Caroline Simpson Collection
Home and garden design, history and life
From lampshade designs to linoleum samples, seed catalogues to soap recipes, the Caroline Simpson Collection is a rich and eclectic source of information and inspiration on the history of Australian homes, gardens and domestic life from the late 1700s to the present.
Online catalogues
Library catalogue
Search our full library catalogue for printed books, sample books, periodicals, pictures, manuscripts, personal papers and other documentary materials.
![[Wingate album] : pencil drawings, watercolour sketches, photographs / Thomas Wingate [pictorial material]](https://images.slm.com.au/fotoweb/embed/2022/11/8d8fb0467f284b47b7642721362a80df.jpg)
Colonial plants
This database includes more than 11,000 listings of plants known to be available in the colony of NSW prior to the 1870s.
Objects catalogue
Search here for collection objects such as wallpapers, floorcoverings, soft furnishings, textiles, furniture, light-fittings, window and door hardware, garden ornament, and architectural remnants held in the Caroline Simpson Library
Music
Browse or search this extensive selection of sheet music and music manuscripts from our collection.
Trade catalogues
Browse or search this selection of digitised trade catalogues for hardware, household goods, joinery, lighting, linoleum, stained glass, terracotta, tiles, ironwork, furniture and furnishings, wallpaper, ironwork and more.
About us
How to use the Caroline Simpson Collection
You will find items from the Caroline Simpson Collection in both our library catalogue and objects catalogue
Collection strengths
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Documenting NSW Homes
Recorded for the future: documenting NSW homes
The Caroline Simpson Library has photographically recorded homes since 1989
Post-war Sydney home plans 1945 to 1959
For architects and prospective homeowners alike, the most seductive promise of the immediate postwar years was the prospect of a clean slate, an opportunity to build new, light-filled, houses appropriate to Australian conditions
Sydney's home furnishing stores
Sydney's home furnishing stores, 1890-1960
This online exhibition has been inspired by the trade literature from Sydney’s furniture and furnishing retailers, with all the illustrations sourced from the Caroline Simpson Collection
Notable collections and archives
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Hugo Stossel collection
Trained as an architect in Rome and Vienna, Hugo Stossel arrived in Sydney as a refugee from Nazism in 1939. After the war, he designed several small modernist houses for fellow émigrés, as well as notable apartment blocks and commercial buildings.
Helen Jean Burgess collection
Arts and crafts teacher Helen Jean Burgess undertook a diploma in design and crafts at Sydney Technical College, East Sydney, from 1943 to 1947. This collection of design, drawings, workbooks and photographs relates to her work during the five-year course.
Morton Herman drawings and sketches
This collection of sketches and drawings by architect, historian and author Morton Herman dates from 1952 to 1978. It includes drawings and sketches of colonial buildings, churches and residences, and restoration work to historic bridges
Stories
Browse all![Alexander Mackintosh Archive :
architectural plans and specifications, 1901-ca.1921: Waterhouse & Lake : architectural plans and specifications, 1909-1924 / B.J. Waterhouse & J.W. Lake [architectural drawing]](https://images.mhnsw.au/fotoweb/embed/2024/12/41b04e66f26c41e0a8a932bedad1490a.jpg)
The Alexander Mackintosh Archive: revealing records of a master builder
Forgotten for decades, the archive of building contractor Alexander Mackintosh was rediscovered in a roof space in the 1990s. It includes more than 270 architectural drawings and reveals information about the work of many of Sydney’s leading architects of the early 20th century
![[Sydney from the north shore], Joseph Lycett, 1827.](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/zl9du87e/production/efb0ca986f6e159dd142f8014c35c3b1010cbc06-1346x908.jpg?fit=max&auto=format)
Hearing the music of early New South Wales
A new website documents an exciting partnership between Museums of History NSW and the University of Sydney in an exploration of Indigenous song and European settler vocal and instrumental music in early colonial NSW
The architectural pattern books of Elizabeth Macquarie
The architectural achievements of Governor Macquarie’s era are usually attributed to Macquarie’s architect Francis Greenway. Yet evidence collected during an inquiry into the state of the colony of NSW in the early 1820s includes references to the involvement of the governor’s wife, Elizabeth Macquarie, in matters architectural
Wallpaper
Beyond the wallpaper: the life and work of Phyllis and John Murphy
A significant donation of more than 3,000 wallpaper samples to the Caroline Simpson Library reflects just one facet of the remarkable careers of Phyllis and John Murphy, partners in life, architecture and heritage conservation
Finding aids
Alan Spearman Evans collection
Alan Spearman Evans was a Sydney-based amateur photographer who recorded his houses, gardens and workplaces, and those of his family and friends. This collection includes more than 2000 of his photographs taken between 1924 and 1957.
