An archive of detailed pen, ink, and wash drawings, lovingly collected and glued into a large scrapbook, is held through the custodianship of the Royal Society of Tasmania in the University of Tasmania’s Morris Miller Library’s Special and Rare Collection. This very beautiful, crumbling, cloth-bound, handmade scrapbook archive contains more than 200 pen and ink drawings by Catherine Penwarne Ball (1847 – 1878). It appears that Penwarne Ball made no drawings after she married. Prior to this she signed all her works with ‘K.M.’ (Kate Mitchell, therefore I refer to her as Catherine Penwarne Mitchell henceforth.)

The scrapbook also contains many handwritten notes by the compiling archivist, Penwarne Mitchell’s sister, Sarah Mitchell (1853 – 1946), made during the 1930s. These notes were augmented by Sarah Mitchell’s assisting niece, Grace Mitchell (1893 – 1969). The notes tell us stories and anecdotes that relate to the drawings. Known as the Mitchell Scrapbook, Sarah Mitchell’s archive of her sister’s drawings depicts their family and friends, including my ancestors. Most of the detailed drawings on sketchbook paper are approximately 25cm x 15cm (or less) and reveal these people establishing their lives on the east coast of Tasmania.