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