VU Library display: Activism & Community Action

View our Special Collections display to gain insights into activism and community action for women.

As a valuable research resource, the Special Collections at Victoria University Library have strong threads of radical literature and political and social activism to inspire researchers and campaigners. Following VU’s participation in the 16 Days of Activism campaign, the Library has a new display of Special Collections.

Activism & Community Action on display

View the new display ‘Activism & Community Action in VU Special Collections’, located next to the Service Desk at Footscray Park Library. On display are items related to community action to support women, especially to raise awareness about violence against women and women’s struggle, as well as items representing other forms of activism.

Crow Collection

Items from the Crow Collection include:

• Break the Silence, book published as part of the Victorian Community Education Task Force in Family Violence
• So you want to help!: a guide to community action, book published in 1979 by the Malvern Rotary Club
• Women’s Collective discussion series about 1975 discussions regarding co-opting community effort and the ambiguities of child care
• Facing the Challenge: women in Victorian unions, a report about the representation of women in trade unions and progress for women members
• Ecotactics: The Sierra Club Handbook for Environment Activists, book about environmental policy

PNG Collection

From the PNG Collection:

• Domestic Violence in Papua New Guinea, book (with video) by Law Reform Commission of Papua New Guinea
• Xulum'chon [video recording]: weavers in resistance from the Highlands, depicting the struggle of Xulum'chon – an indigenous Tzoltzil women's collective in the Highlands of Chiapas

Timor-Leste & McLaren Collections

From the Timor-Leste Collection and McLaren Collection:

• "On our terms": A Pacific Consultation on Nonviolence for Women Peacemakers, book (with video) focusing on violence issues facing Pacific women
• Fighting against war: Peace activism in the twentieth century, edited by Phillip Deeryand Julie Kimber

Radical Literature Collection

• The Rank and File Rag: Bulletin of the Job Delegates & Activists Associationtitled ‘We Fight On!’
• The Activist: Internal Information and Discussion Bulletin of the Democratic Socialist Party, issued in 1994
• The Activist's Handbook as part of the series Trade Union Industries Studies

Other Special Collections displays

The cabinet near the lift displays more of our special collections:

• books including The explorations of Captain James Cook in the Pacific and An American Naval Officer in Russia
• periodicals and pamphlets from Ruth & Maurie Crow collection, PNG and the Pacific collection and the Radical Literature collection
• archival documents such as hand-notes from speeches made by Ruth and Maurie Crow
• campaign badges of the Union of Australian Women from the Regional Archive
• artefacts from the Timor-Leste collection

A display cabinet close to IT kiosk explains the Special Collection donation-process, examining Professor Phillip Deery’s donation to the Radical Literature Collection.

Using Special Collections for your research

Researchers from Victoria University, other academic institutions, and the wider community are welcome to use material from the Special Collections at Victoria University.

Access the new Library Guide VU Special Collections: How to access and use to find out about the following topics:

• How researchers have used the Special Collections for their particular projects, what material they have used and the interesting information they have found.
• Ways to look at VU material through Library Search of the Library Catalogue, and refine an online search to Special Collections.
• Using archival material in the VU Special Collections.