Instituting The Past: The inner mechanics of the PMI Victorian History Library
Instituting The Past: The inner mechanics of the PMI Victorian History Library is a blog from the members and staff of the PMI Victorian History Library.
For the last 170 years we have been 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.
This blog contains news about the library and research happening within it’s walls. We have everything from professional historians, to fiction writers, to architects and family historians visiting us, so this blog will always have something interesting. We also include book reviews from both our members and our staff.
We hope you enjoy Instituting The Past and if you’re interested in the library come down and say hello, our professional staff are always happy to help with any historical queries you might have.
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Book Review: The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland
Originally Published 30 May 2019 A haunting book without being bleak, a feat in and of itself. The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart draws deeply on the Australian landscape and is intensely evocative in its depiction of the natural environment. It also has one of the best...
Meet the Volunteers: Marie Pernat
Originally posted on 15th March, 2019 A chance meeting with a PMI Library staff member resulted in my visiting the library and kindly being given a guided tour. I immediately thought that I would love to volunteer in such a fine library with great historical as well...
Book Review: Return to Rosstown: railways, land sales and sugar beet ventures in Caulfield
Originally Published 24 May 2019 Why doesn’t Hawthorn Rd go to Hawthorn? And why is there a Junction Hotel at Oakleigh? The first remains a puzzle but the second makes sense. By 1895 Oakleigh was the junction of three railways: the Outer Circle, the Gippsland and the...
Collection Spotlight: Ephemera
Originally Published 3 May 2019 The PMI ephemera collection began its life as a vertical file collection (we’re in fact still in the process of changing the name on the Library Management System). A vertical file is clippings of articles (mainly from newspapers) and...
Meet the Volunteers: Donna
Originally Published 17 May 2019 Hello everyone, my name is Donna Mead and I have been a volunteer at the PMI since August 2018. I am studying to be a librarian whilst working in the joyous world of car claims. I spend most of my day dealing with people who do dumb...