Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, History Collection, Launceston, Tasmania

Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, History Collection, Launceston, Tasmania

• QVMAG

• State

The Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery History collection represents both Tasmania's place in Australia and the world, and brings the world to Tasmania.

The Collection is diverse, and ranges across many collecting areas, from archives and photographs, to personal items, archaeology, comparative cultural collections and large industrial technology such as trains, aircraft or printing presses. The collection represents collecting activities from 1842 to present day.

Officer in charge: Curator, History Collection

Tasmanian history with particular reference to Northern Tasmania.

History Collections include:

• General History
• Photographs
• Community History Series (CHS)
• Oral History
• Tasmanian Aboriginal collections
• Large Technology
• Comparative Cultural
• The Beattie Collection
• Arms and Militaria
• Numismatics
• Manuscript and ephemera
• Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery records
  Specific holdings include, for example:
• Launceston City Council: Correspondence and Cuttings (includes former Lilydale Council and St Leonards Council), 1850s-1980s (334m)
• Uniting Church Collection: Baptism and Marriage Registers, 1833-1985 (4.5m)
• Weston Papers: Correspondence, 1830-1880 (3.5m)
• King, H J: Photographs, 1921 (3m)
• Cowie: Postcards, 1900-1915 (3m)
• Masters, A H: Photographs, 1890-1930 (4m).
• Scott Papers: Correspondence, 1847-9, 1853-4 (2m).
• Wherett: Photographs, 1940s (2m)
• Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery: Correspondence and records, 1891-1985 (60m)
• Mead, Isabella: Correspondence, historical files, photos, 1835-1990 (7m)
• King, H J: Photographs, especially 1920s aerial views of Tasmania (3m)
• Donnelly, Jack: Sport notebooks, scrapbooks, photos, 1880s-1990s (20m)
• Craig, Clifford: Doctor, furniture historian - publication drafts, photos, 1830s-1986 (11m)
• Tasdance: performing arts - correspondence, photos, videos, cassettes, 1981-1996 (34m).

Bartlett, Anne, 'Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery Archive Collection' Local and Family History Sources in Tasmania, Genealogical Society of Tasmania, 1991: 81-83.

The History Centre is open Tuesdays and Wednesdays 10am-12pm, 2-4pm by appointment.
The Centre is located on the second floor of the Museum at Inveresk.

Copies of collection guides, some photographs, and news cutting files are available without appointment. Appointments however are essential if visitors wish to access original items. Please contact us at least 24 hours prior to a planned visit.

Access to all material is subject to standard archival restrictions. Donated material which has not been catalogued is not generally available.

General reference assistance is available.

Copies of most items can be purchased. Appropriate forms listing fees and conditions can be provided upon request.

Revised 1 November 2021

• Local Studies (Thematic area)
• Religion (Thematic area)
• Social Organisations and Activities (Thematic area)
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (Thematic area)
• Arts and Culture (Thematic area)
• Defence (Thematic area)
• Genealogical (Thematic area)