Arthur Henry Dear was an employee of the City of Kew, acting as Hall Keeper of the Kew Recreation Hall in Wellington Street, and later the new Kew City Hall in Cotham Road. The Arthur Dear Collection contains memorabilia - tickets, programmes, invitations - as well as his identification badge. Items in the collection dates from the 1940s to the 1960s. Important local arts festival initiated during the Second World War and continuing till the early 1950s. The souvenir programmes produced for successive festivals are historically and artistically significant records of visual and performing arts practice in Melbourne during this period.Souvenir programme for the Kew Arts Festival, held in the Kew Recreation Hall in 1950. The Festival was sponsored by the City of Kew. The Arts Festival featured art, music and ballet. 14pp.arthur dear collection, performing arts -- kew -- victoria, kew recreation hall -- wellington street, kew civic hall -- cotham road, city of kew, theatre memorabilia, kew arts festival, visual arts -- kew (vic.)

Arthur Henry Dear was an employee of the City of Kew, acting as Hall Keeper of the Kew Recreation Hall in Wellington Street, and later the new Kew City Hall in Cotham Road. The Arthur Dear Collection contains memorabilia - tickets, programmes, invitations - as well as his identification badge. Items in the collection dates from the 1940s to the 1960s. Important local arts festival initiated during the Second World War and continuing till the early 1950s. The souvenir programmes produced for successive festivals are historically and artistically significant records of visual and performing arts practice in Melbourne during this period.Souvenir programme for the Kew Arts Festival, held in the Kew Recreation Hall in 1951. The Festival was sponsored by the City of Kew. The Arts Festival featured art, music and ballet. 16pp. arthur dear collection, performing arts -- kew -- victoria, kew recreation hall -- wellington street, city of kew, theatre memorabilia, visual arts -- kew (vic.), kew arts festival

Brass and wood trophy shield awarded as a ‘Kew Festival Community Service Award' to the Kew Garden Club in 1983 by the City of Kew. The plaque includes the coat of arms of the former City of Kew.kew garden club, trophies, awards

This mounted and framed photograph of a group of friends punting on the River Yarra has a number of historic and artistic associations. The photograph is primarily important as an informal photograph of the Australian baritone John Donald Mackenzie Brownlee (1900-1969), whose international career at the world's major opera houses from 1927 until his retirement in 1958 included singing at Melba's Covent Garden farewell in 1926, to recordings in the 1930s of a major series of Mozart operas in Glyndebourne Festival productions, conducted by Fritz Busch. Brownlee, born in Geelong, won the gold medal as champion vocalist at the South Street competitions in Ballarat in 1921. Moving to Paris in 1923 he began study with the French baritone, Dinh Gilly, making his operatic debut at the Trianon Lyrique in Montmartre in 1926. The most significant periods of his operatic career were with the Paris Opera from 1927 to 1936, and at the Metropolitan Opera from 1937 to 1957. After his move to Paris in 1923, he is recorded as revisiting Australia in 1928 as a member of the Melba-Williamson Company, and 24 years later in 1952. The photograph of Brownlee and the Gardners in a punt on the Yarra, while putatively dated to 1925, must be from earlier in the 1920s before his move to Paris, or later during the Melba-Williamson Company season. Before his move to Paris in 1923, Brownlee had lived in Belmont Avenue, Kew, where he must have developed a friendship with the Gardners. The photograph has additional artistic significance as it was produced at 'The Artorium', James Beament's design studio next to the Hawthorn Town Hall at 362 Burwood Road. With a home at 33 Uvadale Road (designed by Eric Nicholls, who managed the architectural practice of Walter Burley and Marion Mahony Grifffin from 1924 to 1932), Beament painted a number of significant murals for the Griffin practice, including those at the Capitol Theatre in Melbourne.A photograph of recreational activities on the River Yarra. The photograph is historically significant as a professionally produced photograph of the Australian operatic baritone John Brownlee, either before his move to Paris in 1923, or in 1928 during the Melba-Williamson Company operatic tour of Australia. The photograph has additional aesthetic significance as it was produced in James Beament's Hawthorn Studio - The Artorium - at 362 Burwood Road, next to the Hawthorn Town Hall.Framed photograph of John Duncan Brownlee, the Australian tenor, with Enid Gardner and friend in a punt on the Yarra River. Brownlee was born in Geelong but before his move to Paris in 1923, he lived for a period in Belmont Avenue, Kew. Three labels on reverse. 1. "John Duncan Brownlee, Operatic Star, originally of Geelong later resident of Kew at Belmont Av, on the pole. Also in the punt - Edith Gardner a friend. The Gardners lived on the east corner of Edgevale Rd. & Cotham. Approx. 1925." 2. "This picture is the property of Kew Historical Society 1/4/79". 3. Tel. Hawthorn 842 THE ARTORIUM ...."john brownlee (tenor), punting, recreation - yarra river (kew), james beament, the artorium -- 362 burwood road -- hawthorn (vic.)

