The next meeting of the ASA NSW Branch will be held on:
Wednesday 15th June 2011, at 5.30pm for 6pm, at the State Records NSW Reading Room, Globe Street, The Rocks, Sydney.
http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/contact-us/addresses-opening-hours/sydney-records-centre
Refreshments at 5.30pm-6pm ($5 cash donation to cover costs please); Guest speaker at 6pm. Business meeting after guest speaker.
The event will feature guest speaker LYN MILTON, former archivist at Westpac bank & Fairfax Media, currently archivist for the Australian Credit Union.
Lyn will be speaking about the life and archival career of the late PATRICIA (PAT) QUINN. Some of Pat Quinn's family members will be our guests at this meeting.
Business Meeting: We will hold a Branch business meeting after the Guest Speaker.
To submit items for the business meeting agenda, email the Convenor Louise Trott (ltrott@sydney.anglican.asn.au)
To offer your apologies for the business meeting, please contact the Co-Secretary Melanie Grogan (melanie.grogan@naa.gov.au)
About the speaker Lyn Milton: Lyn entered the Archives profession in 1972 as Assistant Archivist at the Bank of New South Wales/ later Westpac, and progressed through the ranks there until becoming Chief Archivist in 1991. After a brief stint at Burnside in 1994 Lyn took a position at State Records NSW where her most satisfying position was Senior Archivist Context and Documentation. Lyn retired from full-time work in 2006, but has since held positions at Fairfax Media and is currently working for the Australian Credit Union Archives. Lyn is also honorary archivist to the Church Missionary Society Australia and The Glebe Society Inc. Lyn has served as Treasurer of the NSW Branch of the ASA for too many years to count, and she was the contributor of Chapter 8 Arrangement and Description of Keeping Archives III.
About Pat Quinn & Lyn's presentation:
Basic Facts: Pat was the Archivist of the Bank of New South Wales (later Westpac) 1957- 1983; A member of the Steering Committee to establish the ASA 1973(?) -1975; Secretary of the First ASA Council 1975-1977; One of the first honorary members of the ASA. Pat was generally highly regarded by all members of the archival community during the time of her professional involvement. Pat died a month short of her 84th birthday on 5th May 2008.
Lyn Milton writes: "I don’t need to explain to archivists the importance of looking to those who have gone before, who have made the archival world what it is today, but we so rarely do so. The origin of this paper was to provide some memories of Pat’s career and her contribution to the archival profession, together with personal recollections for her family after her sudden death in May 2008. I worked with Pat at the Bank of New South Wales Archives (later Westpac) from 1972 until 1983. It was the world before the ASA, before the series system broke out of the walls of the then Australian Archives, of no formal archival qualifications of a smaller archival community. Pat was not the first archivist of the Bank although she was the first to make a career of it in the 26 years she served there.
During her time there she provided research services to the authors of two books on the history of the Bank of New South Wales, and just after retirement took the same role for a history of The Commercial Bank of Australia Limited. She gained a huge reputation in opening the collections to some of the major economic historians of the period. She digested such literature as there was (Jenkinson, Schellenberg, the American Archivist etc), saw the Bank develop one the country’s leading business archives, and became a respected leader and mentor to many business archivists.
A committee member of the Sydney Archives Group circa 1970s, that preceded the NSW Branch of the ASA, Pat was a member of the Steering Committee that led to the formation of the ASA in 1975, she was its foundation Secretary, and one of the earliest honorary members.
Pat retired in 1983 after which her main contact with the profession was voluntary assistance with the RPA Hospital Archives, but she continued her interest in the team at Westpac. I trust that this paper is a fitting tribute to Pat’s work and character – she was a truly exceptional person."
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