Murdoch University Library Special Collections

The Library's Special Collections area houses archival material of special significance to the University and research collections. The variety of material includes University publications, rare books, popular culture materials and donated collections. There is a large amount of manuscript material, much of it associated with the donations.

Particular strengths of the collections are the popular magazines, including men's, women's and style magazines; local newspapers and newsletters; the Women's Studies material and the Science Fiction fanzine collection.

Murdoch collects Australian popular culture materials of both a mainstream and ephemeral nature. Particular strengths are in the areas of popular magazines, local newspapers and newsletters and counterculture materials indicating political and social change. These collections are particularly valuable for teaching in the areas of Popular Culture, Gender and Women's Studies. They are further supported by individual collections such as the Irene Greenwood Collection and the Pankhurst Collection. There is also a large amount of associated manuscript material including the Irene Greenwood manuscripts, the archived papers of the Women's Electoral Lobby (WA branches) and the Abortion Law Reform Association, the Megan Sassi Collection and the papers of the Public Peace Committee. The ephemera and poster collections also complement these areas.

There is also a large collection of comics and graphic material and a significant collection of Australian science fiction fanzines, notably the Leigh Edmonds Collection, complements the Library's collection of SF literature.