Reference NumberARC-0139Creatorde Beer familyDescriptionThe collection includes de Beer, Hallenstein and related family photographs and albums. It also includes the notebooks, travel diaries and appointment diaries of Dora de Beer and other family members and letters from L.F. Powell to Esmond and Dora de Beer. Also included are the anthropology lecture notes of Dora de Beer and a copy of her translation of 'The Samoan Islands' by A. Kramer. Also included are the degree certificates, the Order of the British Empire certificate and other printed material relating to Esmond de Beer, as well as a copy of a genealogy of the Hallenstein, Hart and associated families written by him.
Only a small part of this collection is digitised and available through Digital Collections. Information about other items can be found on the Hākena catalogue, through the Library Catalogues link above.History / BiographyIsidore de beer came from Melbourne to join Hallenstein Brothers, and in 1888 married Emily, second daughter of Bendix Hallenstein. They had four children, Mary, Dora, Bendix and Esmond. The four children were cousins to Charles Brasch, and Willi Fels was their uncle. By the time their mother and father died, Dora, Mary and Esmond (Bendix was killed near Nienport in 1917) made their home in London. They stayed in close touch with Dunedin however, and from the 1950s began giving substantial gifts to the Otago Museum (as their father and uncle had done). In 1960, Esmond returned to Dunedin, to organise a research fund for the museum and to establish the Burns, Mozart and Frances Hodgkins Fellowships for the University, which he and Dora jointly endowed.
Collections of pictures, rare books, ceramics, textiles, rugs and other treasures were passed on to Dunedin's art gallery and museum. Notable gifts were made during their lives but it was after both sisters had died that Esmond gave the bulk of their collections, in 1982. He also gave his collection of rare books to the University of Otago. Their gifts have greatly enriched and transformed Dunedin's cultural institutions.
(From: 'Southern People', ed. Jane Thompson, Dunedin, 1998).