Realia and Historical Records

Artefacts of Industry

Since its inception in 1960 The University of Melbourne Archives has made collecting business records and realia from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries a priority - important tools in establishing historical narratives around the growth of local industry and its ongoing social impact.

Yarra Falls Spinning Co. was established by three UK textile manufacturers in 1917, and its buildings were opened for business in 1919. The company was created in part as a response to war-time shortages of yarn, but the business went on to play a key role in expanding Australia’s textile industry in through its close ties with other Melbourne producers and retailers, successive marketing campaigns, and support from company board members and directors such as William Lawrence Baillieu (after whom the University's Baillieu Library is named). In 1998 the Yarra Falls factory finally closed its doors after been taken over by Australian Country Spinners.

Along with the swatch book and photographs that comprise the gallery exhibit,  the Archives has acquired oral histories, correspondence, and other artefacts of production, such as the Color Room Records 'Bible' shown below, in which clients' colour and fabric preferences - including fanciful names like 'sour elephant' - were recorded.