Pictures digitisation - progress so far
Selecting material for digitisation
General selection criteria for the National Library’s digitisation program can be found in our Collection Digitisation Policy.
The Library aims to digitise all new Pictures acquisitions and selected materials already in the collection. The selection is usually based on historical and/or cultural significance, uniqueness of, and likely demand for, the material. Copyright and preservation considerations are also taken into account.
Progress as of
30 June 2009
Approximately 17% of the currently estimated volume of the National Library’s Pictures Collection has been digitised. This amounts to 113 799 items, consisting of 180 911 images.
Examples of Pictures collections already digitised
- A.G. Foster collection of photographs of Sydney
- Album van photographien Nederlandsch Indie-Buitenbezittingen
- Ampol and Caltex photograph collection
- Arnold Thomas boxing collection
- Arthur Groom collection
- Australian Inland Mission collection
- Australian Scenic Series, W.D. & H.O. Wills's cigarette cards
- Axel Poignant's exhibition photographs, 1922-1980
- Bruce Howard Australian pubs collection 1971-1973
- Bruce Howard collection of photographs for Herald and Weekly Times
- Bruce Howard Olympic games, Melbourne Victoria, 1956
- Bruce Howard Sheilas
- Buckland collection of railway transport photographs
- C.C. Fox photographs of fashion and leisure activities, Gosford region, New South Wales, 1906-1911
- C.E. Wellings collection
- Colin Ferguson collection of photographs of Ballets Russes performances in Australia
- Collection of lantern slides of views of Australia, 1873-1900
- Cyril Ritchard Collection of Theatrical Performance and Personal Photographs, 1880-1946
- David Elliott theatrical postcard collection
- Don McMurdo performing arts collection
- Dr Ewan Murray-Will's album of photographs of performers from the Ballets Russes, on tour in Australia, 1936-1937
- E. A. Crome collection of photographs on aviation
- Ellis Rowan's Flower and bird paintings
- Eric Milton Nicholls collection (papers and associated ephemera of Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin)
- Florenz Bleeser collection of photographs of Palmerston [i.e. Darwin] and the Northern Territory, ca. 1890-1900
- Francis Birtles motor car tour collection, ca. 1899-1928
- Frank Hurley negative collection
- Frank Hurley photograph album of Papua and the Torres Strait
- Geoffrey Ingram archive of Australian ballet
- George Raper's The Ducie collection of First Fleet art
- Great Barrier Reef Expedition, 1928-1929
- Great War, 1914-1915: a collection of photographs taken by Signaller J.P. Campbell
- Herald and Weekly Times archive of the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne
- Historic Australian homesteads and gardens, 1994-2000
- Historic photographs of roads, tracks and bridges, Cooma to Kosciusko, New South Wales, 1930-1955
- Hugh P. Hall collection of photographs, 1939-1940
- Ion Idriess glass plate negative collection
- J.N.D. Harrison Changi drawings
- Jeff Carter collection of photographs, 1952-2002
- John Mulligan photograph collection, ca. 1960-1976
- Kosciusko Huts Association photograph collection
- Kristian Fredrikson collection of costume designs for the performing arts, 1996-2001
- Lady Viola Tait collection
- Ledgar collection of photographs, 1858-1910
- Moir collection of cartoons and drawings
- Photographs of Anton Dolin and others in ballet performances
- Pryor collection of cartoons and drawings
- Raymond de Berquelle collection – part 1 and part 2
- Reverend Andrew Lesley McKay collection of of photographs relating to Inland Australia, 1950-1976
- Robin Lovejoy collection
- Russ Ashton photographic collection
- Sarah Chinnery photographic collection of New Guinea, England and Australia
- Sir Douglas Mawson collection of Antarctic photographs
- Stan Cross Archive of cartoons and drawings, 1912-1974
- Stewart McCrae cartoon collection
- Sydney 2000 Olympic Games
- Sydney 2000 Paralympics
- W.F. Stringer collection of dance photographs
- Ward O'Neill collection
- Warren T. Harding and David C. Lorimer collection of interior design
- Wolfgang Sievers photographic archive
- Women's Cricket Association tour of Australia, 1934-1935
Future digitisation plans
The Library’s long term plan is to digitise a projected 80% of its Pictures collection. The remaining 20% represent items which are lower priority or restricted by copyright.
All new Pictures acquisitions and a selection of other Pictures materials will continue to be systematically digitised, where copyright permits. SeeCurrent priorities for more details on the 2009-10 digitisation program.
Selective digitisation of items in the Pictures collection will continue to be undertaken for inclusion in the Library’s forthcoming Treasures Gallery.