Her focus is personal and political: the long-running friendship and correspondence between suffrage leaders Rose Scott (Sydney), Catherine Helen Spence (South Australia) and Vida Goldstein (Melbourne).
“The variety of materials at the Mitchell is exactly what I need,” Liz says. “I’m looking at letters between these women - the blots, smudges and crossings-out - to understand how the friendship formed and how they supported one another over 20 to 30 years.”
The fellowship offers workspace and research assistance to locate material that doesn’t always show up in catalogues. It also lets Liz work with the letters as physical objects.
“Handling the originals is a privilege. I feel a powerful sense of connection with people from the past through handling the papers they have written.”
This project extends threads from her doctoral work on Catherine Helen Spence and complements her current MPhil.
“It’s some of the unfinished business from my PhD,” she says. “Spence’s mentoring of younger activists was clear, but I didn’t have the scope then to follow the networks. Now I do.”
Working with century‑old correspondence isn’t straightforward. Scott’s letters were donated in the 1930s and glued into large volumes. They’re not always chronological.
“Spence often put the day and month, but not the year on her letters,” Liz says. “You date letters by events and who was alive at the time. Some are grouped by topic, others by correspondent so there’s a fair bit of sleuthing to do.”
There are rabbit holes, too. While Scott received much of the correspondence, fewer documents survive from the other two.
“I don’t have Scott’s letters to Goldstein or Spence, but the Miles Franklin archive holds Scott’s letters discussing them. Having regular time in the Library will allow me to follow those trails properly.”
The outcome of the Fellowship will be an academic study of letters and a resource for others.
“I’ll transcribe and annotate the correspondence so future researchers can dive straight in,” Liz says. “If someone’s mentioned, I’ll note whether they’re a politician, editor or community leader. It’s about giving back as well as getting access.”
Liz will travel between Armidale and Sydney during the year, weaving State Library sessions into her UNE work.
“There’s a great mesh between the fellowship and my MPhil,” she says. “One enhances the other.”
Asked how she felt when the announcement email landed, she laughs. “Very pleased … and sworn to secrecy for six weeks.”
