The Art Gallery of NSW was the first state gallery in the country to establish an archive and we are one of the few Australian institutions today collecting, preserving and making available for research primary material on Australian visual art.

The Gallery’s archive holds the administrative records of the Gallery from the 1870s to the present day, including information related to exhibitions, prizes and scholarships, the collection and building as well as operational matters.

It also contains diverse manuscript collections with diverse manuscript collections. In addition to the Pat Corrigan Bookplate Collection and artists’ books, we currently hold the papers of a significant number of artists from Anita Arrons to Reinis Zusters as well as the records of numerous commercial art galleries from the Australian Fine Arts Gallery to the Watters Gallery and art societies such as the Sydney Camera Circle.

Located within the research library, the archive is open to the public during library opening hours; some conditions apply to access. See Using the archive.