was receptive to a modest proposal to introduce a course in social theory to anchor a sequence of 'social science' subjects, selected from the Faculty's existing offerings. The committee recommended to make a new faculty appointment, a lecturer in social theory. However, two existing members of the faculty, Geoff Sharpe of Social Studies, a Marxist, and Frank Knopfelmacher of Psychology, an anti-Marxist, agreed to join forces to teach the course, an arrangement that continued for some years until the Ashworth Lectureship was established.
2. Papers relating to a committee on Graduate Studies in the History Department which Davison chaired. John Salmond refers to this committee in his chapter in Fay Anderson and Stuart Macintyre (eds), The Life of the Past: The discipline of history at the University of Melbourne, 2006, p.99. These papers include some remnants of internal correspondence around the issue including a contribution by ancient historian Bill Culican.
3. Cyclostyled papers by various staff members and others contributed to the vigorous debates about history and theory in the Department in the late 1970s.
Other papers including teaching material especially relating to honours subjects taught by Davison including a student research project on HMAS Perth.
A substantial collection of Davison's personal and professional papers is held by Monash University Archives. Parts of this description were contributed by Graeme Davison.Collection CategoryUniversity, individualsAccess StatusOpen for public accessRequest Access to RecordsRequest records from this Accession

Provenance

CreatorDavison, Graeme J.

Dates

Date1972-1981

Description Control

Previous System ID2016.0134State of Listnot specifiedDescriptive NoteNo Finding Aid. Request all boxes

University of Melbourne Archives

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[2016.0134] PAPERS OF GRAEME DAVISON RELATING TO UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE HISTORY DEPARTMENT