Collection MS 28 - Correspondence

Identity area

Reference code

AU PMB MS 28

Title

Correspondence

Date(s)

  • 1921 - 1959 (Creation)

Level of description

Collection

Extent and medium

1 reel; 35mm microfilm

Context area

Name of creator

(1886-1970)

Biographical history

Rev. Dr Ernest Edgar Vyvyan Collocott was a missionary and scholar born 7 June 1886 at Northcote, Melbourne, son of Victorian-born parents Alfred John Collocott, a Methodist minister who had recently returned from Fiji, and his wife Alice Jane, née Bickford. E.E.V. Collocate entered the Methodist ministry in 1911 and the same year went to Tonga as a missionary with his wife Edith Idabelle Bickford. In 1915, he became principal of Tupou College, Nuku'alofa. Collocott conducted his own research of the history and culture of Tonga and published as well as acting as an intermediary for other researchers. He is also known for his peace activism.

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Scope and content

Reverend Dr Ernest Edgar Vyvyan Collocott (1886-1970) served as a Methodist missionary in Tonga from 1911 to 1924. During his career in Tonga and afterwards, he wrote numerous papers on Tongan myths, legends, history, language, customs and astronomy for Mankind, The Journal of the Polynesian Society, Folklore, and the special publications of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum.

The correspondence comprises approximately 100 letters relating to a wide range of Pacific subjects, with emphasis on Tonga. Correspondents include many of the leading Pacific scholars of the day, such as Elsdon Best, W.H. Skinner, H.E. Gregory, anthropologists W.C. McKern and E.W. Gifford, and linguists Sidney H. Ray and S. Churchward. Also included is a copy of a speech made by Queen Salote of Tonga at the laying of the foundation stone of the schoolhouse at Nafuala in 1921 and the annual report of the Chief Justice of Tonga for 1921.

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Available for reference

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Existence and location of originals

The Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney

Existence and location of copies

Access this title at PMB Member Libraries or by contacting the Bureau directly: http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/pambu/accessing.php

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Description identifier

ms28

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