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Saturday, June 25, 2011

The Web and historical research

Isn't the Internet WONDERFUL? Not only do I get to keep this blog and not have to rely on someone else publishing my reviews, but I can look up stuff. Lots of stuff! I'm beginning to research the year 1964 and when I went on Google Videos, there were all these videos of the Beatles performing in Melbourne in 1964! The Beatles interviewed! There wasn't as much of what I wanted about the 1967 Referendum, just a couple of reminiscences and one bit of silent footage of Gough Whitlam making a speech, with text telling you what he'd said. But it's very exciting being able to just go on-line and find stuff. There are newspaper archives on-line, but I'll be going to the State Library for that part of the research, because they take ages to load and I'm not quite sure, yet, what I want to find. I'll be looking up prices and what was on at the movies and on TV and what was on the letters pages and the headlines. The Web is great if there's something specific you want, but if you just want to wander around the year 1964 - or 1967 - the good old-fashioned microfilm and the State Library is best.

Roll on the holidays!

2 comments:

Satima Flavell said...

I agree, Sue - for some things, the internet is a marvellous place to start researching. The trouble for me is that I might set ff to investigate cooking methods in the C12 and wind up looking at pictures of pre-historic art.

So many interesting things to read, so little time...

Sue Bursztynski said...

Ah, well, that's a problem we all have with research! :-) And it doesn't even have to be on the Internet. Remember Helene Hanff's "84 Charing Cross Road"? She said exactly the same thing. It's been going on a long time. There's nothing wrong with it, either; we learn lots that way and maybe get ideas for next time.