Sydney Living Museums (Historic Houses Trust NSW)
The Historic Houses Trust was established in 1980 to run Vaucluse House and Elizabeth Bay House and has now grown to manage 14 diverse sites and properties including houses, public buildings, a farm, gardens, parklands, a beach and urban spaces. The HHT holds extensive collections in each of its properties and conducts a dynamic range of programs and activities attracting over two million visitors to our houses and museums each year.
- sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/
- The Mint, 10 Macquarie Street
- Sydney
- New South Wales
- 2000
- Australia
- +61 2 8239 2288
- Send Email
| ID Local | Title | Description Brief | Updated |
| HHT00001 | Marion Hall Best collection | A collection of papers, plans, photographs, and furnishings related to the career of Australian interior designer Marion Hall Best. The papers include autobiographical material, ephemera and exhibition catalogues related to her business, Marion Best Pty Ltd. The furnishings include examples of wallpaper, soft furnishings and some items of furniture once part of interior decoration commissions undertaken by Marion Best Pty Ltd as well as examples of furnishings purchased from Marion Hall Best in Queen Street, Woollahra and items of unused stock shop and samples. The collection also includes colour boxes: colour samples made by the staff of Marion Best Pty Ltd to show clients potential colours/colour combinations for interior furnishing schemes. Coverage: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; 1937 - 1974 | 04 Nov 2014 |
| HHT00012 | Kenneth McKenzie collection | A collection of handcrafted timber furniture and domestic arts and crafts items made by Kenneth McKenzie (1836-1922), mining engineer and amateur cabinetmaker. The collection includes tables and table-tops, cutlery boxes, a work box, picture frames, a small cabinet, and a travelling trunk. This collection forms part of the broader collection associated with the house museum Meroogal at Nowra on the south coast of New South Wales. Coverage: Shoalhaven, New South Wales, Australia; Cambewarra, New South Wales; South Coast, New South Wales, Australia; Nowra, New South Wales, Australia; 1836 - 1922 | 04 Nov 2014 |
| HHT00007 | Colonial Plants Database | This database includes more than 11,000 listings of plants known to be available in the colony of New South Wales up until the 1860s. The database is compiled from several sources including Botanic Gardens records, nursery catalogues and manuscript plant lists created by colonists such as Colonial Secretary Alexander Macleay (1767-1848). Coverage: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; 1817 - 1863 | 04 Nov 2014 |
| HHT00013 | Alan Spearman Evans collection | The Alan Spearman Evans collection comprises over 2000 photographic images of houses, house interiors, garden landscapes and industrial workplaces in New South Wales, taken by Alan Evans between 1924 and 1957. The photographic images are in various formats including photonegatives, silver gelatin photoprints and 35mm slides. The photo negatives are stored with the original envelopes annotated by Evans and provide an historical record of photographic documentation – often providing detail on aperture settings, light conditions and type of film used. The collection also includes family and general correspondence, property valuation certificates, the published book ‘Tail Up’ written by Sylvia Evans and material relating to its creation and publication, a personal notebook and scrapbooks of newspaper clippings. Coverage: Blayney, New South Wales, Australia; Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia; 1924 - 1957 | 04 Nov 2014 |
| HHT00016 | Capital punishment collection (Justice & Police Museum Collection) | A collection of approximately 50 items relating to capital punishment in New South Wales. The collection was almost entirely amassed by the Office of the Sheriff in NSW prior to 1939. The Office of the Sheriff was responsible for the oversight of executions from 1824 until the death penalty was abolished in New South Wales in 1985. The collection includes documentation of the legal process surrounding hanging through to the artefacts used by the hangman. Coverage: New South Wales; Sydney; Australia; 1855 - 1939 | 02 Aug 2012 |
New South Wales Police stations (Justice & Police Museum Collection) | A collection of around 700 photographs and 700 files which contain hand drawn sketches and official documentation relating to police station buildings throughout New South Wales. Coverage: New South Wales; Australia; 1912 - 1930 | 30 May 2012 | |
State Reformatory for Women at Long Bay – NSW Police Forensic Photography Archive (Justice & Police Museum Collection) | A collection of around 400 glass plate negatives documenting female offenders and detainees; taken by Sydney gaol staff between 1915 and 1930. Coverage: New South Wales; Long Bay; Sydney; Australia; 1915 - 1930 | 30 May 2012 | |
First Government House archaeology collection, Museum of Sydney on the site of first Government House | A collection of over 140,000 artefacts including bricks, ceramics, glass, and clay pipes, which were collected during two major phases of excavation on the site of first Government House (corner of Bridge and Phillip Streets, Sydney) between 1983 and 1991. Coverage: Australia; New South Wales; Sydney; 1788 - 1985 | 30 May 2012 | |
Peter Spearritt collection (Museum of Sydney Collection) | An eclectic collection of over 300 Sydney Harbour Bridge souvenirs. The eccentric cultural richness of the collection includes keyrings, cedar and crystal models, doilies, a radiator, cushions, matchbox holders, placemats, tea cups, biscuit tins, large screen printed posters and photographs, 1950s ceramic plates, ash trays, and posters by Martin Sharp, Anne Zahalka and Peter Kingston. Coverage: Australia; Sydney; New South Wales; 1932 - 2005 | 30 May 2012 | |
| HHT00015 | Camelot collection | A collection of over 40 furnishing items from 'Camelot', a John Horbury Hunt designed house at Narellan in south-west Sydney. The collection includes wallpapers, blinds, rugs, a hassock, a curtain, tassels, candle shades, a portiere curtain, a table cloth and assorted curtain and blind hardware. Although some furnishings date to the mid-20th century, most date to the period 1890 to 1910. Coverage: Narellan, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; 1890 - 1960 | 30 May 2012 |
