Eric H. McCormick - An Absurd Ambition

1906

Born 17 June, Taihape, second child and only son of W. J. H. McCormick, one of the towns founders, and his wife Ellen (ne Powrie).

191123

Educated at Taihape District High School and Wellington College.

192425

Wellington Teachers Training College and part-time student at Victoria University College.

192629

Teacher at sole-charge schools in Nelson province; extra-mural student at Victoria University College.

1928

MA in English and Latin, University of New Zealand.

192931

Teaches at Wellesley College; awarded post-graduate scholarship.

193133

Research student at Clare College, Cambridge. Taught by E R. Leavis, LA. Richards and Mansfield Forbes.

1933

Returns to New Zealand and settles in Dunedin. Continues to work on his Cambridge thesis Literature in New Zealand.

1935

M Litt (Cambridge); acting librarian, Dunedin Public Library.

1936

Hocken Librarian, part-time.

193640

Returns to Wellington as Secretary to the National Historical Committee and assistant to the Dominion Archivist, Dr G. H. Scholefield.

193940

Editor of Centennial Publications, which included Making New Zealand) a pictorial record, and a series of book-length surveys.

1940

Letters and Art in New Zealand, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

194145

Joins 2NZEF, 5th Reinforcements, at first with infantry, then transferred to the Medical Corps and, in Egypt, to Army Archives in the Public Relations Service.

194547

Chief War Archivist.

194750

Senior Lecturer in English, Auckland University College.

195152

Senior Research Fellow, University of New Zealand.

1954

The Expatriate: A Study of Frances Hodgkins, New Zealand University Press, Wellington.

Works of Frances Hodgkins in New Zealand, Auckland City Art Gallery.

Catalogue introduction and notes for the exhibition Frances Hodgkins and Her Circle, ACAG.

195557

Travels to England to continue research on Frances Hodgkins and other interests; on return settles in bach attached to his sister Myras house in Green Bay, Auckland.

1956

Eric Lee-Johnson, Pauls Book Arcade, Hamilton.

1958

Curates and organizes the exhibition The Land and the People, which will tour Russian museums.

1959

Assists Colin McCahon and Peter Tomory with the exhibition Frances Hodgkins, Paintings and Drawings, ACAG.

The Inland Eye: A Sketch in Visual Autobiography, Auckland Gallery Associates.

New Zealand Literature: A Survey, Oxford University Press.

Tasman and New Zealand: A Bibliographical Study, Government Printer, Wellington. (Alexander Turnbull Library Bulletin No. 14.)

196162

Lecturer in Commonwealth Literature, Leeds University.

1961

The Fascinating Folly: Dr Hocken and His Fellow Collectors, University of Otago Press.

Last, Loneliest, Most Loyal: New Zealand Society, Distance Looks Our Way (ed. Keith Sinclair), Pauls Book Arcade for the University of Auckland.

1962

D Litt, Victoria University of Wellington.

1963

Edits Edward Markham, New Zealand or Recollections of It, Government Printer, Wellington.

196364

Editor of Publications, University of Auckland.

Senior Research Fellow, University of Auckland.

196585

Honorary Research Fellow, History Department, University of Auckland.

1966

Edits Augustus Earle, Narrative of a Residence in New Zealand; Journal of a Residence in Tristan da Cunha, Oxford, Clarendon Press.

Apollo in Taihape, New Zealand Listener, 18 November 1966.

1969

Contributes curatorial assistance, catalogue essay and notes to the exhibition Frances Hodgkins 18691947, ACAG.

1974

Alexander Turnbull: His Life, His Circle, His Collections, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington.

1976

New Zealand delegate to 41st International PEN Congress, London.

197677

President of Honour, PEN New Zealand.

1977

Omai, Pacific Envoy, Auckland University Press/Oxford University Press.

Contributes catalogue introduction and curatorial assistance to the exhibition The Two Worlds of Omai, ACAG.

1978

Beginnings, Islands 22, v.6, no.4 (dated Summer 1977).

1981

Portrait of Frances Hodgkins, Auckland University Press/Oxford University Press.

1983

Honorary Litt D, University of Auckland.

1988

Late Attachment: Frances Hodgkins and Maurice Garnier, published by ACAG.

1989

The Friend of Keats, a Life of Charles Armitage Brown, Victoria University Press, Wellington.

198994

At work on essays he called autobiographical fragments, latterly with the assistance of Dennis McEldowney.