Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection
Latest at the CSL&RC
Rare Books
The Stewart Symonds Sheet Music CollectionFriday 17 March 2017
The Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection has recently acquired an important collection of 19th-century sheet music provenanced to people living in NSW.
Library Display
New Library DisplaysFriday 10 March 2017
There are two new displays at the Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection, focusing on the photography of Richard Stringer and the historic house Caerleon, with its impressive Queen Anne Revival elements.
Sound Heritage Network
Reporting our music projects in the UKWednesday 2 November 2016
Read about our recent Dowling Music Project on the Sound Heritage (University of Southampton) website.
Music in the House
The Dowling Music ProjectThursday 29 September 2016
The CSL&RC is part of an exciting collaboration between Sydney Living Museums and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where performers are bringing to life a previously unknown collection of sheet music.
Library Display
New Library DisplaysTuesday 13 September 2016
Three new displays showcase new stories and new additions to the Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection: decorative plastering tools, a prefab chair and furniture from paper-patterns.
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. The items in the catalogue come primarily from the Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection with a selection of items from the house museums within the portfolio of Sydney Living 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 through the electronic record display link attached to relevant items in the Library Catalogue or via the Digital Trade Catalogues page.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Current displays
New
Leslie Walford's yellow curtains
New
The Walford Archive
A prefab chair
Past
Caerleon
Past
Richard Stringer: Photographer
Past