The exhibition was held in the Rare Books Exhibition space, Sir Louis Matheson Library, Monash University from 19 October 2006 - 28 February 2007 Opening address given by Seamus O'Hanlon, Lecturer, School of Historical Studies, Monash University. The library's new exhibition is a display of "Ephemera", printed material which is used for various purposes and then discarded. These fragments of the past illuminate previous lives for future generations. Items displayed range from 17th century to the present. Among the earliest are pieces concerned with an execution in 1678; tourist notices from the early 19th century; early greetings cards including valentines; a colour brochure for the first Holden car from 1950; the first Moomba programme from 1955; and lots of current posters and fliers for music events and political campaigns. The exhibition is drawn from the holdings of the Monash University Library's Rare Books Collection. The library has been collecting ephemera since the early 1990's in support of research by social historians.
The exhibition was held in the Rare Books Exhibition space, Sir Louis Matheson Library, Monash University from 16 March - 27 May 2005 Opening address given by Dr. Peter Lentini, School of Political and Social Inquiry, Faculty of Arts. Over 150 items are on display, covering all aspects of Communism from the USSR, Britain, America, China, Indonesia, and Australia. Also featured is material on student activism and Vietnam, as well as anti-Communist publications from the 1930s to the 50s. The exhibition draws upon the wealth of pamphlet material held in the Monash Rare Book Collection. It even features an anti-Communist comic, from our extensive comics collection, and a Communist children's annual from the Lindsay Shaw Collection of rare children's books.
The exhibition was held in the Rare Books Exhibition space, Sir Louis Matheson Library, Monash University from 24 July - 12 September 1997. The exhibition includes original writings from the time and provides an insight into the politics and history of the era, including the amoral lifestyle of the court, the execution of Catholics during the Popish Plot scare and the 'glorious revolution', which saw the flight into exile of Charles's brother James II.
The exhibition was held in the Rare Books Exhibition space, Sir Louis Matheson Library, Monash University from 2 November 1995 - 4 March 1996. French literature has been part of the curriculum at Monash University since 1961. The collections in the Rare Book Room reflect quite accurately the way in which teaching and research in the subject have developed. Over the first twenty-five years there was a strong emphasis on the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Latterly there has been more focus on developments since 1830, even if earlier periods have not been neglected. Thus, alongside the modern critical editions and reprints in the Library's undergraduate and research stacks, there are materials, essentially original printings, that enable students and scholars to examine the production, distribution and reception of many French literary works. The present exhibition is concerned with narrative fiction from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. From the chansons de geste and the romans courtois of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries on to the novels and short stories of our own time, there is a long, continuous history in France of these genres. Inevitably, given the unevenness of the Rare Book Room's own holdings, some eras are better represented than others. Nonetheless, it is our aim to show something of the great diversity of what was published and read in France and in all the other places where French was taught to and effectively used by the educated. A substantial public in Britain and other English-speaking countries was part of the world audience for what emanated from Paris. Whether in the original or in translation, many French authors were directly available in local printings to readers in London, New York, and even Melbourne. The works exhibited show this dimension of the impact of French fiction quite clearly. Medieval romances and the novels of the Renaissance are here represented for the most part in editions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Although Romantic rediscovery of the Middle Ages was responsible for many pseudo-facsimile reprints, it is important to note that the Enlightenment period was not totally oblivious of literary traditions that were out of fashion. The Library's real strength in narratives from the 150 years encompassing the reigns of Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI can be displayed only selectively. Samples are provided of some of the great names from the canon, including authors like Fenelon and Le Sage from whom schoolchildren the world over learnt French for several generations. In addition, the massive publishing enterprises of the 1770s and 1780s that brought together whole libraries of fairy stories, imaginary voyages and digests of fiction of all kinds are given due prominence. Literary history in France did not have to wait until recent decades to recognize the major role played by women writers from the Middle Ages onwards. Marguerite de Navarre, Mme de Lafayette, Mme de Genlis, Mme Cottin, and Mme de Stael are just some of the figures whose success was solid and durable long before the international triumphs of a Marguerite Yourcenar and a Marguerite Duras in our own time. The last two centuries appear here more through English translations than original editions. In a roll-call that includes Eugene Sue, Gustave Flaubert, Jules Verne, Emile Zola and Marcel Proust distinctions between the popular and the recherche are not always meaningful. What is certain is that the French novel since Romanticism has an assured place in the imaginative world of readers everywhere. Beyond misunderstandings, quarrels and temporary discords in politics this is the permanent reality of French fictions. Some items kindly loaned by private collectors
The exhibition was held in the Rare Books Exhibition space, Sir Louis Matheson Library, Monash University from 9 June - 1 August 1993. Since the foundation of Monash University in 1961, research on Indonesia has been a speciality of this University. Today, its contribution to Indonesian studies is recognized world-wide. With the growing interest in South-East Asia since World War II, major tertiary institutions in Australia began to assemble collections of material to support the academic study of the region's history. The early 1960s was a time when Australian scholars began to concentrate on Indonesian studies. This was in response to the need felt by many in the community to attempt to understand an Indonesia which seemed to be a mysterious, and even a threatening, neighbour. A team of young and enthusiastic Australians were attracted to teaching and researching Indonesia at the newly established Monash University. Scholars such as John Legge, Herbert Feith, J.A.C. Mackie, and many others, all played major roles in the establishment of courses of study in Indonesian politics, history, language, economics, anthropology and geography. Later, with the introduction of graduate studies and the founding of the Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, the Library began a systematic approach to building a collection to support both teaching and research. This must have been an exciting and rewarding project. Funds were readily available in the 1960s! With the inspired contribution of the late Mrs. Paulette (Bob) Muskens, Southeast Asian Studies Librarian between 1961 and 197 5, and guidance from a team of Indonesian specialists on campus, a large and comprehensive core collection was built-up. As well as this basic collection of English language material, a remarkable collection of Dutch East Indies publications, archival material, newspapers, journals, and books of early travel accounts in Southeast Asia were purchased. Some of this material is on display in this Exhibition. Over the years the collection has continued to develop with areas of special strength in history, language, literature, and politics. These strengths reflect the interests of those "Indonesianists" teaching and carrying out research at Monash. Today the Indonesian Collection is the only one of its kind in Victoria, and is one of the largest in Australia. Material is collected in many formats; books, manuscripts, pamphlets, serials, and microform. The collection attracts scholars from all over Australia; as well as from Indonesia and other parts of Asia. Since 1961 over seventy Masters and Ph.D. theses on Indonesia have been written at this University. While it is true that many academics have contributed towards establishing and maintaining the South-East Asian collection, with this Exhibition of Rare Books on Java, we would like to pay tribute to the contribution made by Professor Merle Ricklefs in guiding and encouraging the Library to build on the strengths of our Indonesian Collection. His special area of research is late seventeenth, early eighteenth century Java. Since coming to Monash in January 1980, he has been closely associated with the library staff in selecting new and antiquarian books on South-East Asia.
