Current Exhibitions
Highlights of the Harry Felix Simon Collection
Third floor, Baillieu Library to 4 May 2013
Now part of the University's East Asian Rare Books collection, the Harry Felix Simon Collection consists of 1022 books published in classical Chinese c1880s–c1980s, which originally formed the private research library of Professor Emeritus Harry Felix Simon. An eminent linguist, Simon was appointed Foundation Professor of Oriental Studies at the University of Melbourne in 1961. During his time at the University Simon played an important role in the establishment of teaching and research in the discipline of Oriental Studies (later known as East Asian Studies), including the teaching of Chinese and Japanese languages. The collection was presented to the University Library by the University of Melbourne's Asia Institute in 2009. Highlights on display include rare copies of works on Chinese drama, opera, archaeology and postcards.
Maps of Asia Minor
Ground floor, Baillieu Library 9 April – 3 June 2013
The Ronald and Pamela Walker collection of maps of Asia Minor printed between 1511 and 1774 are of international significance. Highlights of the collection, including works by some of the finest cartographers of Renaissance Europe, will be on display.
Sidelights and cross-references: 75 years of the Grainger Museum
Grainger Museum, near Gate 13, Royal Parade, University of Melbourne from 27 March 2013.
When the Museum opened on 13 December 1938, it contained an intensely personal and largely unedited collection reflective of Grainger's interests across time, place, disciplines, cultures and musical styles. Several years later, Grainger encapsulated his collecting tastes and principles in an observation that 'Most museums, most cultural endeavours, suffer from being subjected to TOO MUCH TASTE... TOO MUCH SELECTION, TOO MUCH SPECIALISATION! What we want ... is ALL-SIDEDNESS, side-lights, cross-references.' The Grainger collection has continued to grow in ways consistent with its founder's legacy and, 75 years on, it is this 'all-sidedness' that is celebrated here in an eclectic selection of objects, each of which has a story to tell.
Venom: Fear, Fascination and Discovery
Medical History Museum, 15 March - 20 July 2013
Human fascination with the power of venom, and the quest for a universal antidote against this most feared of poisons, is deeply woven into the history of medicine. Colonial Australia reflected this fear and fascination. The first exhibits at the Melbourne Zoological Gardens were snakes to warn the local population of their danger. From the first Dean of Medicine, George Britton Halford, the University of Melbourne has been part of the global debate on the nature of venom. Halford commanded international attention in the 1860s for his controversial, and eventually debunked, 'germ theory' of snake poisoning. After this controversial beginning, Melbourne saw a succession of internationally significant venom researchers, notably CJ Martin Neil Hamilton Fairley, Charles Kellaway, Saul Wiener and Struan Sutherland. Contributions were made through collaboration between major research and cultural institutions, The Melbourne Zoo, the Museum of Victoria, Healesville Sanctuary, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) and CSL. Numerous CSL researchers, led by Frederick Morgan were instrumental in the successful production of antivenoms. The first Commonwealth grant for medical research, in 1927, for venom research at WEHI set a precedent that eventually led to the formation of the NH&MRC. Struan Sutherland founded the Australian Venom Research Unit (AVRU), in the Department of Pharmacology, upon the privatization of CSL LTD, in 1994. The AVRU builds on more than 80 years of expertise at CSL, as well as 150 years of venom research at the University of Melbourne. Cartoons, posters, photographs, research papers, specimens and snake bite kits from collections and archives of the University and associated institutions, such as the WEHI, Museum Victoria, the State Library, Royal Society of Victoria, National Film and Sound Archive and CSL will tell the story of the development and use of antivenom in Australia from colonial times to now.
Protest! Archives from the University of Melbourne
Leigh Scott Gallery, first floor, Baillieu Library 20 February - 2 June 2013
From the 1960s, the growth of the social movements internationally and the public profile of student activism brought campuses to the very centre of protest.
Immigration reform, draft resistance and the peace movement against the Vietnam War, Indigenous rights, women’s rights, gay and lesbian liberation and the voicing of environmental concerns were all invigorated by people and societies on campus. As an educator, the University was also an incubator of student activism and was challenged by new forms of debate and democracy. This exhibition explores the acts, events, and personalities of the University Melbourne in a wider landscape of protest from the 1960s to the 1980s.
For enquiries or to organise a curator's tour, please contact archives@archives.unimelb.edu.au or (03) 8344 6848.
500 years on: Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’ and political thought in Renaissance Italy.
Ground Floor, Baillieu Library to 2 April 2013.
Works from the Raab collection in the Baillieu Library’s Special Collections by Machiavelli and other Renaissance authors are on display.