State Library of New South Wales

About

The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Established in 1869 its collections date back to the Australian Subscription Library established in the colony of New South Wales (now a state of Australia) in 1826. The library is located on the corner of Macquarie Street and Shakespeare Place, in the Sydney central business district adjacent to the Domain and the Royal Botanic Gardens, in the City of Sydney. The library is a member of the National and State Libraries Australia (NSLA) consortium. The Mitchell Wing of the State Library of New South Wales building was designed by Walter Liberty Vernon, assisted by H. C. L. Anderson and was built from 1905 to 1910, with further additions by Howie Bros in 1939; by FWC Powell & Sons in 1959; and by Mellocco Bros in 1964. The property was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999. Work began on the Macquarie Street Wing in 1983 and it was opened in 1988.

The State Reference Library contains a comprehensive and diverse collection of Australian and international research material. The collections grow through purchase, donation, transfer and legal deposit for all books published in New South Wales. A number of specialist services are located within the State Reference Library, including the legal information service established in 1990, a drug and alcohol information service and a family history research service.

The library contains over 6 million items including more than 2 million books, 1.2 million microforms, 2 million photographs, as well as newspapers, maps, architectural plans, manuscripts and other items. It is part of the PANDORA web archiving project of the National Library of Australia and also collects born digital material.

As well as being a general purpose reference and research library, it contains many historically significant collections including material dating from the European colonisation of Australia. These are held in the Australiana research collections known as the Mitchell Library (named for David Scott Mitchell, first collector of Australiana) and the Dixson Library (named after Sir William Dixson).

The library has been continuously adding to its collections since 1826 and holds collections of manuscripts, books, artworks, photography and artefacts of national and international significance. These include:

- Original Log of the Proceedings of HMS Bounty in a Voyage to the South Seas, William Bligh, 1 December 1787- 22 October 1788, Safe 1/46.

- Journal kept by Joseph Banks on board HMS Endeavour during the first voyage undertaken by James Cook to the Pacific Ocean.

- George Augustus Robinson 's journal from 1832 recording his activities in Tasmania, notable for the detailed information he recorded about the local Aboriginal people he encountered.

- The Holtermann Collection of over 3,500 glass-plate negatives and albumen prints, many of which depict life in New South Wales goldfield towns between 1871 and 1876.

- Max Dupain and Associates archive of 250,000 negatives, transparencies, and photographs 1905-2011.

- Richardson Collection of 289 volumes of rare bibles, religious works, early printed books and a small collection of medieval manuscripts.

- First Fleet Journals. The Library holds the most comprehensive collection of First Fleet journals in the world; of the fifteen journals known to survive, ten are held in the State Library's collections.

- Shakespeare Folios. The Library holds a copy of the extremely rare 1623 "First Folio" as well as copies of the "Second", "Third" and "Fourth" folios.

- World War One Collection. The Library holds a rich and significant collection of personal diaries and letters written by those who served in the First World War.

- Indigenous Languages Collection. These records are vocabularies and other language material from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and date from 1788 to the 1930s.

- George Morrison Collection. A comprehensive collection of the personal papers of 'Morrison of Peking' that documents a volatile time in world history and is of international significance.

- Australian Antarctic Expedition (1911-1914) photographs, notes, and reports. Includes over 2000 photographic negatives taken on the expedition.

- Frank Hurley's Antarctic colour plates of Shackleton's Endurance expedition as well as his colour Paget plates from World War One.

- The Social Media Archive is the Library's Digital Collecting Strategy partnership with CSIRO Data 61 to collect and archive publicly-available social media.

- Two of three surviving copies of the New South Wales General Standing Orders, the first book published in Australia.