Joyce Thorpe Nicholson

Biography

Joyce Nicholson (nee Thorpe) (1919-) is an Australian author, business woman and a significant contributor to an Australian political organisation, the Woman's Electoral Lobby.

The daughter of Publisher D.W. Thorpe, Nicholson was born in Melbourne and educated at Methodist Ladies' College and the University of Melbourne. She has been active in the women's movement as one of the founding members of the Woman's Electoral Lobby and Sisters Publishing.[1] She was a significant influence in the Australian publishing industry for many years as managing director, and later sole owner, of D. W. Thorpe Pty Ltd (from 1968 to 1987 when the firm was sold). She is the author of over 25 books, many of them dealing with children and women. She married Harvey Nicholson and had four children: Peter, Hilary, Wendy, and Michael.

Joyce has sponsored a major collection of books by and about Australian women, the Joyce Thorpe Nicholson Collection at Melbourne University. It includes rare nineteenth century material, as well as scarce twentieth-century political ephemera.[2] Joyce sponsors the Helen Leonard award for contributions to the Women's Movement]. An education foundation scholarship is named in honour of Joyce Nicholson[3] and the Joyce Thorpe Nicholson Hall of Fame Award is presented annually by the Australian publishers association].[4]

Timeline

(Details from an online biography)[5]

  • 1935 - 1946 Junior typist, secretary and sub-editor at D W Thorpe Pty Ltd (Melbourne)

  • 1940 Vice-president of the Student Representative Council at the University of Melbourne

  • 1943 Married George Harvey Nicholson (dec.1980), they had 4 children

  • 1947 - 1968 Writer and part-time work at D W Thorpe Pty Ltd (Melbourne)

  • 1957 Organizer of the first Children's Book Week in Victoria

  • 1968-1980 Managing director and proprietor of D W Thorpe Pty Ltd (Melbourne), and editor, Australian Bookseller and Australian Books in Print

  • 1971-1974 Editor of Newsletter for the Royal Historical Society of Victoria

  • 1972-1983 Secretary and executive member of the Australian Library Promotion Council

  • 1974 Founding member of the National Book Council

  • 1979-1980 Co-founder and director of Sisters Publishing Ltd

  • 1987-1992 Chief Executive Officer of Jayen Press

  • 1993 Chief Executive Officer of Courtyard Press

  • 1998 Recipient of the Lloyd O'Neil Award for services to the Book Industry

Journal articles

  • Gorman, Lyn, A life in books, Australian Library Journal, vol. 49, no. 4, 2000, pp. 374-376.

  • First Pacific Book Trade Seminar Papers, D. W. Thorpe (January 1976)

Thesis

  • Nicholson, Joyce, The Women's Electoral Lobby and Women's Employment: Strategies and Outcomes, MA, Women's Studies, History, The University of Melbourne', MA thesis, The University of Melbourne, 1991, 118 pp.

See also


The Half -Open Door

  • De Micheli, Catherine and Herd, Margaret (eds), Who's who in Australia 2003, 39 edn, Crown Content, North Melbourne, 2003, 2201 pp.

  • Lofthouse, Andrea (ed.), Who's who of Australian women, Methuen Australia, North Ryde (NSW), 1982, 504 pp. - Based on the research by Vivienne Smith (d. 1978) who initiated the work in 1974. Following Smith's death a committee of women was brought together by Joyce Nicholson to see the idea thriugh to completion. Andrea Lofthouse was the committee's nominee to complile Smith's material and to build on it. - Bookjacket.

  • Walker, Nick, A life of books : the story of D.W. Thorpe Pty Ltd., 1921-1987, Victorian Historical Journal, vol. 71, no. 2, 2000, pp. 129-131.

  • Ed: Patricia Grimshaw & Lynne Strahan, The Half-Open Door: Sixteen Modern Australian women look at professional life and achievement: Ch.7 Joyce Nicholson, Hale & Iremonger, 1982 (ISBN0868060496)

References

  1. ^ Sisters Publishing. The University of Melbourne. Retrieved on 2007 April 3.

  2. ^ Joyce Thorpe Nicholson Collection. The University of Melbourne. Retrieved on 2007 April 3.

  3. ^ The Following Philanthropic Organisations. Education Foundation Australia. Retrieved on 2007 April 3.

  4. ^ The 55th Australian Publishers Association Book Design Awards 2007. Australian Publishers Association (2007). Retrieved on 2007 April 3.

  5. ^ Nicholson, Joyce Thorpe (1919 - ). National Foundation for Australian Women. Retrieved on 2007 April 3.

 

 

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