Autumn delights: Trial databases on travel, trailblazers and more!

Autumn delights: Trial databases on travel, trailblazers and more!

April 19, 2022

Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Collections:

From new content in the Food and Drink in History database to three new databases available on trial, there’s plenty to discover online this Autumn. Trial databases cover empire studies, travel adventures of women in the 19th and 20th centuries, and trailblazing female forerunners in history. Explore and share your feedback!

Humans of Melbourne, 1930s style

Humans of Melbourne, 1930s style

April 16, 2022

Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Our stories, Victorian history:

The Library holds a set of images with a particularly intriguing name – Street characters: a series of photographs taken of Melbourne street personalities, about 1930. They are compelling snapshots of the social fabric of Melbourne at that time, images of characters long gone, likely long forgotten, their stories spent.

Searching through time: Melbourne newspaper card indexes

Searching through time: Melbourne newspaper card indexes

April 12, 2022

Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Research tips:

The newspaper card indexes at State Library Victoria can provide vital clues when researching Melbourne’s not so distant past.

Online Collection Spotlight: Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975

Online Collection Spotlight: Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975

April 9, 2022

Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights:

The women’s movement, the advent of television, rock and roll, the gay rights movement, the Vietnam War: explore photographs and documents bringing the turbulent 50s, 60s and 70s to life.

Found Works by Sue Dymoke

Found Works by Sue Dymoke

April 7, 2022

Events, News:

During her time as the Library’s Melbourne UNESCO City of Literature virtual writer-in-residence, Sue Dymoke created a series of Found Works poetry inspired by our digital collection.

Vale Petr Herel (1943 – 2022)

Vale Petr Herel (1943 – 2022)

April 5, 2022

News:

State Library Victoria is saddened by the passing of Australian artist Petr Herel. Petr was a practicing artist for over sixty years, and was best known for his printmaking and his exquisite artist books.

Small but mighty: cataloguing a rare Ukrainian prayer book

Small but mighty: cataloguing a rare Ukrainian prayer book

April 4, 2022

Collection Development & Description:

It often takes a village to catalogue a rare book. In this blog post, SLV rare books cataloguer Nina Whittaker shares the dynamic, and transnational, process of cataloguing a Ukrainian prayer book. This journey takes us from Melbourne to Croatia, to Bosnia and the Yugoslav People’s Army, and ultimately through to the Ukrainian migrant community in Geelong and the 2016 SLV Ukrainian Fellowship

Edna Walling: wild at heart

Edna Walling: wild at heart

April 2, 2022

Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Victorian history:

Edna Walling was a trailblazing Australian garden designer of the 20th century. Her passion, uncompromising vision and way with words changed the way we think about our gardens.

2002: A space oddity

2002: A space oddity

March 31, 2022

Rare Books & Arts:

With the help of the Women Writers Fund, the Library recently acquired Laura Dayton Fessenden’s most fascinating work of speculative fiction, 2002: Childlife One Hundred Years From Now.

The Gerritsen Collection & Dr Aletta H. Jacobs: a pioneer of women’s history & visionary

The Gerritsen Collection & Dr Aletta H. Jacobs: a pioneer of women’s history & visionary

March 28, 2022

Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights:

There are many names in the history of feminism and women’s rights but, unlike Mary Wollstonecraft, Vida Goldstein or Emmeline Pankhurst, the name Dr. Aletta. H. Jacobs (1854-1929) is little known, even though many of her papers have been collected by UNESCO in their Memory of the World archive.

Such was life

Strange lights in the sky: The Westall UFO event, 1966

Strange lights in the sky: The Westall UFO event, 1966

April 6, 2024 9 comments

On 6 April 1966, in a quiet suburb south east of Melbourne, reports emerged of something strange in the sky…

Arts

Nineteenth century Victorians

Nineteenth century Victorians

December 31, 2023 5 comments

The Etkins collection consists of wonderful portraits of people and places throughout 19th century Victoria.