The National Library of Australia has been actively collecting Federation material since 1903. As a result it holds many unique manuscript collections relating to Federation, including the letters, diaries and scrapbooks of politicians and organisations. Material in our Manuscript collection is complemented by material in our other collections, including Pictures, Oral History and the printed collections.
Catalogue search tips
Use the name of a person or an occupation to find manuscript collections in our catalogue, either as keywords or using the Browse Subjects option. Examples of useful subject headings include:
If using keywords eg: 'Federation Australia', limit your search by format to manuscript material, using the 'Add limits' drop down box.
Relevant documents may also appear in other manuscript collections, in which case the 'Summary' information in the catalogue record can contain useful descriptions of the content.
In many cases an online Finding Aid is also available containing specific information about the contents of the collection. This can be found in the catalogue record.
In our Reference collection
National Library collections