Laurie Carew Archive

Full description

Laurie Carew’s archive contains printed material, photographs, slides, ephemera, audio visual and media clippings relating to Myer and Georges, and Laurie Carew’s career as a visual retailer.

Laurie Carew (1926-2014) was a visual merchandiser for Myer from 1950 to 1954 before moving to Georges Department Store in 1954 where he worked until 1983. Laurie was born in Deniliquin on the family property, Selbourne. His early career at Alex Miller in Deniliquin was interrupted by the war and then, in 1948, he moved to Sydney where he worked in the city department store, David Jones. By 1950 Carew had moved to Melbourne where he worked with the legendary window dresser Frederick Asmussen (1913-1974) at Myer, where he worked for four years. In 1954 he took up a position with Georges Department Store then located at 162 Collins Street, Melbourne. Carew’s archive is rich in photographs, including many of his window displays for Myer and Georges, as well as fashion parades, and rare installation shots of exhibitions held at Georges Gallery which was a significant player in the promotion of modern art and design. The Archive also contains a collection of Georges ephemera including copies of the Georges Gazette, invitations, wrapping paper, boxes and carry bags.  The archive documents Laurie Carew’s thirty-year career as a visual merchandiser at Georges.

The collection is housed in 15 boxes, box 4 contains photographs of Myer window displays, box 5 holds photographs of Georges Gallery exhibitions and parades, 6 and 7 hold photographs of Georges window displays; box 8 holds ephemera for Georges, including promotional brochures, advertisements, and gallery exhibition catalogues; boxes 9 and 11 hold biographical material for Laurie Carew, including the typescript of his memoir, and notes for his talks on Georges.   Samples of gift wrap, paper bags, and posters for exhibitions and promotions are held in box 2.