Higgins family - papers mainly concerning Henry Kendall, ca. 1866-ca. 1915, 1947-1958.

MLMSS 7306

fonds

ca. 1866-ca. 1915, 1947-1958

Textual Records, Graphic Materials

431704

Henry Kendall's first volume of poetry, Poems and Songs, was published in 1862. He published two further volumes, Leaves from Australian Forests (1869) and Songs from the Mountains (1880) before his death in 1882 at the age of forty-three. During his lifetime Kendall's poetry was extremely highly regarded. His literary reputation now rests mainly on his lyric poems such as 'Bell Birds' and 'September in Australia'. -- Reference: The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature, 1994.
Edwards was born in Redfern in 1849. Henry Kendall was a friend of the Edwards family, and often visited their home when Adelaide was a young girl. In 1875 she married James Jerome Higgins, a surveyor in the Lands Titles Office. They moved to Western Australia in the 1890s when he joined the W.A. Mines Dept.
Marjorie Higgins was the Adelaide Higgins' granddaughter.

1. ADELAIDE HIGGINS (NEE EDWARDS)
a. Correspondence - letters received: three letters and one fragment from Henry Kendall, 17 Dec. 1866(?), 18 Dec. 1868(?), undated; three letters from Mrs J.W. Higgins (Adelaide's mother-in-law), 22 April 1875, 30 Nov. 1875, 12 Sept. 1876.
b. Commonplace book, ca. 1875-ca. 1915. Contains drawings, photographs, poems by friends, quotations and newscuttings. It includes six original manuscript poems by Henry Kendall: 'Song for Adelaide', 'To Adelaide', 'To Fanny with the dear good face', 'Stanzas', 'As years roll on and pleasant ways', 'For Adelaide'.
c. Miscellaneous material, undated: pencil portrait of Edward Montague, English master by Adelaide Edwards; invitation card issued to members of the S.S.S. Club (Shirt, Skirt, and Sailor, Scone and Stocking Club); Program for a school play, 'The Mice at Play' by Miss Younge; copy of acrostic by Charles Swain. ;
2. MARJORIE HIGGINS
Correspondence, 1947-1958. Mainly letters between Marjorie Higgins and Donovan Clarke of Sydney University concerning Clarke's proposed critical edition of the letters of Henry Kendall, 1957-58.