PMI Victorian History Library | A central resource for researching the history of Victoria

The PMI Victorian History Library Inc. is a community owned and run library specialising in the history of Victoria, Australia.

The library collection is the only lending collection of its kind in Australia – with over 30,000 books for loan and over 40,000 items on site, including titles that are unavailable elsewhere. You can find information about all aspects of the history of Victoria including:

Company Histories
Design & Architecture
Family History/Genealogy
First Nations Australians
Theatre & Cinema
Town History
Transport
Visual & Performing Arts

We also provide a professional information service for our members, access to a number of indexes, directories and online resources, as well as organise and present educational activities and events.

The PMI Library is also home of:

The Mechanics’ Institutes of Victoria
The Cinema and Theatre Historical Society and
Victorian Railway History Library and you can view the VRHL collection through our catalogue.

Latest News

Florence Bartleman, our first Librarian at the PMI Victorian History Library

Florence Bartleman was the PMI Library’s first appointed Librarian. She is an important figure in the history of the Library because she paved the way for generations for future librarians.

History of the Prahran Mechanics’ Institute

History of the Prahran Mechanics’ Institute
Originally Posted 21 May 2021
With a lot of new members joining the library, I thought it was time for an introduction to the history of the PMI (or a reintroduction for some of our longer term members) and the history of the PMI is always fun to write about. I hope you enjoy.
Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. The Prahran Mechanics’ Institute declared itself into existence on the 1st of May 1854. Although we didn’t have a building until 1857 this foundation date makes us the second oldest library in Victoria. The oldest is the Athenaeum Library in Collins Street, which was founded in 1839. You can see it in the photo below…..

Meet Our Board: Paul Davis

Recently, we have welcomed a new member of the board, Mr Paul Davis. Paul has experience across several organisations and we are excited for this new chapter.