Children’s fiction translated into French & Kaz Cooke donation
Collection Development & Description:
New to SLV Collections includes a collection of children’s fiction books translated into French and a suite on 20th century comic artists.
Bright: a town for all seasons
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Victorian history:
In normal times, the final week of April into the first week of May would see the Victorian town of Bright celebrating its Autumn Festival. Sadly, due to the pandemic, the festival was not able to run last year and has also been cancelled for this year. To mark the occasion, we take a look back over previous festivals and the history of the Town of Bright through some of the Library’s wonderful digitised images
Bliss’s book marks
Collection Development & Description:
Provenance research in rare book cataloguing by Derrick Moors
Canvas Town: ‘a floating city, devoured by the sun’
Ask a librarian, Our stories, Victorian history:
It was November, 1852, when almost overnight, a strange sight sprang up, near Princes Bridge, in Melbourne. Canvas Town, as it came to be known, was a large tent city, set up to accommodate people on their way to the goldfields…
An ‘ordinary great woman’: Anna Vroland
Upon her death in 1978, Victorian woman Anna Fellowes Vroland (1902-1978) was described by a colleague as being ‘one of the ordinary great women of our time’. Anna was a school teacher, writer, radio commentator, and political activist in the areas of Aboriginal rights, women’s rights and the peace movement. She held many views that seem entirely contemporary, but were not at all commonplace at the time she aired them.
The Lucas Girls: A match to remember Q&A
News:
We spoke to Belinda Ensor and Joel Checkley, the creators of The Lucas Girls: A match to remember, about the story behind their short film.
‘Put out that light!’ Brownout Melbourne during World War II
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Victorian history:
In 1942, amidst fears of aerial enemy attack, Melbourne’s homefront was in the grip of brownout. These were tumultuous times, and the city hummed with wartime preparations, and thousands of American service personnel. At the same time, a killer stalked in the shadows.
The Sunday question
Ask a librarian, Our stories, Victorian history:
For most of its history, the Library was closed on Sundays. The battle to open was a hotly contested issue, not just at the Library, but all over Melbourne.
Artist in conversation: Hayley Millar-Baker
News:
We speak to Hayley about her series I Will Survive, which is being displayed in an outdoor exhibition on the Library forecourt.
Dedicated to the ladies
Ask a librarian, Victorian history:
In Melbourne’s early colonial days there were few places where women could go to seek knowledge. A dedicated section of the newly established Melbourne Public Library was one of them.
Such was life
Feasts of Christmas past
What are your favourite festive food memories? Have you ever enjoyed Christmas Day lunch on the beach, up a mountain or aboard a ship? Do you remember pineapple glazed ham? Would you like the 100-year-old recipe for walnut stuffing? The State Library’s historic menus, cookbooks, photos and magazines trace Christmas foods from early colonial tables to the festive flavours celebrated by our diverse migrant communities. Dive in and rediscover your favourite Christmas dishes — or find inspiration for this year’s feast.
Arts
Portraits of Melbourne artists in their studios
John Hinds, an artist, photographer and active ROAR member from 1986 to 1992 spent time capturing artists he personally knew and the spaces that they used to create their works. His photographs captured a unique and often unseen time and place, creating an invaluable insight into the art scene in Melbourne.
