Trove Teetulpa exhibition

Building with Trove

The importance of Trove as a community resource vital to Australia cannot be over emphasised. The development of this valuable resource by The National Library has made historically important information in a wide variety of formats available to all. The Trove API facilitates the development of  innovative programs. One such adaptation is the code for developing an exhibition of Trove materials.

My great grandparents were married at Teetulpa in northern South Australia  in 1887. While investigating what life on the goldfields may have been like for them in the 1880s, I unearthed many interesting reports, books and images in Trove and compiled my findings into four separate lists.

Recently Tim Sherratt shared code to make a D-I-Y exhibition from Trove lists. This is an ideal way to display content in a range of lists from Trove, particularly those lists with visual elements. This was my first venture onto github.com and although I have limited coding experience Tim’s excellent instructions were simple enough for this retiree to follow. His original version of an exhibition is Forecasters: An assortment of weather prophets. He has written more about the process here.

Here’s my Teetulpa Goldfields exhibition.

These interesting exhibitions have been created using Tim's code. I’m sure there are plenty of others out there as yet unseen by me.

• The Chinese in NSW: A history in pictures to 1940 by Kate Bagnall. This is a wonderful collection of resources compiled to complement Celestial Empires at the NLA.
• Explore Canberra in Trove a snapshot of the 1950s, 60s and 70s by Catriona Bryce. An interesting look back at the national capital through the years.
• Queen’s Hall at the State Library of Victoria by Katie Flack. Great views of the Queen’s Hall throughout the years.
• A tour of the Southern Highlands by Catriona Bryce. Love some of the fashions displayed here.
• French Stuff: Un assortiment de ressources issues de la bibliothèque nationale d'Australie by Antoine Courtin.

Thanks Tim for sharing the code and providing the inspiration. Now is the time for the government to #fundTrove and provide for its ongoing and future development in order to ensure the viability of this resource-rich national treasure.