From commerce to art and poetry : new books in local studies

We are always adding to the local studies collection and this week we have two new items to introduce to you. Both are a fascinating read :

This guide to preserving historical shops has everything you need to know about saving ephemera or objects associated with shops and shopping. Illustrated with amazing photographs of bygone stores (and historical shops still active - the Niagara in Gundagai is one of the shops featured) it has practical advice on preservation, presentation, making statements of significance, and what to do if you want to keep the shop and business going. The NSW Heritage Office always produces well written and easy to understand guidelines on preserving heritage in its many forms. The potted history of shopping in New South Wales at the start also puts the subject in perspective.

The Wong Sat collection at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney

Local exhibition catalogues are worth reading for a number of reasons, not the least being their insights into local artists work - this catalogue being a great example of that. The premise for this exhibition was seven Arabic odes from the seventh century, by seven authors, produced on textiles. The exhibition was created and curated by Sam Bowker of Charles Sturt University and brings together a wide range of responses created in multi media, soundscape, artist books , photographs, poetry and more. 

This catalogue is really worth a look - for the broad sweep of artistic diversity alone. Both these books are available for viewing within the library, as they are part of the local studies collection.