Manuscripts collection

When we hear the word 'manuscript' we often think of ancient parchment from another time or the early draft of a novel.

But manuscripts can come from any era. A manuscript can be as old as Captain Cook's Endeavour journal, or more recent, like the papers of children's author Mem Fox. A manuscript collection can include drawings, letters, diaries, blog posts or emails. Items that have been mass produced, like a published book, aren't considered manuscripts because they aren't original.

A manuscript collection might also contain objects, like Patrick White's glasses, works of art or photographs. Because it can be made up of different formats, a manuscript collection tells the stories of people and organisations in a different way to a publication.

An art studio at GCC [German Concentration Camp, New South Wales, 1914-1919], nla.gov.au/nla.obj-233223061

John Olsen & Kenneth Slessor, Salute to Five bells John Olsen's Opera House journal, 1971, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-234732294

William Bligh, Notebook and list of mutineers, 1789, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-233730285

James Cook, Journal of H.M.S. Endeavour, 1768, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-228958440

About our Manuscripts collection

Our Manuscripts collections are wide ranging and provide rich evidence of the lives and activities of Australians who have shaped our society. They tell the stories and endeavours of individuals and organisations, offering first hand insights into events, people and places significant in Australia's history.

Ranging from single items to large collections, they comprise a wide variety of unpublished materials including letters, diaries, sketches and artworks, notebooks, maps, photographs, literary works, organisational records, blogs and many other types of records in both paper and digital form.

Our Manuscript collection includes many outstanding single items and small collections from the colonial period, but its greatest strength dates from the 1890s and Australia's development as a nation. The collections predominantly relate to Australia, but there are also important holdings relating to Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and the Pacific.

As part of the Library's mission to document all aspects of Australian life, we actively collect the papers and records of individuals and organisations that reflect the diversity of Australian society, culture, environments and political systems. While most of our collecting relates to recent Australian life, earlier materials are acquired as opportunities arise.