Stories

Librarians love a research query challenge and finding the story behind the following four photographs in the Library’s digital collection has been keeping one of...

State Library staff were saddened by the death of Sister Janet Mead after a short tussle with cancer at the age of 84. While known...

What is that?? This rather grotesque-looking object is a mechanical savings bank in the shape of two frogs, the design for which was patented by...

These days talk of climate change and reducing greenhouse emissions is commonplace, but did you know that over twenty years ago Australia was busily developing...

The COVID19 pandemic has been especially hard for millions across the world who have been separated from the people and places they cherish. This article...

For most people Christmas Eve or Christmas Day is about getting together with friends and family for a special meal and tearing the paper off...

South Australians have a long tradition of giving and of offering a helping hand. Sometimes that’s not easy. As Christmas approaches it’s easy to be...

It might seem strange, but sometimes historical items are literally picked up off the ground. This collection of children’s radio club badges and pins was...

The capture of South Australia’s wildflowers and plants in paintings and sketches began early in the colony’s history. Flower painting was considered an acceptable genteel...

We’ve recreated this striking cut-out model builder booklet so you can build your own bomber squadron base and experience what it would have been like...

Did you know that this photograph taken in the basement of the Mortlock Wing of the State Library shows one of the largest tigers ever...

The story of the founding of the State Library begins in the 1830s in London, where Robert Gouger was lobbying the British Government to found...

“A good photograph is knowing where to stand” Ansel Adams Over the past few years the State Library of South Australia has been adding to...

In 1904 there were two makers of WB corsets in South Australia. The English firm William Pretty and Sons made the WB Correct Form Corset...

Here are some fun masks that are a bit more jovial than the medical ones we’ve all been using lately. The history behind the masks...

Little did our research librarians know that a suggested change to an item description on our Digital Collections website would lead to such a significant...