The first known use of the term 'Kew Festival'.The Kew Festival Gazette, 5 October 1895 is a four-page mock-up newspaper, published from the Boroondara Standard office to advertise and publicise a Kew Festival. The Festival was not associated with the current Kew Festival, which was founded in 1974, but was principally a bazaar held in the Kew Recreation Hall to raise money for the Kew Catholic Church Building Fund which was associated with the Jesuit Mission. Perhaps because of the recent economic depression, the Mission was in financial difficulties and it was hoped that the bazaar would raise enough money to ease the situation. According to the Gazette, ‘All Kew has been in a gentle simmer of excitement for some time past over the coming Sacred Heart Bazaar in aid of the Jesuit Mission funds. Wherever one goes the talk is of the bazaar, and whoever one meets is either a stallholder, an assistant or an intending purchaser.’ There are a few items in the Gazette about other local events, including a cake fair and sale of works, and a history of bazaars that traces them from the Middle East via Britain to Kew. One article contains some examples of nineteenth century humour, including ‘the lady stallholders will not have to pay income tax on their takings’. The advertisements reflect the goods and services available to Kew residents in 1895 – groceries, wine & spirits, hay, corn, chaff, ironmongery, timber, drapery, millinery, gas cookers, and an undertaker and embalmer. kew festival gazette, kew catholic church, boroondara standard

As part of the National Trust's Australian Heritage Festival 2021, the Kew Historical Society and the Villa Alba Museum collaborated to mount a fashion and design exhibition. The theme of the exhibition took its focus from the year-long program at the Museum featuring the use of flowers in design. The walls and ceilings of the house are notable for their use of floral and narrative painted decoration produced, in the early 1880s, for William and Anna Maria Greenlaw by the Melbourne art decoration firm the Paterson Brothers. The examples of fashion and design from the collection of the Kew Historical Society were located on the ground floor of the house: in the drawing room, dining room, morning room and in the vestibule, or ballroom as it was sometimes described in nineteenth century newspapers. The exhibition was supported by the City of Boroondara through Triennial Operational Grant funding for the Kew Historical Society and the Villa Alba Museum.Series of photographs of exhibition pieces in situ at the Villa Alba Museum in May 2021.fashion & design, exhibitions -- kew historical society, exhibitions --- villa alba museum, textiles in bloom, fashion - nineteenth century, fashion -- twentieth century, textiles - nineteenth century, headwear -- twentieth century

From its beginnings in 1958, the Society has mounted exhibitions and/or displays, in early days in shop window and in community spaces located in the Kew City Hall (later Kew Library), and since 2010 at the Kew Court House. Exhibitions typically coincided with the annual Kew Community Festival in March, but after 2013 evolved into three new exhibitions yearly at the Kew Court House. Smaller displays continue to be mounted in the Kew Library.Faded photographic colour positive of Kew Historical Society members at a 1976 Festival of Kew exhibition.Inscribed verso: Mr Clark & Miss Mackie near camera / Miss Robertson in backgroundfestival of kew 1976, kew historical society -- exhibitions

From its beginnings in 1958, the Society has mounted exhibitions and/or displays, in early days in shop window and in community spaces located in the Kew City Hall (later Kew Library), and since 2010 at the Kew Court House. Exhibitions typically coincided with the annual Kew Community Festival in March, but after 2013 evolved into three new exhibitions yearly at the Kew Court House. Smaller displays continue to be mounted in the Kew Library.Faded photographic colour positive of a christening gown displayed at the 1976 Festival of Kew exhibition mounted by the Kew Historical Society.Inscribed verso: Historical exhibition 1976festival of kew 1976, kew historical society -- exhibitions

