Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection
The Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection is open to anyone with an interest in the history of house and garden design and interior furnishing in NSW. It supports Sydney Living Museums’ work of interpreting and managing places of cultural significance in NSW and provides a specialist research resource for scholars, heritage and conservation practitioners, museum professionals, designers and tertiary students.
The strength of our collection lies in its wide range of formats, including architectural pattern books, architectural fragments, wall and floor coverings, manufacturers’ trade catalogues and sample books, garden ornament, fittings (including curtain and blind hardware, door and window furniture), soft furnishings and trimmings, personal papers and manuscripts, pictures, photographs, books, periodicals and oral histories.
The library provides access to all Sydney Living Museums publications such as guide books and exhibition catalogues and is the first port of call for those wishing to undertake research about the house museums and other sites managed by Sydney Living Museums.
The library was established in 1984 and renamed in 2004 in honour of Caroline Simpson OAM (1930-2003), after her outstanding collection of Australian colonial furniture, pictures and objets d’art was donated to the Historic Houses Trust of NSW and an endowment established in her memory.
Group of Lidcombe TAFE Design students visiting the Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection. Photo Nicole Davis © Sydney Living Museums
While inside our museums and historic houses, visitors 12 years and over must wear a mask at all times. Please also ensure you maintain a safe distance from other visitors.
Please read our conditions of entry before visiting.
Users will need to book in for one of the two 3-hour daily sessions offered, either 10am to 1pm or 1pm to 4pm. Please email us at library@slm.com.au or phone 8239 2233 to arrange your appointment.
We’ll be strictly complying with NSW Health guidelines to protect the health and safety of everyone who comes through our doors. All visitors are required to abide by SLM's Conditions of Entry.
Address
The Mint, 10 Macquarie Street
Sydney NSW 2000
T 02 8239 2233
E library@slm.com.au
Opening Hours
Wednesday to Friday, 10am-4pm
Closed Mondays, Tuesdays, weekends and public holidays.
Research
New Sound Heritage BookMonday 10 January 2022
This pioneering study is the result of a partnership between Sydney Living Museums, the University of Southampton and the Royal College of Music.
Collections
19th Century Domestic Advice ManualsWednesday 8 December 2021
Explore these guides to living life upstairs and downstairs in 19th century Australia and Britain.
Display
Library Treasures on Display at Museum of SydneyMonday 1 November 2021
Enjoy some of our textile, furniture, print and manuscript collection now on display in ‘Collected: Sydney Living Museums Acquisitions’.
Digitisation
Decorative Sheet Music Covers OnlineThursday 28 October 2021
Discover the surprising range of design styles both in Australia and overseas as we digitise this format in our collections.
Talks
Colour in the Australian HomeThursday 14 October 2021
CSL&RC Curator Michael Lech shares resources from the Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection to uncover a ‘riot’ of colour used in Australian homes of the past.
Library Catalogue
Search the Library Catalogue for printed books, periodicals and other documentary material, including reports relating to Sydney Living Museums’ properties as well as pictures, manuscripts and personal papers.
Pictures catalogue
Search the Pictures Catalogue for paintings, drawings and photographs from the collections of all Sydney Living Museums’ properties, including the forensic photography archive at the Justice & Police Museum.
Collections catalogue
Four material formats can currently be searched through the Collections Catalogue: Floor coverings including carpets, felt, matting, oilcloth, linoleum, felt base and vinyl; Garden Ornament including fountains, urns, planters, sundials and edging tiles; Hardware, also known as builders hardware or ironmongery, including door knobs and knockers, locks, fingerplates and escutcheons; Wall coverings including wallpaper in various formats such as sample books, rolls and fragments. Items are primarily from the Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection with a selection from our house museums.
Colonial plants database
The Colonial Plants Database includes more than 11,000 listings of plants known to be available in the colony of NSW prior to the 1870s. The database is compiled from several sources, including Botanic Gardens records, nursery catalogues and manuscript plant lists created by early colonists such as colonial secretary Alexander Macleay.
Digital trade catalogues
A number of trade catalogues related to architectural ironwork, architectural papier-mâche, art metalwork, furniture and furnishings, hardware, household goods, joinery, lighting, linoleum, stained glass, terracotta, tiles and wallpaper have been digitised and can be accessed via our Digital Trade Catalogues page on Internet Archive.
Domestic sheet music and manuscripts
A selection of domestic sheet music and music manuscripts from the collections of Sydney Living Museums’ historic house museums and Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection have been digitised and are now available through our page on Internet Archive.
SIDA collection
The Society of Interior Designers of Australia (SIDA) was a professional body, founded in 1951, to represent the interests of interior designers in Australia. It promoted interior design to the general public and also set standards of practice for the profession.
Marion Hall Best Collection
Marion Hall Best was one of Australia's most important and influential 20th-century interior designers. She was an outstanding figure in the dissemination of the ideas of international modernism in relation to interiors in Australia. The Marion Hall Best collection includes papers, plans, photographs, wallpapers, fabrics and other furnishings related to her career.
Ikon Studio Archive
The Ikon Studio archive of candid street photography is a documentation of everyday life on Martin Place, Sydney, in 1950. The photographer focused on passing pedestrians but also caught the backdrop of building facades, city traffic and architecture. The 5000 frames shot on negative film give immediate evidence of the photographers ‘street view’ experience and also reveal the subjects responses to being photographed.
Alan Spearman Evans Collection
Alan Spearman Evans (1902-1963) was a Sydney-based amateur photographer who spent much of his life recording his houses, gardens and workplaces as well as those of his family and friends. Many of the houses photographed by Evans have survived and a number have been heritage listed. The collection includes over 2000 photographic images taken by Evans between 1924 and 1957.
Recorded for the future: documenting NSW homes
How do we better understand the history of the homes we live in?
The Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection (CSL&RC) has answered this question by commissioning photographs of present-day houses and gardens in New South Wales. Since 1989, a wide range of homes have been recorded - from those designed by well-known architects to simple suburban cottages. Click on the link to see some of these homes.
Post-war Sydney Home Plans, 1945 - 1959
For architects and prospective homeowners alike, the most seductive promise of the immediate postwar years was the prospect of a clean slate, an opportunity to build new, light-filled, houses appropriate to Australian conditions.
19th Century Domestic Advice Manuals
The role of the domestic advice manual was to educate and provide guidance and information. Manuals were prescriptive in nature. They promoted popular notions of taste and culture and maintained those of class, gender, duty and morality. Publishers catered to the growing market of middle-class readers, preoccupied with ideas of ‘betterment’, releasing a myriad of books targeting a wide range of topics and audiences.
Current displays
Past
Hugo Stossel: émigré architect
New
Rug making at home
Bentwood chairs and Sydney's Central Police Station
Past
The Modern Bathroom
Past
Work in Hand
Past
Music in the Home
Past