Item F1722 - Jennie Scott Griffiths, 1903-1943

Identity area

Reference code

F1722

Title

Jennie Scott Griffiths, 1903-1943

Date(s)

  • 1945-1959 (Creation)

Level of description

Item

Extent and medium

1 volume ; 29 cm

Context area

Name of creator

(1875-1951)

Biographical history

Journalist, editor and political activist Jennie Scott Griffiths was born on 30 October 1975 in the United States of America. Raised in Texas, she developed an early interest in law and radical thought, and first worked as a court reporter before travelling to Fiji where she married newspaper proprietor Arthur Griffiths and edited the Fiji Times. After moving to Sydney in 1913, she became vocal advocate for anti-conscription, women's rights and socialism. She performed editorial duties at the Australian Women's Weekly until she was dismissed for opposing conscription in 1916. She was active in the Labor Party, Women's Peace Army, and various other social organisations. By 1917, Griffiths had embraced revolutionary politics, supporting the general strike in New South Wales and later moving to Queensland, where she led protests, campaigned for imprisoned radicals, and played an important role in the 1919 Red Flag Riots. In 1920, disillusioned with the paling revolutionary movement, she returned to the United States where she remained politically active, contributing to the Industrial Workers of the World and the National Women's Party. She died on 29 June 1951 in San Francisco, survived by her husband, six sons and three daughters.

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Bound duplicated scrapbook containing papers relating to Jennie Scott Griffiths. The papers comprise typescript poetry, newspaper cuttings of her poems and articles about Scott Griffiths, and correspondence either sent or received by her. Correspondents include the Australian Journalists' Association, Workers' Educational Association of New South Wales, Leon Herbert Spencer Brodzky (Spencer Brodney), and the Central Women's Organising Committee of the Australian Labor Party. Most of the cuttings of poetry are attributed to 'Jennie Wilson', a pen name. Also includes several pages of biographical information about Scott Griffiths by an unknown author, possibly her son. The date range in the title of the scrapbook is possibly a reference to when the works were written and/or published.

The poems, 68 in total, include: 'Fidelis'; 'I ask you'; 'Treasure'; 'The talisman'; 'Liberty'; 'Victory'; 'Toward the light'; 'The woman'; 'Resurgent'; 'Conflict'; 'Fame'; 'Vignette'; 'I have lived'; 'Completion'; 'A tropical island'; 'Sa Vucisa (I'm lazy)'; 'We are the mummers'; 'Luck'; 'Give me the road'; 'One asks for naught'; 'No Christian nations'; 'I should be glad'; 'Modern romance'; 'Fragments'; 'A Tukelau [Tokelau] burial chant'; 'The open gate'; 'Old George'; 'Law'; 'The boat'; 'The flag'; 'Palm trees'; 'I am my own'; 'An idyl'; 'It is not death I fear'; 'The woman speaks'; 'Why shouldn't you die?'; 'Less than'; 'To an enlisted son'; 'Remembering'; 'Meat'; 'Cycle'; 'I hold you bound'; 'Then'; 'Sanctuary'; 'Past'; 'To his wife - to his mistress'; 'Mental'; 'Whence and whither'; 'You are as free'; 'Men are marching'; 'Saved'; 'When pigeons fly at evening time'; 'No questions asked'; 'The messengers'; 'The friend'; 'A birthday wish'; 'The altar'; 'Courage'; 'The war-makers'; 'When I am dead'; 'Regret'; 'Courage' (2); 'My house'; 'Gulls'; 'Fate'; 'Pago Pago'; 'For I am dead'; and 'To a vanished tree'.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Unrestricted access.

Conditions governing reproduction

Out of copyright. Able to be reproduced without permission. Please attribute the Fryer Library.

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Very poor photocopies.

Finding aids

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

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Publication note

Material from this collection has been cited in:
Kirkby, David. 'Neither 'militarism' nor 'patriotic motherhood': Gender, law and citizenship in a nation at war, Australia 1914-18'. Law & History, Vol. 2, 2015: 177-201.

Publication note

The Australian women's register, AWH003702

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Alma MMS ID

991008291209703131

Millennium Local System Number

.b22132922

OCLC Number

62546048

Libraries Australia ID

28267729

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Description identifier

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Rules and/or conventions used

Status

Revised

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

Revised, Kymberley Doyle, 12-Feb-2025.
Revised, AM, 01-Jun-2020.
Migrated from LMS: April 2019, P.A.

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