Caroline Simpson Collection
Home and garden design, history and life
Collections
Three collections, millions of items, unlimited stories
Museums of History NSW is the new home of three of the state’s most significant and fascinating collections. Dive in and explore.
State Archives Collection
Making history every day
Museum Collections
Place-based collections at our historic houses and museums
Stories from our collections
Browse all
The Sydney Opera House Books
Significant publications and reports on the Sydney Opera House project, including the rules for the design competition, plans, drawings and photographs at various stages of the construction
Purging Pestilence – Plague!
The Bubonic Plague hit Sydney in January 1900. Spreading from the waterfront, the rats carried the plague throughout the city. Within eight months 303 cases were reported and 103 people were dead
Glass-plate photography
The collection of glass-plate negatives held in the State Archives and Justice & Police Museum are endlessly fascinating and revealing
Watch pockets
Watch pockets hung on the head cloth of a four-post bedstead and originally served in place of bedside tables, which were uncommon in the 19th century
Wall to wall: a marvellous wallpaper collection
A remarkable donation of over 3000 wallpaper samples by John and Phyllis Murphy adds to our existing collection to form Australia’s largest repository of historic wallpapers
Home in the Hunter
The Hunter Region is the traditional home of the Wonnarua people. The first European settlers arrived in the 1820s, mainly squatters who claimed large areas of land on which to graze sheep
Queering the Interior: London, New York, Sydney, 1882–1929
Design practices of five figures from queer history: Irish playwright and poet Oscar Wilde, American actress and interior designer Elsie de Wolfe, and Australian artists Eirene Mort, Roy de Maistre and Adrian Feint (1894–1971)