Physical description

Hard cover, olive green cover with brown protective cloth on corners. Page edges have colored marble pattern.

Publication type

non-fiction

Inscriptions & markings

Hand written notes inside cover "RA 02749457 MEC,000451"

Summary

Library record book from the Warrnambool Mechanics Institute known as an "Accessions Book" the book shows the type and number of books as listed in the Mechanics Institute. This specific volume is part of the Pattison Collection, named after Ralph Eric Pattison, the city librarian who began the Herculean task of organising the (WMI) massive, disorganised collection in 1935. The Record books from this period are "meticulous records" that typically include. titles and Authors of all books purchased or donated. Acquisition Dates Providing a timeline of the districts literary and intellectual interests. Costs and Suppliers often showing books ordered from Melbourne or overseas. In addition how the books were classified and how the library was organised before modern Dewey Decimal systems were fully implemented.
The Warrnambool Mechanics’ Institute (WMI) Accessions Book (1913–1922) is a primary historical record that documents the acquisition of library materials during a pivotal era for the institution. In UK in early 1800's the word 'mechanic' was applied to a broader range of skills such as working man, tradesman or artisan. Mechanics' Institutes were formed originally for voluntary, self-funded organisations, to improve the education of working men and to instruct them on their various trades. The germ of the idea came from a class formed in 1799 by Professor George Birbeck in Glasgow, Scotland, for journeymen mechanics (apprentice trade workers), with the first Institutes being organised in London and Manchester in the 1820's. By then the original aim had broadened and the Mechanics' Institutes were established as popular agencies of adult education.
The Mechanics' Institutes were run by committees that provided facilities for a meeting room, hall suitable for lectures, and a library. Funding was raised locally and often supplemented by grants from government agencies for the purchase of books and other resources. Activities were community based. In Australia, Mechanics' Institutes were set up in New South Wales and in Tasmania in the late 1820's.
Mechanics' Institutes began in Victoria, with the first one in Melbourne dating from 1839, providing similar services but in time offered services tailored to their specific area.