Collection
The collection includes histories of Victorian:
cities; towns; regions; localities; schools; churches; businesses; hospitals; clubs; bands; transport; crime; police; politics; military; sport; mining; immigration; Indigenous history; community services; biographies. Australian art and literature also feature in the collection.
Our collection also features a growing range of indexes, pioneer registers and other very useful resources for Victorian family history. Ancestry Library Edition is available for members to use at the PMI on a library computer or your own laptop. For more information on family history resources at the PMI see Research Guide: Family History.
We collect national and interstate material that have Victorian content or have influenced Victoria.
You can read our Collections Development Policy here: 
We are keen to respond to our members’ needs, so please request an item not in our collection about the history of Victoria.
Searching the Collection
To make the most of your research time at the library, you can access the library catalogue at the PMI or from home before you visit. If you have some distance to travel you may email us before you come with a list of items you’re interested in and we will reserve them for you. There is no charge for this service. If you are a member you can reserve items by logging into the catalogue as well.
Our library holdings are also shown in the Trove database.
Recent Additions to the Collection
The PMI Library produces a monthly Recent Additions list which contains items recently added to the library arranged by place and subject. You can find out more about our Recent Additions list here.
Please be aware that items in our collection may contain words, descriptions, names, sounds, images, videos and audio recordings which may be culturally sensitive and which might not normally be used in certain public or community contexts. Terms and annotations which reflect the author’s attitude or that of the period in which the item was written may not be considered appropriate today.