General selection criteria for the National Library’s digitisation program can be found in our Collection Digitisation Policy.
The Library selectively digitises items from its Manuscript Collection. Manuscripts are chosen for digitisation based on their historical and/or cultural significance, research potential, and the uniqueness of, and likely demand for, the material. Copyright, access restrictions and preservation considerations are also taken into account. Due to their extensive size, most Manuscript collections are not usually digitised in their entirety; instead, individual items or parts of collections are selected for digitisation.
A number of significant Manuscript collections have been digitised in collaboration with research partners, including the Alfred Deakin, Ballets Russes, and South Seas projects.
8 966 items, consisting of 51 580 images digitised.
Our approach to the digitisation of manuscripts is constantly evolving and the variations in the examples below reflect this ongoing development. In keeping with our current policy, most of the following collections have only been partially digitised.
Only a fraction of the Manuscript Collection is expected to ever be digitised. This is due to its extensive size (estimated at 14 kilometres in 2009) and complexity, and the fact that copyright in unpublished materials is perpetual, requiring permissions to be sought from hundreds or even thousands of individuals associated with a single collection.
Selective digitisation of items in the Manuscript Collection will continue to be undertaken for inclusion in the Library’s forthcoming Treasures Gallery.
This image was recently identified as the only known vintage print of Roald Amundsen's expedition party honouring the Norwegian flag after arriving at the South Pole. Part of Tasmanian views, Edward Searle's album of photographs of Australia, Antarctica and the Pacific, 1911-1915.