Digital copies of 20 personal letters by A Thomson to his family and friends. These were selected from a total set of 66 original letters.
Most of the letters are written to individuals but also couples (his parents in Lilli Pilli) and households. The majority of addressees appear to be in Australia but their addresses and identities are not clear. Some are student friends and some are tutors or mentors. Most letters are 2-3 pages long.
The letters describe his arrival at the University of Sussex, his impressions of Brighton and Hove, his friendships with the new people he was meeting and his reflections on the intellectual aspects of his course and his research first on JB Priestley and then on the Women's Cooperative Guild and housework. He was strongly influenced by his Sussex tutors, historians Eileen and Stephen Yeo who introduced him to the community organisation QueenSpark Books. It is through this link that he moved to the house on Albion Hill, which is close to the QS office, and developed friendships with QS members including Ursula Howard.
Al Thomson arrived in Hove from Australia, aged 21 at the end of September 1983 to start a one year Masters degree in History at the University of Sussex. He had been previously living and studying in Melbourne.
Just before he wrote the first letter on 1 Oct 1983, he moved into a house in Brunswick Place, Hove, which was shared with six other overseas students who were new to him. He left Hove at the end of April and moved into another shared house on Albion Hill where he lived until the letters end in October 1984. During the year he made three main trips, to Ireland in January, Scotland in May and Madrid in September. He also travelled to London from time to time.
During his years in Brighton, AT worked for QueenSpark Books, a community publisher, and then became an academic at the Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sussex.
AT returned to Australia in 2007 and took up the post of Professor at the School of Historical Studies at Monash University.
Thomson, Alistair, 1960 - , Professor
Digital scans of 20 letters plus 3 photos. Some faint text.
Restricted. AT to be consulted before any publication.
The digital copies of the letters listed here are deposited at ESRO. The original documents are in the care of Alistair Thomson.
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