Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Wednesday 25 March 1936, page 12


THE MITCHELL CENTENARY.

I TO THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD.

Sir,-I attended the celebration of the birth of David Scott Mitchell at the library the other evening, and was surprised that while due justice was paid by the various speakers to the valuable donations of the late D. S. Mitchell and Mr. William Dixon, and praise given to the present staff, no mention was made of the gentleman who undertook the enormous task of arranging and cataloguing the books and other treasures of the library. I refer to Mr. Hugh Wright, O.B.E., who re-cently resigned the position of librarian, On him developed the stupendous work of put-ting the library In order, and making It avail-able to students and readers. He was certainly assisted by an able staff, who did the work so well that all users of the Mitchell Library praise Its system of classification and cata-loguing, but his was the brain that superin-tended all this. Apart from his great labour at the library Mr. Wright is, perhaps, the greatest living authority on Australian his-tory, and his advice and assistance were al-ways willingly given to students ond others using this great Institution. Many writers on historic subjects, from Professor Scott downwards, have publicly, in their works, ac-knowledged the assistance Mr. Wright has given them. The omission of all reference to him is an oversight, which, I am sure, is regretted by everyone. In conclusion, I would like to state that the present librarian, Miss Ida Leeson, has proved a worthy suc-cessor to Mr. Wright, and Is carrying on in a most capable manner the management of the institution, of which he laid the foundations.

I I am, etc.,

| 92 Pill-street. March 24,. P, J. MARKS. |