Although University staff and students have been able to access the website using their Unikey since late 2022, the website is now open to all. The wider University community can now explore our diverse and rich collection of audio recordings, correspondence, curated collections, maps and plans, photographs, posters, minutes, videos, and much more.
The University Archives preserve the records of permanent value of the University, its amalgamated institutions, and the personal papers of individuals and entities associated with the University.
Have you ever wondered how much it cost to build the Carslaw Building, or why there have been two buildings named ‘Edgeworth David Building’? Perhaps you’d like to learn more about the Law School Comforts Fund’s work during World War II, or maybe you’d like to reminisce about Darlington before the University began construction in that area? Explore these topics and so much more on the website and share the link with classmates, colleagues, friends, family, and strangers!
Established in 1954, we are responsible for the care and preservation of the University’s administrative records such as those of the University’s key governing bodies and offices as well as departments, faculties, schools, and other academic units. We also have the administrative records of institutions which have amalgamated with the University, including the Cumberland College of Health Sciences (CCHS), Guild Teachers College, Sydney College of Advanced Education (SCAE), Sydney College of the Arts (SCA), Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and the Sydney Teachers College (STC).
Additionally, we hold audio-visual media, photographs, and publications (including annual reports, award conferring programs, brochures, calendars, handbooks, films, sound recordings, and video recordings) documenting the University, as well as a significant collection of personal papers of people closely associated with the University. These include the records of anthropologists AR Radcliffe Brown, AP Elkin, HIP Hogbin, and Camilla Wedgwood. The anthropology field research and teaching records for 1926 to 1956 were inscribed in the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register in 2017 (learn more about this significant recognition).
The website provides access to digital material, or an appointment can be made to visit the GL Fischer Search Room to view non-digital records. A set of user guides can assist you with browsing, searching, and accessing our records.
The new website has been a major three-year undertaking for us, which has involved the migration of five distinct systems to a single comprehensive platform. A report on the project can be found in the 2021 publication of our journal Record (pp. 10-17).
Share the link to the new website and follow us on Instagram to discover even more content about the history of the University and its community.
Header: Fireworks Display Outside the Main Building for Open Day (1993), [REF-00013142]. University of Sydney Archives, accessed 23/11/2023, https://archives-search.sydney.edu.au/nodes/view/33015.
