Digital Humanities MULT900056

Each year, students from the graduate course Digital Humanities MULT900056 produce blog posts based on various digitised University of Melbourne Archives collections.

The University of Melbourne Social Survey & the Photographic Activism of John Ellis

In 2024, several graduate students delved into the extensive photo collection of John Brant Ellis (1999.0081), a peace activist and prominent member of the Campaign for International Cooperation and Disarmament (CICD). This collection comprises over 20,000 negatives and proof sheets of photographs taken by Ellis at various private functions, public peace events, and political gatherings in Melbourne and Victoria. The papers predominantly feature anti-war and anti-nuclear protests, demonstrations, and private meetings of left-wing activists. Additionally, the collection documents cultural, political, and musical activities in which Ellis was involved.

Furthermore, graduate students explored data from the University of Melbourne Social Survey (1973.0002), overseen by economics professor Wilfred J. Prest. This survey, conducted between 1941 and 1943, collected information on employment, housing, and social conditions from a sample of approximately one in thirty Melbourne households. Students and recently graduated social workers conducted interviews with householders, recording standard data alongside their own observations. The University of Melbourne archives contain the digitised original survey forms, along with a variety of related records from Prest’s personal papers.

2024 posts:

From Below: Working-Class Perceptions of Post-War Australia

The Rise of Chinese Australians’ Box Hill: A Comparative History Review

Records of Stadiums Pty Ltd & the Papers of John (Jack) Lockyer O’Brien

In 2023, a number of graduate students looked at the remarkable collection of hundreds of images of inner-Melbourne taken by John (Jack) Lockyer O’Brien in the 1950s and 60s. A resident of Fitzroy and an historian at the University of Melbourne, O’Brien captured urban life at the point at which it was undergoing major change, before social housing and late 20th century capitalism transformed the neighbourhood. The images prompted the students to ask questions about those very changes, from slum clearance, to the decline and fall of the corner grocer’s store, and the O’Briens’ own efforts to save their 19th century home from the wrecking ball.

Several graduate students also explored the Stadiums Pty Ltd collection which encompasses diverse materials relating to the world of professional boxing, wrestling, and stage performance in Melbourne, Sydney, and Queensland from 1914 into the 1980s. The photographic materials contained in the collection are dominated by images of boxing: both naturalistic snapshots of matches and their participants, and many more figured compositions of individual fighters posing.
Two students became fascinated by the more personalized images of one local hero, while another became intrigued by the female spectators active at fighting matches. Another student followed a different strand of this collection which records the significant role that the ‘Stadiums’ venue, Festival Hall, played in hosting the visits of African-American entertainers in Melbourne.

2023 posts:

Fighting as a Family and the Upward Reach of an Underdog

Social and Urban Renewal – Melbourne’s Hidden Slum History

The “Brawny Farmer from Dubbo” turned International Boxer

“Watching the Gladiators”: Feminine Fandom in Mid-Century Melbourne

Shifting Racial Attitudes Through Music: African American Performers at West Melbourne Stadium

Shuttered Histories: The Odyssey of John O’Brien’s Hanover St Residence

The Downfall of the Urban Grocer