The PMI Victorian History Library Inc. is a subscription library established (originally in Chapel Street) in Prahran, Victoria, Australia in 1854 with subscriptions and donations of the local community. It provided a community centre, meeting place and library before the establishment of the local municipality.
The PMI is one of the oldest surviving Mechanics' Institutes in Victoria and one of
only six still operating a lending library. It is the only mechanics' institute in Victoria that was governed by its own Act of Parliament, which was enacted in 1899. This Act of Parliament was repealed in 2024, this was done to assist the library in staying relevant to its members in future.
In 1908 the Prahran Mechanics' Institute established the Prahran Technical School which operated on the High Street site from 1915 until 1971. In 2004 the High Street building was included in the Victorian Heritage Register for its architectural and cultural significance.
From 1990 Swinburne University of Technology partially occupied the buildings under the auspices of a lease granted to the Victorian Minister for Education in 1947 for the accommodation of the Prahran Technical School. The lease was for a shilling per year for a term of 99 years. In 2009, needing income and space for the library, the PMI sold the High Street building to the university. The PMI then purchased a building in nearby St Edmonds Road, Prahran and will relocate in 2014.
Since 1980 the library collection at PMI Victorian History Library Inc. has specialised in the history of Victoria and, as the only lending collection of its kind in Australia, is a valuable resource for researchers.
In the long tradition of mechanics' institutes around the world, PMI Victorian History Library Inc. runs a programme of educational activities including free public lectures.
