The A to Z of World of the book 2022
Exhibitions, Rare Books & Arts:
A is for Alhambra On display for the very first time is a magnificent work by English designer Owen Jones and French architect Jules Goury about one of the world’s… Read More ›
Winter illuminations: snow and shadows
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, People & professions, Such was life:
With winter well upon us, these images from our photographic collections evoke some of the seasonal experience of snow, ice, and shadows; as senses are sharpened by a chill in the air, the brightness and contrast of snow and subject, or the blanketing fogs.
The woman behind London’s first daily newspaper
People & professions, Such was life:
Printer Elizabeth Mallet has her place in the ‘hall of fame’ of women who tried something new and changed the world; women who had a vision and went for it!
Vale Frank Moorhouse
State Library Victoria was saddened to learn this week of the death of prominent Australian writer Frank Moorhouse. Des Cowley and Maxine McKew reflect on his life and works.
Magic in the night sky
Ask a librarian, Victorian history:
Moomba, the Royal Melbourne Show, New Years Eve…Victorians love to celebrate major events with fireworks. While we might have an idea of what a typical firework display looks like (such as the regular ones held each New Years Eve), the displays of the nineteenth century were completely unlike like what we see today.
A trick of the light: a personal response to several paintings in the Cowen Gallery
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Our stories, Victorian history:
The Library’s Cowen Gallery features some magnificent paintings by Australian artists, whose work sheds light on how the Australian Impressionist movement inspired Australian painters around the turn of the century.
Sufficiently educated
Social life & customs, Such was life:
Maybe you received a Victorian Certificate of Education? Or a Higher School Certificate? A School Tertiary Certificate? Leaving? School graduation requirements have come a long way from having to be ‘sufficiently educated’, as was the case in the 1870s.
The Damian Smith Archive
A healthy art community relies on figures that move quickly between commissions, code-switch through high and colloquial cultures, and translate between foreign lands. The record of Damian Smith’s career is the archive of one such figure.
Online Collection Spotlight: Archives Unbound
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights:
It’s International Archives Day and what better way to celebrate than to check out our database Archives Unbound! Explore women’s history, LGBTIQ+ activism and even Shakespeare’s plays. You’ll discover a renewed appreciation for archives and their role in history.
Collection connections: romance & a rock poster
Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Reference desk:
We take a look at a concert poster from our collection and explore the meaning it holds for one of our Library members
Such was life
On the case: Detective Piggott and the development of forensics
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.
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.