From its beginnings in 1958, the Society has mounted exhibitions and/or displays, in early days in shop window and in community spaces located in the Kew City Hall (later Kew Library), and since 2010 at the Kew Court House. Exhibitions typically coincided with the annual Kew Community Festival in March, but after 2013 evolved into three new exhibitions yearly at the Kew Court House. Smaller displays continue to be mounted in the Kew Library.Very faded photographic colour positive of a christening gown and four Victorian-era dresses displayed at the 1976 Festival of Kew exhibition mounted by the Kew Historical Society. This picture is one of the earliest showing items from the Coombs Collection on display. The collection had been donated to the Society in 1961. Dresses displayed: L-R blue silk 2-piece fitted day day dress with long train; cream satin parasol; gold taffeta wedding dress with long train; blue silk 2-piece day dress with applied later lace at neck and waist; duck egg blue quilted afternoon dress with buttons at front. Inscribed verso: Kew Historical exhibition 1976festival of kew 1976, kew historical society -- exhibitions, coombs collection

From its beginnings in 1958, the Society has mounted exhibitions and/or displays, in early days in shop window and in community spaces located in the Kew City Hall (later Kew Library), and since 2010 at the Kew Court House. Exhibitions typically coincided with the annual Kew Community Festival in March, but after 2013 evolved into three new exhibitions yearly at the Kew Court House. Smaller displays continue to be mounted in the Kew Library.Display of antique' objects owned by members of the Kew Historical Society, exhibited during the Festival of Kew in 1979Inscribed verso: " Society's display of family treasures during Festival of Kew, April 1979. kew historical society -- exhibitions, festival of kew -- 1979

From its beginnings in 1958, the Society has mounted exhibitions and/or displays, in early days in shop window and in community spaces located in the Kew City Hall (later Kew Library), and since 2010 at the Kew Court House. Exhibitions typically coincided with the annual Kew Community Festival in March, but after 2013 evolved into three new exhibitions yearly at the Kew Court House. Smaller displays continue to be mounted in the Kew Library.Display of objects and costumes owned by members of the Kew Historical Society or derived from the collection, exhibited during the Festival of Kew in 1979. Recognisable items include a Chinese black evening jacket embroidered with chrysanthemums in satin stitch belonging to Dione McIntyre.Inscribed verso: " Society's exhibition Festival of Kew / Donated by Janet McDermott 1979"kew historical society -- exhibitions, festival of kew -- 1979

From its beginnings in 1958, the Society has mounted exhibitions and/or displays, in early days in shop window and in community spaces located in the Kew City Hall (later Kew Library), and since 2010 at the Kew Court House. Exhibitions typically coincided with the annual Kew Community Festival in March, but after 2013 evolved into three new exhibitions yearly at the Kew Court House. Smaller displays continue to be mounted in the Kew Library.This photograph confirms that the purple ballgown is/was part of the Coombs family donation of Victorian era costumes made to the Society in 1961. Therefore it is important for establishing the item's provenance. Display of costumes from the collection of the Kew Historical Society, exhibited during the Festival of Kew in 1979. Recognisable items include from left the 1890s purple ball gown, the 1860s white satin wedding dress and the blue two-piece 1880s outfit. All items are clearly from the Coombs donation of 1961, there being no other record of costumes occurring before 1979. Inscribed verso: "Taken during Festival of Kew 1979 / Kew Hist contribution / Exhibition of Family Treasures / Donated by Janet McDermott 1979"kew historical society -- exhibitions, festival of kew -- 1979

From its beginnings in 1958, the Society has mounted exhibitions and/or displays, in early days in shop window and in community spaces located in the Kew City Hall (later Kew Library), and since 2010 at the Kew Court House. Exhibitions typically coincided with the annual Kew Community Festival in March, but after 2013 evolved into three new exhibitions yearly at the Kew Court House. Smaller displays continue to be mounted in the Kew Library.Ken Silcock and Jill O'Brien (KHS members) with a display of items from the collection of the Kew Historical Society at an unnamed and undated Kew Festival. Recognisable items include from left on the floor the large photograph by JE Barnes of Kew Becomes a City (1921), two completed and framed bicentennial tapestries (1988), the MUIOOF honour board, and the 1860s white wedding dress (part of the Coombs collection).Inscribed verso: "Jill O'Brien & Jen Silcock"kew historical society -- exhibitions, jill o'brien, ken silcock