The Johnny Crow stories
Arts & literature, Our stories:
In the early twentieth century, author Leslie Brooke developed new techniques that were to influence many in what became the Golden Age of Children’s books.
Our stories
The chaos and order of Marion Page
Collection Care, Our stories, People & professions, Preservation, Social life & customs:
Follow the journey of a large, multi-format Manuscript collection belonging to the late Marion Page from a South Yarra storage room to our Preservation team.
Extract from ‘True portraiture: David Roberts’ The Holy Land and Francis Frith’s Photographic prints of Egyptian antiquities’
Our stories, Painting, Photography:
Europe went crazy for all things Egyptian in the early 19th century, which helps explain why the Library’s collection includes rare works by two famous Egyptologists: painter David Roberts and photographer Francis Frith.
The Chief Librarian and the soap thieves
Our stories, People & professions:
In 1887, someone was stealing the State Library soap- or was it ‘someones’?
From celebrity to the streets, the power of photojournalism
Our stories, People & professions:
Over the course of his 50-year career, news photographer Bruce Postle captured images of the rich, the famous and the powerful. But on many occasions, his work also involved the most humble and vulnerable people in the community.
‘Dear Walt’: Whitman in Victoria
Victorian school teacher Bernard O’Dowd entered a brief but remarkably intense and intimate correspondence with American poet and iconoclast Walt Whitman.
A hidden treasure, no more: Conservation treatment of ‘View of the north shore’
Collection Care, Conservation, Our stories:
Conservation treatment has returned strength and aesthetic unity to this vibrant watercolour, allowing this important artwork to be appreciated by the public once more.
Walking the blue lake
Buildings & streets, Cities & towns, Our stories:
Dr David Sornig ponders the history of West Melbourne’s lost wetlands, and takes us on a collective journey around the area.
Evolution of a fiery redhead
One of the most enduring figures in Australian popular culture is ‘Miss Redhead’, who first appeared on the Bryant and May Redheads matchbox label in 1947.
Hang ten with Rennie Ellis
Rennie Ellis combined his two true loves of surfing and photography when he captured the thrills of the annual Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach. A dozen of Ellis’s surf photographs are featured in The changing face of Victoria exhibition, ranging from 1970 to the mid-’80s.
