What we collect
Formed Collections
The Library has a number of formed collections gathered around a particular theme or by a particular collector or family. They may have a specific focus, time period or simply be a miscellaneous group of material assembled over a period by members of the family. Many of the collections are known by the name of the collector or family but material from these formed collections is not always stored at the one location. Often they are split by material format (eg manuscripts, pictures, maps) or, if in Asian script/s, kept with our Asian Collections.
Amongst the most significant of the formed collections are:
- Alston Collection - Linguistics
- Australian Buddhist Library Collection - Buddhism
- Braga Collection - Portuguese in Asia
- Claasz Collection - Sri Lanka
- Clifford Collection - 16th-18th Century
- Coedes Collection - Indo-China
- Cross Collection - Theology
- David Nichol Smith Collection - 18th Century scholarly research library, emphasis on English literature
- de Vesci Collection - 15th-19th Century, including the Library's oldest book (1478)
- Dr John Cooper Theosophy Collection
- Dryer Collection - Ireland
- Ferguson Collection - includes
Australiana material
- Fitzhardinge Collection
- Helm Collection - 19th Century Music
- Jesuit Collection (Society of Jesus)
- Kashnor Collection - Political Economics of Great Britain and Ireland
- London Missionary Society Collection - China
- Luce Collection - Burma
- Mauritius Collection
- Mathews Collection - Ornithology,
includes Australiana material
- McLaren-Human Collection - Korea
- Nichol Smith Collection - 18th Century English Literature
- Onions Collection - English Philology
- Otley Beyer Collection - The Philippines
- Pelli Collection - 18th & 19th Century French
- Pearce Collection - includes Australiana material
- Petherick Collection - includes
Australiana material
- Prance Collection - Charles Lamb and his contempories
- Rex Nan Kivell Collection - includes
Australiana material
- Sakakibara Collection - Japan
- Sang Ye Collection - China
- Simon Collection - East Asia
- Tarala Collection - Russia
- Harold S. Williams Collection - Japan
- Valente Collection - Portuguese
- Victorian Minor Verse
For detailed information about specific Library collections, consult C.A. Burmester's Guide to the Collections (Canberra: The Library, 1974).