| HHT00014 | Paul Kafka papers | A collection of architectural plans, photographs and ephemera relating to Austrian-born furniture designer Paul Ernest Kafka (1907-1972). The collection comprises two main elements: plans and photographs of a house in Eton Road, Lindfield designed in 1948 for Paul Kafka by émigré architect Hugo Stossel; and 143 photographs of motel interiors c 1960s. Coverage: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; 1941 - 1972 | 30 May 2012 |
| HHT00011 | Hyde Park Barracks archaeology collection | The main archaeological collection of the Hyde Park Barracks, comprising approximately 95,000 artefacts, was retrieved during the first major, public-funded excavation in Sydney in 1980–1981. The excavation was undertaken prior to the restoration of the site as a museum. The excavation explored the construction and occupation of the Francis Greenway designed convict barracks building (1817–1848), which was later used as an Immigration Depot (1848–1886), Government Asylum for Aged, Infirm & Destitute Women (1862–1886) and then numerous judicial courts and offices (1886–1979). Smaller excavations were carried out for minor maintenance projects from 1982 to 1997. Coverage: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; 1848 - 1886 | 30 May 2012 |
| HHT00006 | Augusto Lorenzini archive | A collection of around 600 designs and presentation drawings (pencil, ink and watercolour), and full-scale working drawings (cartoons) relating to painted decoration schemes in the Italian Renaissance Revival taste for walls and ceilings of public and private buildings in Rome, London, Sydney and Melbourne. This portfolio of 19th century designs and drawings is supported by a collection of 19th century topographical prints, engravings of architectural ornament, and works on perspective drawing, forming part of the artist's professional reference collection. Coverage: Rome, Italy; London, UK; Sydney, Australia; Melbourne, Australia; 1870 - 1908 | 30 May 2012 |
| HHT00008 | NSW Police Forensic Photography archive (Justice & Police Museum Collection) | An estimated collection of 130,000 glass plate and cellulose based negatives originally created by police and prison photographers between 1912 and 1964 and covering all manner of criminal investigation and police activity. Coverage: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; 1912 - 1964 | 30 May 2012 |
| HHT00009 | Special Photographs - NSW Police Forensic Photography archive (Justice & Police Museum Collection) | A collection of around 2500 glass plate negatives (plus some cellulose negatives) documenting police suspects, offenders and detainees; taken by Sydney police between 1910 and the early 1930s. Coverage: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; 1910 - 1935 | 30 May 2012 |
| HHT00005 | Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society (Caroline Simpson Collection) | A collection of 43 drawings, mostly watercolour, a few pencil and ink, with a small amount of associated manuscript material, depicting Wesleyan chapels, mission houses and schools in the West Indies - chapels in Jamaica, St Vincent, Trinidad, St Eustatius, St Maarten, Antigua and the Bahamas; Wesleyan chapels and a mission house in Demerara (Guyana); Wesleyan chapels, mission houses and mission schools in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) - Jaffna, Trincomalie, Galle, Colombo and Kornegalle; and Wesleyan chapels, mission houses and a school in India - Bangalore and Goobbe (Mysore). The drawings were acquired by the late Mrs Caroline Simpson OAM (1930-2003) and were part of a gift to the Historic Houses Trust in 2004. Coverage: India; St Maarten; St Eustatius; St Vincent; Trinidad; Jamaica; Sri Lanka; Guyana; Bahamas; Antigua | 30 May 2012 |
| HHT00004 | Floor covering collection | This collection includes over 400 examples of different floor coverings. Soft floor coverings are represented by matting, rag rugs, carpet lengths, runners, complete carpet squares and felt floor coverings; while oilcloth/floorcloth, linoleum, felt base, rubber and vinyl fall into the hard floor coverings category. The collection also includes various floor covering trade catalogues, advice manuals, trade publications and interior design manuals that feature sections on floor coverings Coverage: Australia; 1875 | 30 May 2012 |
| HHT00003 | Papers of Claude and Isobel Crowe | A collection of gardens plans, nursery catalogues, books and business papers relating to the life and work of Claude Colquhoun Crowe AM (1914-1999) and his wife Isobel Florence Crowe, nee Tacon (1913-2009), covering their early employment by Sydney seed merchants Anderson & Co. as well as the operation of their garden business Berrima Bridge Nurseries 1943-1999 Coverage: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; Berrima, New South Wales, Australia; 1930 - 2000 | 30 May 2012 |
| HHT00002 | Wallpaper collection | This collection includes over 1300 wallpaper fragments, lengths and rolls. Some have been removed from walls and ceilings, often at time of home renovation, while others have been left over from papering a house. The collection also includes more than 60 wallpaper sample books as well as wallpaper trade catalogues, advice manuals, trade publications and interior design manuals that feature sections on wallpaper. Coverage: Australia; 1840 | 30 May 2012 |
| HHT00010 | T H Longshaw collection | A collection of builders' hardware for doors, windows, curtains, blinds and other household uses acquired from the Longshaw family, Sydney locksmiths and hardware merchants trading as T H Longshaw for over 100 years. It comprises over 200 items including door locks, knobs, handles and fingerplates, curtain hooks, tassel hooks, curtain pole brackets and medallions, blind pulleys, sash lifts, picture hooks and cabinet and drawer handles. Also held in the collection is a small selection of business ephemera as well as trade catalogues used by the business and copy prints of the shop front (in various periods). Coverage: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; 1863 - 1940 | 30 May 2012 |