An RHSV Distinguished Lecture – traveling to and around Europe in 1950s

The Jones Collection was donated to the RHSV by Gwen shortly before she died. Gwen’s creation, stewardship, and generosity surrounding the collection has ensured that future historians have an incredibly rich archive on which to draw.

Richard Aitken is a Melbourne-based historian, curator, and writer specialising in the history of gardens and homemaking. Richard’s work is recognised nationally and internationally, and his books have become essential reading for anyone with an interest in Australian history and domestic design. He spent three years sorting, listing and annotating The Jones Collection, resulting in the recent donation of approximately 200 archive boxes of documents and realia to the Royal Historical Society of Victoria. Richard’s work which combines his deep knowledge of and love for Gwen and her family combined with his historian’s rigour have added immeasurably to the value of the collection.

Richard’s lecture will introduce The Jones Collection by focussing on the 1953–54 study tour of Britain and Europe undertaken by Gwen Jones. This is a particularly comprehensive holding within the collection and will act as a catalyst for narrating a significant part of Gwen’s life story as well as highlighting the richness of The Jones Collection for historical research and provide an assessment of its overall archival significance.