State Library of NSW

“Heritage Collection” Project

Over the past ten years, the Nelson Meers Foundation has worked with the State Library of NSW to create a Gallery within the Library in which the Library’s significant collection of Australian artefacts is made available to the public through a ten year rotating exhibition program. For the first time in the Library’s history, items such as: Bligh’s logbook recording the mutiny on the Bounty; Australia’s only complete set of Shakespeare’s four Folios; Patrick White’s Nobel Prize, and Ethel Turner’s manuscript of Seven Little Australians, are now accessible to the Australian public. In support of our strong commitment to ensuring greater accessibility to the arts, the Nelson Meers Foundation’s grant was also used to conserve and digitise each item, so that those who are unable to visit the Library (together with future generations) will have access to the items via the Library’s website.

Why did we fund this project?  We recognised the importance of digitising and conserving the library’s magnificent collection.  This goes to the heart of our advocacy for greater accessibility to the arts and our cultural heritage.