The Library’s virtual volunteers
Some of the Library’s volunteers have been correcting the text of digitised historical Victorian newspapers, and in so doing, revealing more about our past.
When Spanish Flu came to Victoria
Ask a librarian, Our stories, Victorian history:
Spanish flu arrived in Australia in January 1919. With masks, closures, quarantine, inter-governmental squabbles and death, the events of a century ago resonate very keenly today.
Online Collection Spotlight: Britannica Kids
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights:
What do frogs and salamanders have in common? What’s the largest coral reef on Earth? And who wrote the picture book, ‘Possum Magic’? The Britannica Kids online encyclopaedia doesn’t just offer answers to these questions.
Online Collection Spotlight: World’s Fairs
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights:
What do Paris’s Eiffel Tower, Seattle’s Space Needle and Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building all have in common? Read on to find out!
Book:Top
People & professions, Such was life:
Ah Siug Jong came to Victoria from China to find gold but after a series of incidents he was jailed and eventually committed to an asylum. He left a complex diary which was his attempt to clear his name.
Victoria through the ages: the boom years
In the 1880s, Victoria experienced an unprecedented property bubble. When it eventually burst, it left the economy in tatters.
Dante 700: an Australian story
Collection, Rare Books & Arts:
To mark the 700th anniversary of the death of italian poet Dante Alighieri, we’re taking a look at the illustrative interpretations of his work by Australian artists.
A modernist pastiche: Matisse’s etchings for Joyce
New books, Rare Books & Arts, Visual arts:
Read about an audacious collaboration between Henri Matisse and James Joyce for the Limited Editions Club.
Journey through the collection: swinging ‘60s Melbourne through the lens of Henry Talbot
Collection spotlights, Photography, Visual arts:
Muse over the iconic, mid-century photographs of Henry Talbot. Featuring the fashion and advertising world of 1950s and 60s Melbourne.
Such was life
Mary Fortune: pioneer of Australian detective stories
Mary Fortune was the author of the longest running 19th-century crime fiction series published in a periodical and one of the earliest female crime writers in the world.
Arts
‘It really belongs to you people anyway…’: The story of Ken Pound
To celebrate the Children’s Book Council of Australia Week, we pay tribute to the life of children’s literature collector, Ken Pound, and the collection he has left for us all.
