A Read Down Under

A generous grant from the Embassy of Australia enabled the library in early July to purchase the book collection of Australian historian George Russo. Born in 1928, Russo grew up in Sydney and graduated from the University of New South Wales. He is the author of numerous articles as well as The Race for the Catalpa: The Fenian Escape Story (1986), Swan River Mania: A Colonial History of Western Australia (1987), Historical Ties Between Australia and the Spanish World (1988), and A Friend Indeed: Louisa Clifton of Australind (1995). His major work, Lord Abbot of the Wilderness: The Life and Times of Bishop Salvado (1980), is based on discoveries Russo made in Spanish and Italian archives.

Like most personal libraries, the Russo collection reflects its creator's interests, a principal strength of the 500-volume collection being Australian history and in particular the history of western Australia and the history of the Catholic Church in Australia. A secondary strength is Australian literature, with runs of first editions by such authors as Dame Mary Durack, Thomas Keneally, and Elizabeth Jolley spiced by a number of inscribed copies and personal letters. The Russo collection makes an auspicious addition to library support for Georgetown's newly founded Center for Australian and New Zealand Studies.