University of Melbourne Archives

Arts & Culture

16mm films should be experienced, not just seen

Forget streaming and YouTube, 16mm films are ready to relive their moment in the spotlight … of a projector

Arts & Culture

Don’t forget the sweets!

Childhood letters are rare in the historical record, but like those of the young Malcolm Fraser, they provide unique insight on the experience of children

Politics & Society

Fighting for the rights of Australians with disability

Geoff Bell was a pioneer in the Australian disability rights movement and his archive shows how far we’ve come in 40 years, and how far we have yet to travel

Politics & Society

After the fighting: The soldiers who studied

After WW1, returning soldiers faced the question of ‘what next’? University study was the answer for some

Arts & Culture

Birth of the holiday road trip

Holidays often mean an exodus across Australia, and it reminds us of a time when the open road was king

Politics & Society

When kissing was a crime

The history of the LGBTI community’s ongoing struggle for equality is preserved in the archives, providing a crucial window into the attitudes of the past and the poignant stories that drove social change

Arts & Culture

Censorship and celebration at La Mama

Fifty years of La Mama theatre is documented in the University of Melbourne Archives, offering an insight into the emergence of Melbourne’s avant-garde theatre scene in the late 1960s

Arts & Culture

Why Germaine Greer was filmed naked in a bathtub of milk

Archives reveal rare footage of the pioneering feminist with comedian Kenny Everett in one of TV’s first reality shows