Category Archives: Collection Management
Victoria’s Wartime Experiences as seen from the Home Front
In some respects, ANZAC Day can be a difficult anniversary for PROV to recognise. After all, the armed forces are effectively agencies of the Commonwealth Government and so members of the public waiting to find service histories and other records about our military involvement will invariably start with our Commonwealth colleagues at the National Archives [...]
Wiki Warriors: a virtual tool to make our Collection items more accessible
In the course of my work, I come across a great deal of interesting, curious or downright bizarre material that I would love to share with everyone. Some items are easily identifiable in our catalogue whilst others remain invisible despite our best efforts. It is a problem that applies especially to material embedded within a [...]
Twelve months on from the Victorian floods
In early 2011, Rochester Historical Society, Charlton Golden Grains Museum and Skipton Historical Society were all affected by floods. Public Record Office Victoria provided assistance through volunteering in Charlton to help clean up and salvage objects, organising freeze-drying of flood-affected items at Steamatic and maintaining an online database of flood-affected organisations which was accessed by [...]
Marking the spot for a drawing of Charlton’s Rex Theatre in the PROV Collection
Today’s edition of The Age features a front page story about the restoration of the Rex Theatre in Charlton which was severely damaged in last year’s floods. The Theatre boasts an art deco design and was constructed in 1938. On reading the article the thought that immediately occurred to me was to query whether we [...]
Celebrate the National Year of Reading in our Reading Room
Sometimes the most obvious ideas for postings appear right before your eyes, or in this case, literally sit two stories above your brain. The conception of a posting to mark 2012 as the National Year of Reading initially appeared daunting because the act of reading is central to using just about any record in our [...]
A new accession of lands records
One of the most important things to remember about the PROV Collection is that new records are regularly added from Victorian Government agencies through out the State. In the year 2010-2011 alone, a total of 2,274 metres of records was received. Today all new accessions of records come with full documentation, including lists that can [...]
The annual opening of historical records… what will be discovered in 2012?
2012 has now commenced and with it a range of records previously closed to public inspection under Section 9 of the Public Records Act are now available. View the full list of newly opened records here. The annual opening of these records is a routine piece of work undertaken by the Collection Management Team, albeit [...]
In praise of PROV Volunteers
On 7 December, PROV held the end of year function for all of our volunteers. This is an annual event which enables us to express our deep appreciation for their fine work. During this year responsibility for the management of volunteers was passed to the Collection Management Team and so this year’s function was especially [...]
Interior Design in the Collection
An interesting article published in The Age on 23 November 2011 discussed how a group called Melbourne Heritage Action believes a series of building interiors within Melbourne should merit heritage protection. This group’s activities appear to have been spurred on by a recent decision by the Melbourne City Council to extend heritage protection to the [...]
Ned Kelly’s burial wish
Today’s Herald-Sun contains a front page exclusive of the Government’s decision to permit the burial of outlaw Ned Kelly’s remains alongside other members of his family. Page 6 of this morning’s edition contains a partial reproduction of the final page of a four page letter that included this request almost 131 years ago to the [...]
