An itsy bitsy teenie weenie slice of summer
You don’t have to be outdoors to enjoy summer.
The little blue building
Buildings & streets, Such was life:
There’s a little blue building outside Flinders Street Station. ‘When was it built?’, a curious library patron asked. The question led me to some interesting research involving milk cans, viaduct vaults and bananas.
1970s photos of Fitzroy and Castlemaine now online
News:
Thanks to the many generous supporters of our 2014 public appeal, we have recently made hundreds of never-before-seen historic photographs of Fitzroy and Castlemaine available online.
Life behind the stacks
11 kilometres of books, papers and ephemera are hidden beneath the streets of Melbourne. Anyone can access them, but they’ll need a State Library card.
Just inside the cover: the miniature art of the bookplate
Rare Books & Arts, Visual arts:
Guest blogger and library volunteer Christine Bell shares her passion for bookplates and throws some light on the work she’s doing behind the scenes on some of our own collections.
The other side of Shackleton’s Antarctic adventure
When Ernest Shackleton’s 1915 Antarctic expedition ran into trouble, the Ross Sea party that was laying out stores for his team continued unawares, facing harrowing challenges of their own.
The map that changed the world
People & professions, Such was life:
This year marks the bicentenary of the publication of the first geological map of England and Wales, laying the foundations for geological surveys across the world.
New Listening: Broadway to La Scala, Brandenburg to Oz.
Some great new CD arrivals in pop, rock, rhythm & blues, film soundtracks, musical theatre, classical music and opera; something for just about everyone.
Well may we say, God save the Queen…
Forty years ago this week saw the climax of one of the most dramatic events in Australian political history when the Whitlam government was dismissed by the Governor-General Sir John Kerr.
Richard Flanagan appointed Australia’s inaugural Chair of Literature
News:
Internationally acclaimed Australian author Richard Flanagan has been appointed as the Boisbouvier Founding Chair of Australian Literature at the University of Melbourne, the first chair of its kind in Australia.
Such was life
Online Collection Spotlight: Bloomsbury Historic Dress in Detail
Watch the wonders of fashion unfold with this informative and visually stunning peak into the history of clothing. This video database, with companion articles, explores historical contexts, materials, and construction methods, enabling you to see how different garments were worn, and the function that each item served.
Arts
Online Collection Spotlight: American Music
From Willie Nelson to Dinah Washington, Muddy Waters to Flaco Jimenez, you can enjoy a journey across the diverse musical roots of America with the Music Online: American Music database. Hosting an astonishing array of talent the collection consists of almost 7000 albums and 120,000 songs.
