Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Our stories, Victorian history:
The Library holds a set of images with a particularly intriguing name – Street characters: a series of photographs taken of Melbourne street personalities, about 1930. They are compelling snapshots of the social fabric of Melbourne at that time, images of characters long gone, likely long forgotten, their stories spent.
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Research tips:
The newspaper card indexes at State Library Victoria can provide vital clues when researching Melbourne’s not so distant past.
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights:
The women’s movement, the advent of television, rock and roll, the gay rights movement, the Vietnam War: explore photographs and documents bringing the turbulent 50s, 60s and 70s to life.
News:
State Library Victoria is saddened by the passing of Australian artist Petr Herel. Petr was a practicing artist for over sixty years, and was best known for his printmaking and his exquisite artist books.
Collection Development & Description:
It often takes a village to catalogue a rare book. In this blog post, SLV rare books cataloguer Nina Whittaker shares the dynamic, and transnational, process of cataloguing a Ukrainian prayer book. This journey takes us from Melbourne to Croatia, to Bosnia and the Yugoslav People’s Army, and ultimately through to the Ukrainian migrant community in Geelong and the 2016 SLV Ukrainian Fellowship
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Victorian history:
Edna Walling was a trailblazing Australian garden designer of the 20th century. Her passion, uncompromising vision and way with words changed the way we think about our gardens.
With the help of the Women Writers Fund, the Library recently acquired Laura Dayton Fessenden’s most fascinating work of speculative fiction, 2002: Childlife One Hundred Years From Now.
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights:
There are many names in the history of feminism and women’s rights but, unlike Mary Wollstonecraft, Vida Goldstein or Emmeline Pankhurst, the name Dr. Aletta. H. Jacobs (1854-1929) is little known, even though many of her papers have been collected by UNESCO in their Memory of the World archive.
“To be happy, one must rid oneself of prejudice, be virtuous, healthy, and have a capacity for enjoyment and for passion“ – Émilie du Châtelet, Discours sur le bonheur. Le siècle… Read More ›
In 1934, Australian aviator, Freda Thompson, made history as the first Australian woman to fly solo from England to Australia. Thompson was a pioneer who believed the sky was the limit – she wanted to reach that limit, to feel the adrenaline, to just fly.
Ailsa O’Connor (1921-1980) was a political activist, painter, sculptor, author and teacher. Throughout her art career she was a member of the Communist Party and associated with the Socialist Realist Group.
