Steven Kafkarisos on the Library's WWI collection
Our rich military history collection is the legacy of a decision taken 100 years ago ... to make 'a special collection of books on the European war'.
– Steven Kafkarisos
About this video
In this 2015 Family History Feast presentation, Steven Kafkarisos pulls a few fascinating threads from the rich patchwork of the Library's WWI collection – one of the best and most diverse WWI collections in Australia.
The Library's broad collection includes battalion diaries, published histories and memoirs, military manuals, pamphlets, newspapers, journals, government reports and Parliamentary papers, manuscripts, sheet music and sound recordings, maps and pictures.
The collection's themes are similarly diverse, capturing military campaigns (including the Palestine campaign, where many Lighthorsemen served); unit, battalion and division histories; histories of lesser-known Corps including the Australian and New Zealand Cycling Corps, and the Australian Army Veterinary Corps; the effect of shellshock on returning soldiers and their communities; prisoners of war; and the role of nurses.
Hear more from Family History Feast 2015
- Don Grant Lecture: Bruce Scates on WWI repatriation records
- David Holloway on the 4th Light Horse Regiment
- Daniel Wilksch on soldier settlement in Victoria
- Grace Baliviera on WWI records at the National Archives of Australia
- Kirsty Harris on finding information about Australian nurses in WWI
Speakers
Steven Kafkarisos is a librarian at the State Library of Victoria. In 2013 he presented a Family History Feast lecture on the Library's military history collection.
