History Or Hoarding? With Annabel Crabb

Nestled alongside the Library's famous treasures — their First Fleet journals, Shakespeare folios, mementos of writers from Henry Lawson to Charlotte Wood – are millions of seemingly simple objects. Old menus, bus timetables, Valentine's Day cards… capturing an era, and the lives of some truly fabulous nobodies. Annabel Crabb explores the lives of the lesser-known people that curators have chosen to preserve.
This episode's speakers:
Margot Riley – Curator
Maggie Patton — Head of Collection Acquisition & Curation
Damien Webb — Manager of the Indigenous Engagement Branch
Richard Neville — Mitchell Librarian
This episode's treasures from the SLNSW collection:
Fruit stickers collected between 26 April 2008 — 1 August 2009 in the Sydney suburb of Mona Vale
Mrs G. B. Moore family notebook regarding the construction of their house in the Kogarah area of Sydney, 1913
Snuggle Bunny Frank and Princess Dorothy Valentine's Day cards are housed within the Library's Greeting Card collection as part of the overall Ephemera Collection
Special thanks to Dr Caroline Butler-Bowden and everyone at the State Library of NSW who gave their time and shared their stories.
Presenter: Annabel Crabb
Researcher: Julia O'Shea
Audio Engineer: Harvey O'Sullivan
Supervising Producer: Rachael Cusick
Executive Producers: Eric George and Carmel Rooney
Head of Audio on Demand: Jessica Radburn
To hear the rest of the History Or Hoarding? podcast series, or for more of the best history podcasts covering Australian history, global history, including war, politics, literature and some of the most interesting people, moments and turning points in history, go to ABC listen Australia's history tab or the ABC Australia channel or wherever you get your podcasts.
To add the History Or Hoarding? podcast to your playlist, just tap 'favourite' or 'follow' on your app and you'll never miss an episode.

Something is rotting, deep in the stacks of Australia's oldest library. It's microfilm. Annabel Crabb dives into the unsettling world of historical preservation in the age of digital storage, asking: Does data live forever in the cloud? How can I protect my photos? Are my emails secure? Could the hoarding of historical items be the correct solution after all? Why can't we just print it all out?
This episode's speakers:
Maggie Patton — Head of Collection Acquisition & Curation
Matthew Burgess - Lead Digital Archivist
The photo for this episode is courtesy of State Library of NSW.
Presenter: Annabel Crabb
Researcher: Julia O'Shea
Audio Engineer: Harvey O'Sullivan
Supervising Producer: Rachael Cusick
Executive Producers: Eric George and Carmel Rooney
Head of Audio on Demand: Jessica Radburn
To hear the rest of the History Or Hoarding? podcast series, or for more of the best history podcasts covering Australian history, global history including war, politics, literature and some of the most interesting people, moments and turning points in history, go to ABC listen Australia's history tab or the ABC Australia channel or wherever you get your podcasts.
To add the History Or Hoarding? podcast to your playlist, just tap 'favourite' or 'follow' on your app and you'll never miss an episode.

Every hoarder's nightmare… SMASHING an irreplaceable, precious antique. Annabel Crabb pieces together the tale of prospector Bernhardt Holtermann. 
Gold Rush mogul. Early photography enthusiast. He found Australia's largest reef gold nugget (153kg!) and produced the world's biggest wet plate glass negative. Then something very bad happened.
This episode's speakers:
Margot Riley - Curator 
Louise Anemaat — Executive Director, Library and Information Services and Dixson Librarian
The photo for this episode is courtesy of State Library of NSW.
Search for the Holtermann Collection in the SLNSW online catalogue.
Presenter: Annabel Crabb
Researcher: Julia O'Shea
Audio Engineer: Harvey O'Sullivan
Supervising Producer: Rachael Cusick
Executive Producers: Eric George and Carmel Rooney
Head of Audio on Demand: Jessica Radburn
To hear the rest of the History Or Hoarding? podcast series, or for more of the best history podcasts covering Australian history, global history including war, politics, literature and some of the most interesting people, moments and turning points in history, go to ABC listen Australia's history tab or the ABC Australia channel or wherever you get your podcasts.
To add the History Or Hoarding? podcast to your playlist, just tap 'favourite' or 'follow' on your app and you'll never miss an episode.

Violating the "quiet" rule. The extraordinary, hilarious, heart-warming story of two young Indigenous trainee library curators who started on the same day at the Library 35 years ago, and became best friends, found hidden stories on everything from the First Fleet to the Freedom Ride and as Annabel Crabb learns, revolutionised the State Library of NSW collections forever.
This episode's speakers:
Melissa Jackson - Librarian, Indigenous Engagement Branch
Ronald Briggs - Senior Librarian, Indigenous Collections
The photo for this episode is courtesy of photographer Daniel Boud.
Presenter: Annabel Crabb
Researcher: Julia O'Shea
Audio Engineer: Harvey O'Sullivan
Supervising Producer: Rachael Cusick
Executive Producers: Eric George and Carmel Rooney
Head of Audio on Demand: Jessica Radburn
To hear the rest of the History Or Hoarding? podcast series, or for more of the best history podcasts covering Australian history, global history, including war, politics, literature and some of the most interesting people, moments and turning points in history, go to ABC listen Australia's history tab or the ABC Australia channel or wherever you get your podcasts.

Long before the Internet introduced us to twinks and furries, the Victorian era had explored 'scandalous' gay porn via explicit love letters between men. The Library locked such filth away, lest it corrupt the people, yet curiously, simultaneously chose to preserve it. Annabel Crabb finds an erotic literary treasure, penned by Oscar Wilde's most famous and tumultuous lover, that was lost in the vaults for a century.
This episode's speakers:
Margot Riley — Curator
Maggie Patton — Head of Collection Acquisition & Curation
Richard Neville — Mitchell Librarian
Damien Webb — Manager of the Indigenous Engagement Branch
Search for Letter to Maurice Schwabe from Lord Alfred Douglas 1893 in the SLNSW collection.
Presenter: Annabel Crabb
Researcher: Julia O'Shea
Audio Engineer: Harvey O'Sullivan
Supervising Producer: Rachael Cusick
Executive Producers: Eric George and Carmel Rooney
Head of Audio on Demand: Jessica Radburn
To hear the rest of the History Or Hoarding? podcast series, or for more of the best history podcasts covering Australian history, global history, including war, politics, literature and some of the most interesting people, moments and turning points in history, go to ABC listen Australia's history tab or the ABC Australia channel or wherever you get your podcasts.
To add the History Or Hoarding? podcast to your playlist, just tap 'favourite' or 'follow' on your app and you'll never miss an episode.