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The
Library in 1928. A Charles Burrows
photograph
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THE
LAUNCESTON MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE COLLECTION 1842 - 1945
THE TREASURE WITHIN
The iconic Launceston
Mechanics’ Institute building may have been demolished 45 years ago, but its book
collections have largely survived. They represent one of the most significant Mechanics’
Institute collections remaining in Australia.
This heritage collection,
together with its records, became the property of the Launceston City
Corporation in 1945, and the State Library was given responsibility for their management.
Thanks to the LCC’s foresight in mandating that the collection be held in
Launceston, these materials have been preserved and are now cared for jointly
by staff of the QVMAG and Launceston LINC and the volunteer organisation Friends
of the Mechanics’ Institute.
LAUNCESTON MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE
The LMI was founded in
1842, becoming the progenitor of the Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery,
Launceston Public Library and various music, art, debating, drama and literary
societies. At its height of popularity in the late 1880s it had a library of
over 20,000 books and periodicals, as well as government gazettes, almanacs,
atlases, newspapers, works of art, museum items, a Brindley organ (now in the
Albert Hall) and one of the finest buildings in Launceston, situated in the
heart of the city.
Changing over the years to
serve the changing needs of its expanding local community, the LMI narrowed its
role to that of a library, and its other functions were taken over by other
institutions and societies. The famous
old building was renamed the Launceston Public Library in 1929 and in 1971 it
was demolished to be replaced by the new Northern Regional Library. The books and other materials gathered over
more than a century by the Institute had become increasingly isolated from the
working life of the modernised State collection. Most of these original
materials, of which more than 20,000 books and 2,000 periodicals remained, were
sequestered away in Stack shelving or boxed in a warehouse. These, now in the
process of being reviewed and catalogued, together with records and artefacts
associated with the Institute from 1842 to 1945, constitute the Launceston
Mechanics’ Institute Collection.
The Collection is rich in
both fiction and non-fiction. There are large numbers of three-volume novels by
popular authors now largely forgotten as well as works by famous authors such
as Dickens, Bulwer Lytton, Hardy and George Eliot. Its non-fiction covers
travel, biography, religion, politics, the arts and the sciences, with many
notable volumes charting the progress of thought during the Nineteenth Century.
In its totality, the
Collection tells a fascinating story of the intellectual and recreational pursuits
of the Launceston community during a vital period of its growth.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE COLLECTION
In
2015 a professional significance assessment was conducted of the LMI Collection
by Dr Susan Marsden under the terms of Library Australia’s Community Heritage
Grant scheme. Her report was glowing: we had indeed a local treasure – and
more. Her report concluded:
The
Launceston Mechanics Institute collection is a historically
significant collection of high value.
This significance assessment
has confirmed that the size, quality, scope, age and provenance of the LMI
collection places its importance equal to or above any similar
collection in Australia, and hence its national significance. The LMI
collection is unique and of high significance as it retains a substantial
proportion of the institute library amassed over a century from the formative
years of a major non-metropolitan city, which was crucial to the social and
cultural development of Launceston, and was associated with major historical figures not only in Tasmanian but also in
Australian history. Under
this historic criterion the FOLMI Collection is also of high research
significance in a wide range of historical subjects.
The LMI Collection is not only
the most substantial and comprehensive Institute
library to have survived in an Australian regional centre from before 1850, but
appears to be the most substantial and comprehensive library
collection to have survived from the entire period of the flourishing of
mechanics institutes in Australia, between the 1840s and the 1940s.
The LMI
collection is primarily
of historical significance as a rich and now rare set of books and periodicals
dating from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that comprised the
larger part of the library of a major mechanics institute in an important
regional city, and illustrating the reading habits, information sources and
connections of a colonial and non-metropolitan city, and its international and
British empire connections.
This is also the last intact
collection of books from the major cultural institution in Launceston’s
history. The Launceston Mechanics Institute – and hence, the LMI collection – was significant not only because of its
early date, longevity and scale, but because the associated records of the LMI
have survived (now held in QVMAG) and that rich documentation is supported by
several published histories, as well as unpublished research and news reports.
FRIENDS
OF THE LAUNCESTON MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE (FOLMI)
In
2013, in preparation for the reorganisation and refurbishment which has now
taken place at the Launceston LINC, there was a plan to disperse or dispose of
a major part of the LMI Collection. The Friends of the Launceston Mechanics'
Institute, was formed as a response to the threat that a major portion of the
LMI Collection could have been lost.
The
organisation brings together individuals with the enthusiasm, interest and most
importantly the expertise to organise, research and maintain this highly
significant collection for the benefit of the Launceston community, local
historians and the wider circle of researchers into Australian cultural
history.
The
aim of the Friends of the Launceston Mechanics’ Institute Inc. is to establish
and maintain a working research Launceston Mechanics’ Institute Collection by;
·
locating,
selecting, organising, cataloguing and preserving existing materials once the
property of the Launceston Mechanics’ Institute between 1842 and 1945;
·
liaising
with local, state and national government agencies and with relevant interest
groups to promote the significance of the LMI Collection;
·
establishing
a permanent home for the LMI Collection, in particular those parts not integrated
with local and state government agencies;
·
providing
broad public access to the catalogue of the LMI Collection and enabling direct
access to researchers needing to use the Collection.
Members
of the public are invited to join FOLMI – it is made up entirely of volunteers
who have an interest in furthering the aims of the group – and there is no
membership charge. Current and projected activities include the reorganisation
and indexing of records held in QVMAG, training to catalogue the collection on
the Australian National Bibliographic Database, research articles on notable
features of the collection and its history, and digitising the catalogues and
reports of the LMI.
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