The current display in the library shows some of the items and documents held in the archives. Together the items create a sense of times long gone. The small number of archives,  held in the Melbourne Athenaeum archives, may  be few in number but high in nostalgia. We have some well-used pieces from the time before ball point pens were developed: an old letter holder matches the glass pen stand, wooden-handled pens with nibs and a rare bottle of Swan brand ink.

The book in the display case, an ex-library copy,  is titled The History of Pendennis, by William Makepeace Thackeray, published in London,  in 1878.

Two documents written in July 1895 refer to the installation of gas in the building. A letter from the Metropolitan Gas Company quotes on the cost of installing incandescent gas burners and the accompanying  file note give a calculation of gas consumption in the Large Hall, at that time.

Marjorie Dalvean

Voluntary archivist

Melbourne Athenaeum