Facade of the Melbourne Athenaeum
The Melbourne Athenaeum Library was established not long after the city of Melbourne was founded. It was a time of pioneering energy and great technological progress. I will look into how and why the Melbourne Athenaeum came into existence, who were the original founders and the vision they had when establishing it. Has the library remained true to the original purpose?
I have chosen to look at the Melbourne Athenaeum library for my research topic blog. The Athenaeum Library is a subscription based library in the heart of Melbourne. It has a long and significant history in Melbourne, and is actively working to have a long and significant future. Through this blog, I will look at the historical context of the establishment of this library, the collection, the services offered,the major events during its 173 year history, the current situations and future plans.
This topic proved very difficult to research. Having such a distinguished history with so many 'firsts' I had expected significant amounts of information to be available. How wrong I was! Little is available online, the Local History collection of the Melbourne Library Service barely mentions it and the Athenaeum Library itself only has 1 journal that was published to mark the 170th anniversary. It seems the Melbourne Athenaeum Library wants to continue to be 'Melbourne's best kept secret'!
Following are the list of resources I have used throughout the posts. Information specific to each blog (such as picture credits) will be posted on that page.
Barker, Donald 2002, "Funding communal culture: opportunism and standardisation of funding for mechanics' institutes in colonial Victoria." The Australian Library Journal 51.3 : p247 Academic OneFile, viewed 22 Apr 2012.
Billot, C.P. 1985, The life and times of John Pascoe Fawkner, Hylands, Melbourne.
Brown. P.L., 'Arden, George (1820-1854)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre for Biography, Australian National University, viewed 22 April 2012, <http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/aarden-george-1714/text1869>
Canon, M 1991, Old Melbourne Town before the Gold Rush, Loch Haven, Main Ridge, Victoria.
de Serville, Paul 1980, Port Phillip gentlemen and the good society in Melbourne before the Gold Rushes, Oxford, Melbourne.
Jefferson, G 1969, Libraries and society, James Clark & Co, London.
Lee, J 2008, Making modern Melbourne, Arcade, Melbourne.
Lowden, Bronwyn 2010, Mechanics' Institutes, Schools of Arts, Athenaeums, etc.: An Australian Checklist - 3rd Edition. Lowden Publishing, Donvale, Victoria.
Mechanics' Worldwide 2004 2004, Buildings, Books and Beyond: Mechanics' Worldwide Conference 2004 - Proceedings of the first International Conference convened by the Prahran Mechanics' Institute, Prahran Mechanics’ Institute, Prahran, Victoria.
Mechanics' Worldwide 2009 2009, Self Help: Mechanics' Worldwide Conference 2009 - Proceedings of the second International Conference convened by the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, Lowden Publishing, Donvale, Victoria.
Melbourne Athenaeum 2009, The Melbourne Athenaeum : A journal of the history of a Melbourne institute, Melbourne Athenaeum, Melbourne.
This picture:
Markovic, Drago 2010, Melbourne Athenaeum : Front of Theatre from Collins St, Australian heritage photographic library search results (detail), viewed 30 April 2012, <http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi.-bin/heritage/photodb/imagesearch.pl?proc=detail;barcode_no=dig13957>
