Archives – an Invaluable Resource

Abstract

Abstract What is a biographer to do when it becomes apparent that the subject’s own archival collection of personal and professional papers has disappeared? Become a dogged detective. With the late Professor S. J. Butlin’s personal collection of his professional papers not having survived, the author has studied material in a wide range of archives – academic, business and government – almost all of which proved fruitful sources. Obviously, the first destination was the University of Sydney Archives where various records yielded many details of Butlin the academic, the administrator and the man.