Manuscripts and personal papers

Harold Cazneaux's first camera, 1904, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-141166704

Harold Cazneaux (1878–1953) was perhaps Australia's best-known photographer of the early twentieth century. He purchased this camera in 1904, shortly after moving from Adelaide to Sydney, and made photographs of Sydney's streets and waterways.

In 1909 he became the first Australian photographer to exhibit his works in a solo show.

Cazneaux was a master of the pictorialist style of photography, using soft focus to capture scenes that were - and remain - familiar to many Australians in a new light. He was able to find a timeless, extraordinary beauty in the everyday.

Cazneaux collection

A large collection of glass negatives, papers and photographs dating mostly from 1904 to 1940 depicting many aspects of Australian life and architecture

Collection guide

A large, old text with Chinese characters is bound with traditional thread stitching, sitting on a shelf, supported by a white fabric strap wrapped around its cover. The edges of the pages are uneven, showing wear with the stitching slightly frayed. Other colourful books with Chinese characters are lined up alongside it on the shelf.

Chinese collections research guide

Get help to find and access material from the Library’s Chinese collection and beyond.

Research guide

A handwritten diary entry in an old fashioned script.

George Thomson, Diary entry for Tuesday 26 May 1868, Diary of George Thomson, 1868-1869, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3308197449

Indigenous Australian cricket team touring England in the 1860s

Australians have often gone to great lengths to see their favourite sporting teams, even back in the 1860s!

News article

The first Russian Antarctic expedition in 1819-21

The Library has recently acquired a journal recording the first Russian Antarctic expedition in 1819-21.

News article

A portion of a handwritten poem that reads 'Invocation. Come forth from thy oozy couhc, O Ornithorynchus dear, And great with a cordial claw The stranger that longs to hear.'

Mark Twain's ode to Australian wildlife

The Library recently acquired an original draft of a poem by Mark Twain in the form of a letter.

News article

An old hand-written letter in old style script

Letter by Sir John Franklin to Captain Washington, 15 February 1839, nla.obj-3142222639

Newly acquired correspondence between Sir John Franklin and Captain Washington

A letter from Sir John Franklin to Captain John Washington from 1839 was recently acquired by the Library.

News article

Pile of letters from the Records of the Australian Federation of Women Voters

Records of the Australian Federation of Women Voters 1920 - 1983, nla.obj-245104655

Using the Manuscripts Collection

How to find and use items in the Manuscripts Collection.

Information article

Library services

Two portrait photographs side by side. The one on the left is a sepia toned image of a woman with a 1950s hairstyle and a fur around her neck The one on the right is a black and white image of a woman with a 1950 hairstyle wearing a dark velvet-looking dress.

First Women in federal parliament - Dame Enid Lyons and Dame Dorothy Tangney

The National Library has recently digitised two letters from the collections of Enid Lyons and Dorot

News article

Cook, Hutchinson, Wallis, & Bolckow, Journal of H.M.S. Endeavour, 1768, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-228959149

Rights and the Manuscripts Collection

A summary of copyright and rights in the Manuscripts Collection.

Information article

Wilson Collection

Drawings, sketches, plans and photographs of Australian colonial architecture, pencil drawings of ancient buildings from China and Greece, drawings and sketches for a proposed "ideal city" of Kurrajong, drawings and sketches of furniture designs, personal papers.

Collection guide

Hand coloured manuscript map of Australia, on base map titled 'A community survey of Australia', showing reach of Flying Doctor Service in red and reach of wireless communication in blue. Shows locations as Wyndham, Port Hedland, Kalgoorlie, Alice Springs, Cloncurry and Charleville and Broken Hill.

John Flynn, Flying Doctor Service of Australia, 1951, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-481242509

Australian Inland Mission

The Australian Inland Mission established 15 nursing homes, bush hospitals and services in remote Australian locations.

Collection guide

An antique world map titled 'General Chart' showing the discoveries made by Captain James Cook during his voyages.

Lieut Henry Roberts, A general chart exhibiting the discoveries made by Capt. James Cook in this and his two preceding voyages, 1789, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-230604992

James Cook and his voyages

Our James Cook collection showcases the Library’s most famous item - Cook’s HMS Endeavour journal.

Collection guide

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