Collections

Designing Your Local: Hotel Plans in the NSW State Archives Collection

Under the Sale of Liquor Act 1881, applications for liquor licences were submitted to the local Licensing Court for consideration. This Act required licensed premises to meet a minimum standard of accommodation.

‘Confused heaps’ and ‘systematic order’: Keeping records in 19th-century NSW

This webinar examines how records and the work of their keepers was organised and explore the material world of those ‘charged with the arrangement and care of Records’.

On the Bench: Records of the Lower Courts of NSW

This webinar explores the bench books held in the NSW State Archives Collection. These wonderful volumes record the minutes of proceedings of various Benches of Magistrates as well as later Courts of Petty Sessions.

The Reinterment of Devonshire Street Cemetery

This webinar explores the records from the NSW State Archives Collection that reveal the history of one of Sydney’s oldest burial grounds and the mammoth job of reinterring those buried there to allow for the construction of Central Railway Station

Catalogues of Lost Dreams

House contents have been sold at auction in Sydney for over 200 years. Discover the gossip behind these sales and view auction catalogues

Murphy Wallpaper Collection

The recent donation to the Caroline Simpson Library of thousands of wallpapers in the John and Phyllis Murphy Collection means that Museums of History NSW now has the largest holding of historical wallpapers in Australia

Creating Imagined Interiors

Join industry experts at the Caroline Simpson Library as they discuss different approaches to creating interiors for house museums and film and television productions

Unlocking Past Lives

Join Matthew Stephens, research librarian at the Caroline Simpson Library, as he uses the library’s specialist collection to explore the contexts of a selection of historic family photographs

Useful and beautiful – new Caroline Simpson Library niche display

The new display in the niche just outside the Caroline Simpson Library gives visitors a chance to see an original Morris & Co chair with an Australian provenance

A spotlight on mould

Mould is one of the last things you want to find on records, but it can occur in any collection. Poor ventilation, high humidity or weather events can all contribute. Learn how you can identify mould and manage small outbreaks

Iconic treasure published online

We are thrilled to announce the online publication of the ‘Old Register’ from the State Archives Collection

Not so black and white

Digitising photos from Rouse Hill Estate

Exploring the Augusto Lorenzini archive

Assistant Research Curator Anna Stewart-Yates reflects on discoveries and questions raised by months spent cataloguing the archive of Augusto Lorenzini, 19th-century decorator of vanished Sydney interiors. The archive is now fully catalogued and can be explored online

Carpet Manufacturers Limited

Carpet Manufacturers Limited operated one of the first Australian factories to design, dye and weave high-quality carpets locally

Diana Luxton Messara: public interior designer

The Diana Luxton Messara Archive, generously donated by the designer herself, contains drawings, plans, textile designs, photographs, correspondence, publications, sample boards and personal papers spanning more than five decades

Fatshaudi commissioned works

We commissioned a range of musicians to create new compositions for Dream Feast in response to sheet music held in the Caroline Simpson Library Collection. One of the musicians, Fatshaudi (Brisbane-based producer Rachael Ryan), shares her experience

State Dockyard, Newcastle

This series documents the activities of the State Dockyard Newcastle between 1953 and 1983 through photographs, negatives, slides and microfilm. There are 8,500+ photos in this series

Shipshape: conserving a model of the Princess of Tasmania

Learn how our conservators addressed metal corrosion on a striking 1950s ship model in the State Archives Collection

Groundbreaking crimes from the archives

Within the sandstone walls of the Justice & Police Museum are countless stories of crime, courage and justice – some famous, many forgotten

Flat out access: unfolding the parchment pardon of Samuel Henry Horne

The conservators at the Western Sydney Records Centre treat items from across Museums of History NSW collections. A recent example is the 1832 absolute pardon of convict Samuel Henry Horne