Ask a librarian, Our stories, Victorian history:
After uncovering a local connection to World War 1 nurse, Kathleen Gawler, Librarian Daniel Giddens discovered the intriguing story of her husband, Reverend Herbert Edward Elton Hayes, a complex man, who was much more than his conviction for heresy, a period that has come to define him.
Ask a librarian, Our stories, Victorian history:
For a few short years in the 1840s a woman named Sarah Smith made a little extra money offering accommodation and hospitality to travellers between Sydney and the yet-to-be declared Colony of Victoria. With a roof, a meal and perhaps a strong drink or two, Sarah’s House or Pretty Sally’s, as it came to be known, left a lasting mark on the Australian landscape.
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights:
Do you want to do a deep dive into medical folklore? Have you ever wondered why people make fun of Jazz? What were the building blocks of modern horror movies? Have you wondered why Asperger’s syndrome was removed from the DSM? Or thought about the social impact of the human papillomavirus vaccine? Do you need a primer on literary theory? On climate hazards? On planetary systems? And just what did Herman Melville’s short stories reveal about his thoughts on slavery? Oxford Academic has you covered.
Ask a librarian, People & professions, Such was life, Victorian history:
The early 1900s was an exciting time to be a detective. Innovations in science and technology, combined with the popularity of detective stories shifted crime fighting away from the seedy world of informers, which had influenced the early years of policing, towards the detection of crime using scientific methods and forensic evidence. Find out about how one Victorian detective contributed to the development of police forensics.
Collections, Family matters, Research tips & tricks:
A common question we receive on desk is how to trace the career of an ancestor who was a police officer. To begin, I would recommend researching their birth, death,… Read More ›
Ask a librarian, Our stories, Victorian history:
From 1864 to 1925, two life size lion sculptures stood at the entrance to our Library. From Melbourne to London, Belgium, San Francisco, France and back again, we try trace the origin of these majestic felines.
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.
In 1965, some older Victorians wrote short essays for a competition, recalling their early lives.
Agatha Christie was a leading author of the golden age of detective fiction whose books continue to excite, delight and intrigue readers. To celebrate her outstanding legacy, State Library Victoria recently acquired first editions of some of Christie’s most popular titles.
