{"id":20637,"date":"2025-09-14T11:31:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T11:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/20637\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T11:31:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T11:31:12","slug":"how-joan-of-archives-from-state-library-of-queensland-has-become-an-unlikely-social-media-sensation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/20637\/","title":{"rendered":"How Joan of Archives from State Library of Queensland has become an unlikely social media sensation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI finished high school in 1970, and for women then, your best options were teaching, librarianship or nursing. I opted for librarianship,\u201d she said. \u201cBack then, people didn\u2019t plan their lives and careers like they do now.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it was a career she fell in love with.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The State Library of Queensland in 1988, three years before Joan began her career there.Credit: Queensland State Library <\/p>\n

\u201c[Rare books are] beautiful, often beautifully illustrated, with lots of interesting stories,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the arts and rare books unit that I landed in when I first came here, we did a lot of tours for groups. People really love it. When you get that response from people, you can\u2019t help loving it.\u201d<\/p>\n

What lessons books can teach us<\/p>\n

During our interview, Joan, who is small in stature, was almost overshadowed by a large herbal medicine directory that lay on the table in front of her.<\/p>\n

\"Joan<\/p>\n

Joan at work in \u201cThe Lab\u201d at the State Library of Queensland.<\/p>\n

The dictionary\u2019s first edition was published in 1562, and while the state library\u2019s copy isn\u2019t that old, it was still published in 1583 \u2013 442 years ago.<\/p>\n

The book features illustrations of plants with medicinal properties, all done by wooden block.<\/p>\n

Loading<\/p>\n

While the science within its pages is out of date, the book still holds significance to rare book librarians, particularly those interested in printing.<\/p>\n

Joan said the copy in front of her was published in Venice, about 130 years after Johannes Gutenberg printed his first Bibles in Germany.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Venice might have been one of the first places the printing press went to,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a very political thing, printing books \u2013 some printers had to leave town.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrinting books was a way to spread information. Some people don\u2019t like that; they feel very threatened, and they want to preserve their political status.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joan is fascinated by how rare books can help people relate to the past. For example, she points to the library\u2019s collection from the Victorian era of British history, between about 1820 and 1914.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to think the Victorian period was so different to us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more I look at their books, the more I think we\u2019re just like them. Sometimes I wonder if you could just put a template on top of it \u2013 there are so many similarities.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll that political turmoil at various periods, you can see that happening now. But it\u2019s not printed books that are the problem now, it\u2019s what\u2019s online.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for Joan\u2019s social media career<\/p>\n

Joan brought the knowledge, while Cinnamon Smith from the marketing team contributed the TikTok vision. Together, they\u2019re unstoppable.<\/p>\n

And after just one video, Joan of Archives has already been recognised in public.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was at an exhibition opening, and they all came towards me with big smiles on their faces, [saying] \u2018we saw your video\u2019,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen the next Saturday morning, I went to my coffee shop and they came towards me with big smiles on their faces. For a while, I was thinking about wearing a mask.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love talking about the books, I think they\u2019re more interesting than I am.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we\u2019re going to do more videos, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is Brisbane\u2019s Social Scene?<\/p>\n

Brisbane Times is shining a spotlight on Brisbane people and businesses with a following on social media \u2013 from viral videos of your local butcher to a popular craft movie night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI finished high school in 1970, and for women then, your best options were teaching, librarianship or nursing.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[288,93,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-20637","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}