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History

The story that unfolds here is about a unique organisation which continues to contribute to the city's culture in a building that was first completed in 1842.

Exhibitions, meetings, musical, theatrical and other entertainments, films, lectures, educational classes, dances and formal balls have been held within the building's walls. The theatres continue to entertain Melbourne's people and provide a space for social and cultural events.

Books

And the Women Came Too

By Anne Marsden, 2018.

Borrow Book

The Making of the Melbourne Mechanics' Institution

by Anne Marsden, 2016.

Borrow Book

Cultured Colonists: George Alexander Gilbert and his family, settlers in Port Phillip

by Margaret Bowman, 2014.

Borrow Book

The Melbourne Athenaeum: a journal of the history of a Melbourne Institution

by Ray Lawler, Marcus Niski, Matthew Gisborne, R.W.E. Wilmot, Margaret Bowman, Pam Baragwanath, Garryowen, L.J. Stephens, and Jenny Mitchellhall, 2009.

Borrow Book

The Melbourne Athenaeum 1839-1939: history and records of the Institution

by R.W.E. Wilmot, 1939.

Journal Articles

Taking the lift to Toronto

by Margaret Bowman and Ellen Ramsay, 2017.
Published in issue 1 of Shelf Life.

Elizabeth Douglass's Scrapbook

by Margaret Bowman, 2016.
Published in volume 15, number 3 of Latrobeana, Journal of the CJ La Trobe Society.

Writers and Readers: Melbourne's bohemians and its Athenaeum

by Margaret Bowman, 2014.
Published in volume 16 of Journal of Australian Colonial History.

George Isaac Porter: across two worlds

by Anne Marsden and M Langdon, 2014.
Published in volume 85, number 1 of Victorian Historical Journal.

Portrait of the artist as a young settler: George Alexander Gilbert

by Margaret Bowman, 2013.
Published in volume 12, number 3 of Latrobeana, Journal of the CJ La Trobe Society.

Gentlemen Versus Players: public squabbling over the membership of the foundation committee of the Melbourne Mechanics' Institution

by Anne Marsden, 2013.
Published in number 92 of The La Trobe Journal.

From Abbey to Athenaeum: John Henry Curtis, 1829-1909

by Margaret Bowman, 2011.
Published in volume 82, number 2 of Victorian Historical Journal.

Memories from the Bio Box

by H Aspinall, 2010.
Published as part of "Projecting at The Athenaeum, Two Projectionists reminisce about showing movies at Melbourne's historic Athenaeum Theatre" in issue 67, edition 3 of Cinema Record, Cinema and Theatre Historical Society Inc.

Middle-Class, Masculine Management: The Melbourne Athenaeum and its secretary 1909-1949

by Margaret Bowman, 2010.
Published in volume 81, number 1 of Victorian Historical Journal.

Memories from the Bio Box

by Alan Winn, 2010.
Published as part of "Projecting at The Athenaeum, Two Projectionists reminisce about showing movies at Melbourne's historic Athenaeum Theatre" in issue 67, edition 3 of Cinema Record, Cinema and Theatre Historical Society Inc.

Brief Encounters

by Brian McFarlane, 1994.
Published in Spring/Summer issue of British Cinema in Australia.

Newsletter Articles

Let us not forget where our present library system began

by Pam Baragwanath, 2015.
Published in number 37 of Useful Knowledge: The Newsletter of the Mechanics Institute of Victoria Inc.

The Flicks - Film in the Mechanics', 2014

by Margaret Bowman, 2014.
Published in number 34 of Useful Knowledge: The Newsletter of the Mechanics Institute of Victoria Inc.

The LP Record Library at the Melbourne Athenaeum Library

by Carol Andrews, 2010.
Published in number 24 of Useful Knowledge: The Newsletter of the Mechanics Institute of Victoria Inc.

First Lady

by Margaret Bowman, 2010
Published in number 24 of Useful Knowledge: The Newsletter of the Mechanics Institute of Victoria Inc.

Digitised Documents

Melbourne Mechanics' Institution: 1839-1871

Minutes of the General Committee of Management

View Documents

Melbourne Athenaeum: 1872-1940

Minutes of the General Committee of Management

View Documents

For anyone wanting further information from or about the Melbourne Athenaeum Archives please get in touch by emailing

archives@melbourneathenaeum.org.au