RHSV’s Historical Societies Support Committee (HSSC) is delighted to offer a bumper professional learning event for 2024 in-person at our home in the Drill Hall and by Zoom, globally. The program offers an exciting and practical selection of popular sessions from recent years. There will be time in every session and at day’s end for questions, answers and sharing of experiences and resources, with all focusing on solutions to challenges. Lunch and morning tea are included.

Every year the Professional Historians Association of Australia Vic & Tas, in partnership with the RHSV, ask three 'emerging' historians about their work. In 2024 we've asked these historians to reflect on how the spoken word has influenced their history. Andrew Lemon (RHSV) and Sophie Couchman (PHA) will be our MCs for the evening.

We look forward to hearing from our three historians at this event: Dr Hannay Viney, Dr Mia Martin Hobbs and Dr Aleksander Potocnik.

Join Jillian Hiscock, the RHSV Collections Manager, each month in this informative and easy-going Zoom forum on all aspects of cataloguing collections for historical societies. In 2024's first Cataloguing Clinic for the year, Jillian will talk about collection management, what you keep or don’t keep, when you catalogue material as an archive or a collection and any issues around the actual collection. Jillian has a different topic each month and is happy to be guided by those who attend as to what they would like covered in upcoming clinics. Bring your questions (no matter the topic) - this is an interactive space where questions are encouraged. The RHSV does not endorse any particular cataloguing software - we believe it is horses for courses - and Jillian will talk about issues that impact on cataloguing whether you are using cataloguing cards or software.

A beguiling photographic collection of the faded signs and half-hidden logos of Melbourne, revealing the historic tales — big and small — of this ever-changing city. From the gold-rush years to the Swinging Sixties, from Robur Tea to Tarax soft drinks, this city can never settle. In a process of continual renewal, old buildings are incorporated into new, both uncovering and obscuring snippets of history. Ghost signs provide hints to our common heritage, ready to be picked up by the keen eye and quick shutter.