Such was life

Original writing box containing correspondence, from the Syme Family Papers collection

A lesser known story of the Syme family

February 5, 2020

Collection Care, People & professions, Preservation, Such was life:

Found within the family papers of The Age editor-in-chief David Syme, are a set of letters that give a small insight into the women of the Syme family.

The collar king

The collar king

January 15, 2020

People & professions, Such was life, War:

A chance find in an opportunity shop sets the finder on the trail of Melbourne’s former ‘Collar King’.

‘I’m the boy that brings the news, so a Christmas box I won’t refuse.’

‘I’m the boy that brings the news, so a Christmas box I won’t refuse.’

December 13, 2019

People & professions, Social life & customs, Such was life:

Don’t forget the postie, milkman and garbo!

The Chief Librarian’s casting vote

The Chief Librarian’s casting vote

November 26, 2019

People & professions, Such was life:

It is quite a tenuous connection but could our Library claim some credit for the exploration of the Antarctic?

Cataloguing detective work, exploring the SLV ‘unknowns’

Cataloguing detective work, exploring the SLV ‘unknowns’

October 30, 2019

Collection, Such was life:

Can you help us identify people and places in our digitised collections?

Murder, mayhem and misdeeds: read all about it in the Police News

Murder, mayhem and misdeeds: read all about it in the Police News

September 18, 2019

Social life & customs, Such was life:

The ‘Police News’ had nothing to do with the police- it was a scandalous Melbourne weekly publication which relished depicting all manner of crime.

Duels in Melbourne

Duels in Melbourne

August 16, 2019

Social life & customs, Such was life:

Early one Thursday morning in June 1839, two young men at an empty racecourse stood 16 paces from one another armed with pistols. They were preparing to engage in Melbourne’s first duel.

The Johnny Crow stories

The Johnny Crow stories

July 23, 2019

Arts & literature, Our stories:

In the early twentieth century, author Leslie Brooke developed new techniques that were to influence many in what became the Golden Age of Children’s books.

The chaos and order of Marion Page

The chaos and order of Marion Page

June 28, 2019

Collection Care, Our stories, People & professions, Preservation, Social life & customs:

Follow the journey of a large, multi-format Manuscript collection belonging to the late Marion Page from a South Yarra storage room to our Preservation team.

The Chief Librarian and the soap thieves

The Chief Librarian and the soap thieves

June 6, 2019

Our stories, People & professions:

In 1887, someone was stealing the State Library soap- or was it ‘someones’?