Australian Schools Textbook Collection
The Australian Schools Textbook Collection comprises textbooks used in Australian primary and secondary schools wherever published. Also included is school curricula, student workbooks, exam / test papers, and related material such as teacher's classroom manuals. A particular strength of the collection is the large number of nineteenth century Australian publications held. The collection is complemented by the Children's Literature Research Collections.
The Australian Schools Textbook Collection has been formed over the past twenty years. It is the largest of its type in Australia, comprising over 20,000 titles, and is considered to be of national significance.
Identifying and locating material in the catalogue
Items in the Australian Schools Textbook Collection are held at the Geelong Waterfront Campus and in the Special Collection, Melbourne Campus Library at Burwood. Items are listed in the Library Catalogue and may be consulted during opening hours. Waterfront items may be used in the reading room, Alfred Deakin Prime Ministerial Library, Lascelles Building, Geelong Waterfront Campus and Melbourne Campus items may be used within the Library at Burwood. Material from the collection has the prefixes:
DU ADPML SPTXT
DU MELB SPTXT
Research Projects
The Australian Schools Textbook Collection provides excellent research resources for:
- History of curricula
- History of education in Australia
- Socialisation process
- Growth of nationalism
- Perceptions of gender, class and race
- Perceptions of cultural and social history
Virtual Exhibitions
"School Day Memories - Student Workbooks" is an online display of a sample of covers of students' class workbooks from the 1930s.
Other Web Sites of Interest
Hope Collection: History of Primary Education in South Australia (University of South Australia)
