Dictionary of Sydney

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Mitchell Library building

The Mitchell Library building was erected in 1910 to house David Scott Mitchell's collection of Australiana which he had bequeathed to the people of New South Wales. In 1942 the building was extended and incorporated the New South Wales government's Free Public Library. The Mitchell Library is part of the State Library of New South Wales.

-33.866208795116, 151.21324866051

Milestone
Constructed
1906 - 1910
Opened
08 Mar 1910
Name
Alternate
Mitchell Wing
Commemorated by
Commemorates
Position
1906
1906 - 1908
1906
Property
Part of
Occupied by
Comprises
Comprises
Type

The Mitchell

CC BY-SA 2.0
,
2014

For a century the Mitchell Library has been Sydney's memory, a storehouse of treasures and a club of eccentric scholars. It is all but impossible to write or read about the history of Australia, the Pacific and the Antarctic without being in debt to the great collector and eccentric recluse David Scott Mitchell.

Mitchell, David Scott

CC BY-SA 2.0
,
2015

The Mitchell Library was officially opened on 9 March 1910, three years after the death of its acclaimed benefactor, David Scott Mitchell, on 24 July 1907. Approximately 40,000 volumes were given to the new library along with a large collection of manuscript journals, diaries and letters, thousands of prints, maps and charts, pictures and portraits, miniatures, bookplates, coins and medals. Just over 100 years later, Mitchell's bequest to Sydney, to New South Wales and to Australia, remains remarkable.