80_H84.356_39 In the front line

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Victoria’s public libraries and the State Library have worked together in the lead-up to the Anzac centenary, digitising thousands of historic newspapers and curating an exhibition of wartime stories. This collaborative effort will allow students, historians and family history researchers to learn more about WWI and the experience of war for Australians.

Over the last three years we have digitised and made available many of Victoria’s community newspapers of the war era, adding over 5 million articles to the Trove website of the National Library of Australia. These local papers look at the war intimately and often contain personal stories of local bravery and loss.

CEO and State Librarian Sue Roberts said the digitised newspapers are an incredible research tool: ‘Few published documents capture the immediacy of history in the way newspapers do. Here are over 200 of Victoria’s newspapers titles covering every corner of our state telling the story of life at war and at home during the most deadly conflict Australia has ever engaged in.’

In addition, from 2014-17 State Library Victoria in collaboration with Public Libraries Victoria Network will commemorate the Anzac centenary with the new travelling exhibition Writing the war: personal stories of war. Tracing the lives of seven different Australians, the exhibition includes journals, photo albums, images, diaries and correspondence, as well as items supplied by each of the public libraries that it visits. Starting at the State Library (1 April to 4 October 2015), it will travel across metropolitan and regional Victoria.

Find out more about the work we have done for the WWI centenary at the State Library, or explore our collection of WWI resources.

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