Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Fashion:
Fashion! Fascinating, addictive, rejected, embraced. Take a closer look at all the layers that make up this phenomenon in the Fairchild Books Library database.
Ask a librarian, Victorian history:
Joyce McGrath — who died on 13 September, one month short of her 100th birthday — was a determined, visionary figure who developed the State Library’s Art, Music and Performing Arts Library (AMPA) into ‘a circle of sunlight’, as her biographer, Jan Harper, wrote.
Ask a librarian, Buildings & streets, Cities & towns, Our stories, Such was life, Victorian history:
In September 1932, hundreds of people congregated in and around a new building on the corner of Collins and Swanston Streets in central Melbourne. These crowds hoped to experience a new phenomenon: the escalator. As the twentieth century progressed, each decade saw more cities in Australia embrace the continuous movement that was possible with the introduction of the moving staircase.
Amidst the horrors of World War 1, Australian soldiers could escape for a few hours playing games of Australian Rules football. The playing fields were often recent battlefields, pockmarked with shell holes, but the games reminded them of happier times at home.
Arts & literature, Collection spotlights:
Proquest’s Early English Books Online database features page images of almost every work printed in the British Isles and North America, as well as works in English printed elsewhere, from 1470-1700. More than 200 libraries worldwide have contributed to this comprehensive database, which covers literature, art, architecture, philosophy, religion, politics, history and linguistics. The collection has everything from the first book printed in English through to the ages of Spenser, Shakespeare and the English Civil War.
Collection, Digitisation, Performing Arts, Recently digitised, Social life & customs, Theatre:
George Selth Coppin, an indefatigable powerhouse, was responsible for much of the popular culture that entertained theatre going audiences in the second half of the 19th century. State Library Victoria has recently digitised more than 1200 theatre playbills from its comprehensive Coppin Collection – a highly significant archive of theatrical history.
Ask a librarian, Our stories, Victorian history:
Dudley Flats was a slum that emerged on the West Melbourne swamp during the early years of the Great Depression. Residents of the Flats were known for their resourcefulness, fashioning makeshift houses – known colloquially as ‘Dudley mansions’ – out of refuse scavenged from the nearby tip.
Ask a librarian, Victorian history:
Charles Cousens and Iva Toguri endured an unusual fate during World War II: they were forced to broadcast propaganda for the Japanese from Radio Tokyo. With amazing energy and creativity, they produced their own program, ‘Zero Hour’, which aimed to undermine the propaganda messages and even entertain the allied troops. After the war, they were both accused of treason.
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights:
Through five collections, the ‘History of Disabilities’ database provides an insight into how society viewed disability and difference from the seventeenth century through to today. While some of the practices and terminology may no longer be acceptable, inclusion of challenging content is important to understand how the landscape has changed over time.
Ask a librarian, Family matters, Our stories, Victorian history:
When librarian Sarah Matthews stumbled across a female publican in her family tree, she couldn’t resist investigating. In this blog, Sarah explains how the library’s collection supported her research, and shares some fascinating findings from her own family’s archive.
