Archives
In 2026 the Special Collections will be relocated to a fit-for-purpose storage environment on the refurbished lower ground floor of the Baillieu Library. Access to Special Collections will be restricted from the 15th of June, gradually re-opening throughout Semester 1, 2027. The Reading Room will remain open, and access to University of Melbourne Archives collections will not be impacted.
Please see here for more information about the Baillieu refurbishment and how to make alternative arrangements to use the collections.
The University of Melbourne Archives (UMA) is one of Australia’s largest non-government research archives, with a collection of nearly 20km of records. Established in July 1960 to collect and preserve records relating to the University and to business and business people for the purposes of historical research, the UMA’s collecting has since expanded to include trade union and other labour history material and the records of professional, community, women's, peace and political organisations and individuals. The UMA collections provide a rich source for research in Victorian and Australian history.
The collections are accessible via the Baillieu Library Reading Room.
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Research Guides
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Teaching and Learning
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Access to Archives
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Child Welfare Records
The University of Melbourne Archives is home to an array of collections which provide insight into the sometimes harsh reality of growing up in an institution in Victoria in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This is a Guide to those records and a document of the University’s efforts to make them accessible for Care Leavers and their families.