Marion Hall Best collection
Marion Hall Best was one of Australia’s most influential 20th-century interior designers, and a founding member of the Society of Interior Designers of Australia. This collection includes papers, plans, photographs, wallpapers, fabrics and furnishings relating to her illustrious career.
SIDA collection
The Society of Interior Designers of Australia was founded in 1951 to represent the interests of interior designers in Australia. The SIDA collection comprises committee minutes, membership lists and correspondence, newsletters, photographs and oral histories.
Ikon Studio archive
Ikon Studio operated from the late 1940s to the late 1950s, selling prints from Her Majesty’s Arcade on Market Street, Sydney. This archive of nearly 5000 images of candid street photography taken in Martin Place in 1950 documents everyday life in compelling detail.
Talks & webinars
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Creating Imagined Interiors
Join industry experts at the Caroline Simpson Library as they discuss different approaches to creating interiors for house museums and film and television productions
Unlocking Past Lives
Join Matthew Stephens, research librarian at the Caroline Simpson Library, as he uses the library’s specialist collection to explore the contexts of a selection of historic family photographs
![Vivienne Chaffer : Colour [interior design student workbook]](https://images.mhnsw.au/fotoweb/embed/2024/03/b09f1f0c5831414a9ae3b0baf97b548d.jpg)
Phyllis Shillito and her colour curriculum 1945–1979
This event focused on the colour curriculum of pioneering Sydney-based colour designer and educator Phyllis Shillito (1895–1980) of the 1940s to the 1970s
The Extraordinary Story of Rose de Freycinet
Hear the story of Rose de Freycinet, the first woman to write an account of a global circumnavigation, with Suzanne Falkiner
Library displays
The Caroline Simpson Library hosts a number of semi-permanent and temporary displays. The displays focus on and highlight aspects of the Library's collection, which broadly covers the history of house and garden design and interior furnishing in New South Wales.
On display
Featured display
A Generous Gift: The John and Phyllis Murphy Collection
Our current library display features an array of colourful and evocative historical wallpapers from the John and Phyllis Murphy Collection
Tuesday 29 October
Past displays
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Past exhibition
A Passion for Postcards: The Postcard Collection of Miss Vera Bell
Our current library display draws from the postcard collection of Miss Vera Bell, a young Sydney woman, and provides a snapshot of an era: the golden age of postcards
Tuesday 16 July
Past exhibition
Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Caroline Simpson Library
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Caroline Simpson Library, which was created through an extraordinary cultural gift donated by the children of Caroline Simpson OAM (1930–2003).
Tuesday 27 February
Past exhibition
Celebrating the centenary of The Astor, 1923–2023
An exploration of the concept, design and construction of this iconic Sydney landmark
Tuesday 24 October
Past exhibition
Home in the Hunter
A look at the changing fortunes of pastoral estates of the Hunter Region
Tuesday 1 August
In the news
Latest News
The Astor letter box on loan
Our latest Caroline Simpson Library display celebrates the centenary of The Astor, Australia’s first company title apartment block
Latest News
Wallpaper in the spotlight
Work has begun on documenting this valuable collection to ensure each design is preserved against the effects of time for future generations to enjoy
![Spring and summer fashions : season 1897-1898 / Farmer & Company [trade catalogue]](https://images.slm.com.au/fotoweb/embed/2023/05/dec29eeb0e694b8d8b29ca9210bbeebe.jpg)