Discover the legacy of Dame Nellie Melba, one of opera’s greatest voices, through her unique collection. Featuring sheet music, personal letters, and rare items from her iconic career, this collection offers an intimate glimpse into her rise from Australian talent to international soprano. Explore her artistry, personal connections, and lasting impact on the world of opera.

The Library’s medieval manuscripts comprise more than 6000 individual folios in 250 items and 12 bound volumes, dispersed across several collections.

Recordings of interviews made by McHugh while producing various series for the ABC and also when working on her book Minefields and Miniskirts, together with papers and manuscripts.

About 5000 books, pamphlets, reprints and journals published 1760-1940 in English, French, German, Italian and Russian. They relate to all aspects of ornithology in all parts of the world, with a special focus on Australian birds.

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

Papers and photographs related to Clark's life and work as an Australian historian of renown.

Literary manuscripts submitted to the Bulletin in 1918–20, personal papers, 185 books related to Australia, some very rare, plus 30 books published in Tahiti by the London Missionary Society in 1817–37.

Personal papers and legal material that record of one of the most important and controversial legal cases in Australian history and the life of the man who is chiefly associated with the case.

Oral history recordings, manuscripts and papers relating mainly to Australian folklore and Lowenstein's books Weevils in the flour and Under the hook.

722 books, pamphlets, leaflets, manuscripts, newspapers and maps, mostly written in Chinese. Mainly Christian works, plus works on the Chinese language, reprints of classical writings and works relating to the Taiping Rebellion of 1850-64.

A large number of photographs and negatives taken by Loke Wan Tho on his ornithological expeditions to the Pacific, Asia and Europe in the 1950s and early 1960s, as well as papers, books and maps.

Take a look at some of the letters sent from overseas to friends and family back in Australia during the First and Second World Wars.