Our stories

Feasts of Christmas past

Feasts of Christmas past

December 15, 2025

Ask a librarian, Food, Social life & customs, Victorian history:

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.

Portraits of Melbourne artists in their studios

Portraits of Melbourne artists in their studios

December 8, 2025

Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Our stories, Painting, Photography, Recently digitised, Victorian history, Visual arts:

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.

The visibility of disability

The visibility of disability

December 3, 2025

Ask a librarian, Our stories, Victorian history:

Today’s blog marks International Day of People With Disability. In recognition, we have chosen some images from our Pictures collection that represent disability from the 19th century to today.

Herbert Edward Elton Hayes: uncovering a local connection

Herbert Edward Elton Hayes: uncovering a local connection

December 1, 2025

Ask a librarian, Our stories, Victorian history:

After uncovering a local connection to World War 1 nurse, Kathleen Gawler, Librarian Daniel Giddens discovered the intriguing story of her husband, Reverend Herbert Edward Elton Hayes, a complex man, who was much more than his conviction for heresy, a period that has come to define him.

She’s so pretty: the story of Pretty Sally’s Hill

She’s so pretty: the story of Pretty Sally’s Hill

November 19, 2025

Ask a librarian, Our stories, Victorian history:

For a few short years in the 1840s a woman named Sarah Smith made a little extra money offering accommodation and hospitality to travellers between Sydney and the yet-to-be declared Colony of Victoria. With a roof, a meal and perhaps a strong drink or two, Sarah’s House or Pretty Sally’s, as it came to be known, left a lasting mark on the Australian landscape.

Online Collection Spotlight: Oxford Academic Books

Online Collection Spotlight: Oxford Academic Books

November 13, 2025

Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights:

Do you want to do a deep dive into medical folklore? Have you ever wondered why people make fun of Jazz? What were the building blocks of modern horror movies? Have you wondered why Asperger’s syndrome was removed from the DSM? Or thought about the social impact of the human papillomavirus vaccine? Do you need a primer on literary theory? On climate hazards? On planetary systems? And just what did Herman Melville’s short stories reveal about his thoughts on slavery? Oxford Academic has you covered.

On the case: Detective Piggott and the development of forensics

On the case: Detective Piggott and the development of forensics

November 3, 2025

Ask a librarian, People & professions, Such was life, Victorian history:

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.

The mystery of the Library lions

The mystery of the Library lions

October 16, 2025

Ask a librarian, Our stories, Victorian history:

From 1864 to 1925, two life size lion sculptures stood at the entrance to our Library. From Melbourne to London, Belgium, San Francisco, France and back again, we try trace the origin of these majestic felines.

Online Collection Spotlight: Fairchild Books Library

Online Collection Spotlight: Fairchild Books Library

October 14, 2025

Ask a librarian, Collection spotlights, Fashion:

Fashion! Fascinating, addictive, rejected, embraced. Take a closer look at all the layers that make up this phenomenon in the Fairchild Books Library database.

Joyce McGrath (1925-2025): ‘A fortunate life’

Joyce McGrath (1925-2025): ‘A fortunate life’

October 9, 2025

Ask a librarian, Victorian history:

Joyce McGrath — who died on 13 September, one month short of her 100th birthday — was a determined, visionary figure who developed the State Library’s Art, Music and Performing Arts Library (AMPA) into ‘a circle of sunlight’, as her biographer, Jan Harper, wrote.

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