National Gallery of Australia Research Library and Archives
The National Gallery of Australia Research Library is the preeminent art library in Australia, located in Canberra..
Services
The Research Library has a Reference Service that is available to the public online, and via email, phone, fax or post.
Collections
The Research Library holdings provide a general coverage of art history with particular strengths supporting the Gallery's art collection, these include:
- Aboriginal art
- Asian textiles
- Australian art
- Ballets Russes
- Contemporary art worldwide
- Selected areas of African, Oceanic and Pre-Columbian art
Collection holdings are listed on the national database Libraries Australia[1] or directly, via the Research Library catalogue.[2]
Special collections
The Research Library has a number of special collections of rare or fragile materials, including:
- Contemporary auction sale catalogues;
- Contemporary Exhibition catalogues;
- Crystal Palace Exhibition materials;
- Nineteenth Century Auction Sales;
- Nineteenth Century Decorative Arts;
- Nineteenth Century Periodicals;
- Nineteenth Century Photography;
- Paris Salon catalogues;
Supporting this last collection of Paris Salon catalogues, the Research Library has developed an extensive finding aid[3] and research resource to assist researchers.
Ephemera collection and artists’ files
The Ephemera collection consists of more than 80 000 files, with over 1 million items, containing information on the National Gallery of Australia, Australian art schools and galleries, and on Australian and International artists, museums, collectors and curators.
- Ephemera collection
-
Beecham's music portfolio. No 26, John Peel -
Le sirop de l'Abbaye (Couvent Santa Paulo) -
Smedley's chillie paste is "the king" of cures -
Owbridge's lung tonic for coughs and colds -
Showcard advertising Melhuish's New Harvest Flour
Archives and manuscripts
The Research Library’s small Archive and Manuscript collection contains personal papers and records Australian visual art history. Notable holdings include the papers of Maximilian Feuerring, Grieve Family, Fred Williams, Richard Boulez, Frances Burke, Frances Derham, Marcella Hempel, Helene Kirsova, Bernard Hall and Neil Roberts; and records of Print Council of Australia, Gallery A, Art Galleries Association of Australia, Art Museums Association of Australia, Arts Libraries Society/Australia and New Zealand, Sir William Dobell Art Foundation.
Audio visual materials
The Research Library Audio Visual collection includes published and unpublished documentary audio and video recordings relating to many National Gallery events and interviews with artists. Notable amongst the collection are 98 interviews by the artist James Gleeson conducted in the late 1970s called the James Gleeson Oral History Collection,[4] has been inscribed into the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register 2008 as being of significant Australian cultural heritage.
References
- ^ "Login". nla.gov.au.
- ^ "National Gallery of Australia Catalogue". unilinc.edu.au.
- ^ "Research Library". nga.gov.au.
- ^ "James Gleeson Oral History Collection". nga.gov.au.