Ask a librarian, Victorian history:
Horseracing is an industry strongly associated with Melbourne, but it took almost three years after colonial settlement for the first horse race to be held. Like many of today’s horse racing carnivals, the reporting was more focused on what happened off the racetrack than on it.
Collection Care, Preservation, Preventive conservation:
Baron Ferdinand von Mueller served as Government Botanist and Director of the Botanical Gardens in the mid-1800s. He compiled and published ‘The Educational Collections of Australian Plants’ (1873-1876), motivated by a desire to bring botany to the masses. The Library’s edition was recently rehoused by our Preservation team.
‘The Queen’s Reading Room’ opened on 24 May 1859 when the south wing of the Library was completed. Restoration works began in 2017 and in 2019, the space was re-opened to the public as the Ian Potter Queen’s Hall.
The Sun News-Pictorial captured so many Victorian stories. Its extensive coverage of local events, showing familiar places and faces, resonated with Victorians. After 100 years, it’s time to make these stories accessible to all by digitising the daily paper.
Ask a librarian, New to the collection:
There have been a few new additions to our online eresources lately. These can be explored from outside the Library if you are a Victorian-resident Library member – log in with your Library member number, or sign up for membership online to begin. Let’s take a look at what’s available.
International Nurses Day is celebrated on Friday 12 May – the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth. In today’s blog we explore the history of nursing in Victoria and take a glimpse at the nurses featured in our collection.
In 1966 Mansfield was abuzz for the arrival of the heir to the throne, Prince (now King) Charles. He was on his way to Timbertop, the bush campus of Geelong Grammar, as an exchange student.
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights:
Snapshots of the past, documented by films. From the birth of Karl Marx through to the Russian Revolutions and into the1980s, explore the communist world through the eyes of socialist film makers.
Collection Care, Conservation, Preservation, Tips and tricks:
Looking for some more insights into the day-to-day activities of the Library’s Collection Care team?
Part 2 of the A-Z of Collection Care series takes us from marvellous maps to pesky pests and beyond.
Rarely a day goes by that State Library Victoria’s librarians don’t consult Trove – it is an indispensable resource for a wide range of research. We put a call out to State Library Victoria staff to share their favourite discoveries on Trove. From articles that revealed previously unknown details of their family history, to a bizarre ad for the film Frankenstein, their discoveries reveal what a rich resource for research Trove can be.
The Sun News-Pictorial captured so many Victorian stories. Its extensive coverage of local events, showing familiar places and faces, resonated with Victorians. After 100 years, it’s time to make these stories accessible to all by digitising the daily paper.
Read about the time Paris lost itself in Melbourne. Good thing we found it and gave it back to the world! Here’s the fascinating story of a collection that everyone believed to be lost.
