Leonard Stanley Marquis (1916-1993) was for many years, associated with, and ultimately in charge of the South Australian State Library's collection of newspapers which, for much of the time he worked with them, and made available to the public - on the ground and lower ground floor of the Institute Building.
In 1970 the newspapers that were held in the Newspaper Reading Room of the State Library of South Australia consisted of 69 South Australian titles, 154 from other states and Territories, and 123 from overseas. The highest number of regional South Australian newspapers ever held was 41, but by 1970 this had dropped to 36.
During the eighteen years he was in charge of the Newspaper Collection, he not only became involved in the preservation of the collection - he went to extraordinary lengths to discover discarded forgotten or hoarded newspapers he felt were of importance and or relevance - in other words, he became immersed in the subject. To the extent that when he retired from the State Library in 1980 he sought, and obtained a grant to research the history of the South Australian press.
During his career, in preparation for a seminar Len Marquis was speaking at, he delved into the origins of, and the building up of, the newspaper collection as it stood at the time, as well as trying to assess what the collection could offer in the way of history for posterity. The result is this work, which he never lived to see published. But it is a listing of all the different newspapers that are held by the State Library of South Australia, together with a little background on many of them, and a close examination of the leading metropolitan papers covering the period of South Australia's first 90 years. Also mentioned is the evolvement of the German language press, and some of the characters engaged in the political and other aspects of the Adelaide newspapers.
Contents:
Outline of Proposed History
Early Developments
A Newspaper for the new Colony
Early Publications
A Press for the Suburbs
Port Adelaide Newspapers
A Country Press
Press for the Man on the Land
Commercial and Trade Publications
A Religious Press
Political Papers
Sporting Papers
The Illustrated press
Satirical Journals
German Language Papers
Unfulfilled Expectations
Northern Territory Newspapers
Extraterritorial Papers
List of South Australian Country Newspapers
Some 19th Century Newspaper Companies
People Associated with the Press
Some Title not Otherwise Discussed
A. Clint - Some Notes about this Artist's Work
An 'End Piece'
Index to Some Material not Alphabetically Printed in Appropriate Sections
