What clues can you find to date this image showing the view of Bare Island from La Perouse across Botany Bay to Kurnell?

Can you date this photograph?

Larger version on Flickr

We have many other undated photographs in Photo Investigator and on our Flickr account. If you know the dates or any other interesting facts about these images please let us know.

The Birdwood Flag in its original condition. [Courtesy of The University of Newcastle’s Anglican Diocese Archives in Cultural Collections A6137(iv)]

Gionni Di Gravio, Archivist of the University of Newcastle introduces Bronwyn Orrock, University scholar in Fine Arts who, from 2009-2011, undertook an important research project into the archives documenting the provenance of every object, relic and example of art and artisanship held in Christ Church Cathedral Newcastle.

Until 2014, one item eluded her, The Birdwood Flag, Australia’s first National Flag, and arguably the most important national cultural relic of the First World War, whose remains lay in a cardboard box in a safe. This is the story of the flag, its creators, and its rediscovery.

Uncover the mystery at the UoN Cultural Collections blog

Did you attend the Wagga Gold Cup on Friday? Or perhaps the Town Plate the day before? You may have dressed to impress the Fashions on the Field judges or have had a flutter or two. In all the excitement, did you ever think about the history around you? Did you wonder about others who for over a hundred years have stood in the same spot as you, screaming out “Go! Go!” during a race? The generations of women who, like you, had spent weeks working out what they were going to wear?

Horse racing at Wagga Wagga has a history going back over 160 years….

Check out the Wagga Wagga Race day fashions and characters at OntheRecord.

It’s time for another installment of What’s the bigger picture?

Is this clue enough for you to guess where this photograph was taken?

Can you tell us – what’s the bigger picture?

Digital ID: 20013_a035_06_17267000182.jpg
Date: earlier than 19/05/1943

Records are rehoused after conservation

When: 16 Jun 2014, 9am – 5pm
Venue: University of New South Wales, Morven Brown G6 (map ref C20)
Who: Course Co-ordinator Dr Peter Orlovich

The School of Humanities and Languages at the University of New South Wales welcomes applications for the following Short Course for 2014 which is to be offered in an intensive mode in two stages from Monday 16 June to Friday 20 June 2014 and from Monday 23 June to Friday 27 June 2014 at the University of New South Wales School of Humanities and Languages in Stage 1, and at the University of New South Wales Archives in Stage 2.

Two Stage Intensive Programme

This course provides an opportunity for you to learn the theoretical and practical aspects of preserving and organizing archives and historical documents, whether they be family papers and manuscripts or the archives of public or private corporations, organizations, associations and societies. The course curriculum has relevance to custodians of archives and historical manuscripts of public as well as private organizations, and is of particular relevance to local studies librarians, museum and historical society curators whose custodial responsibilities also include local government archives and private or personal papers.

The knowledge and skills imparted in this course have application for the management of archives and manuscripts in a wide variety of institutions and organizations, such as schools and colleges, churches and religious congregations, professional associations and learned societies, industrial organizations, pastoral and agricultural societies, business corporations, and local government authorities.

• Visit the website for further information and to apply.

The end of year concert, the annual school play or maybe even the school musical!

All schools have their plays and pageants giving students an insight into the drama and excitement of life on the stage!

Do these images from NRS 15051 Schools Photographs bring back any memories of productions at your school?

Caption: Albury Public School concert 1917 The Gleaners
Digital ID: 15051_a047_000103.jpg
Date: year only 31/12/1917

Caption: Canterbury Public School – concert
Digital ID: 15051_a047_002507.jpg
Date: year only 31/12/1932

Caption: Conservatorium High School – Primary Schools plays
Digital ID: 15051_a047_003144.jpg
Date: year only 31/12/1954

Caption: Castle Hill Public School – concert
Digital ID: 15051_a047_002624.jpg
Date: year only 31/12/1891

Caption: Burke Ward Public School – Empire Day pageant
Digital ID: 15051_a047_002048.jpg
Date: year only 31/12/1910

Caption: Broken Hill Public School – student display [possibly May Day]
Digital ID: 15051_a047_001850.jpg
Date: c. 31/12/1904

Caption: Carlingford Public School
Digital ID: 15051_a047_002566.jpg
Date: year only 31/12/1954

Caption: Adamstown Public School – Adamstown concert
Digital ID: 15051_a047_000026.jpg
Date: year only 31/12/1940

See more photos from NRS 15051 on Photo Investigator.

A large ongoing digitisation project currently underway here at State Records  is  the digitisation of Surveyors’ sketch books.

These tracings and sketches date from as early as 1828 and were done for the Office of the Surveyor General.

• Surveyor General sketch books, 1828-1890 (NRS 13886)

Of the 29 items (volumes) in this series so far 6 have been digitised with a total of c.700 images from these 6 items now available through Archives Investigator. Clearly we’ve still got a lot more to go – so keep checking in as more images will become available!

Below are a few images from the series to whet your appetite. Follow the link above to access all images in the series.

The sketches mostly relate to the following subjects: sketches and tracings of towns and villages and of extensions and alterations proposed thereto, sketches of allotments sold or granted to various persons. There are also sketches and tracings of land, the ownership of which was in dispute, or of encroachments on Crown lands, and of tracings of reserved roads through allotments, and of street alignments in towns. There are also tracings of land reserved for churches, schools, cemeteries and other public purposes.
description from Archives Investigator

[100] [Laings 20 acres at Watsons also houses and gradens to the south of it. Sketch book 1 folio 25] NRS13886X751_a110_000100.jpg

[83] Site for Court House by Butler and site now proposed – Hartley [Sketch book 3 folio 51] NRS13886X754_a110_000002.jpg

Plan of the allotments at and near Lower Portland Head shewing the situation of the 20 acres allowed to William and Margaret Callaghan for life [Sketch book 4 folio 17] NRS13886X755_a110_000029.jpg

Kensington to be sold by auction by Mr Stubbs [Sketch book 4 folio 68] NRS13886X756_a110_000015.jpg

So, not that much data then?

Think again!

The Library of Congress’s digital collections are growing at a rate of 1.5 terabytes per day (that means, by the popular measure, we collect a “Library of Congress” worth of data each week, if anyone’s counting). The Repository Development Center, where we work, builds software and services to help manage and preserve the digital collections of the Library of Congress. What is a digital repository? There are whole books written on this topic, but we understand a digital repository to be software and hardware that:

• Keeps digital material safe from accidental or unauthorized change or destruction;
• Makes it possible to get material in the door, described, managed, preserved and available to the people who will use it.

Read the full post »

This is How the Vatican Will Digitize Millions of its Documents

Digitizing the Vatican’s 40 million pages of library archives will take 50 experts, five scanners and many, many years before the process comes to a close. The Vatican Library was founded in 1451 and has around 82,000 manuscripts, some of which date back about 1,800 years… When workers start handling documents, they’ll wear gloves and have to remove all jewelry so as to avoid scratching the paper. Observers from the Vatican will see to it that the rules are followed.

Read the full post and view the video »

Previously Unknown Warhol Works Discovered on Floppy Disks from 1985

A multi-institutional team of new-media artists, computer experts, and museum professionals have discovered a dozen previously unknown experiments by Andy Warhol (BFA, 1949) on aging floppy disks from 1985.

Read the full post »

Lost cities and found documents: do we ever discover in archives?

Discovery is not about seeing something but about making a connection. Researchers look at documents every single day which might be thrilling if read by someone else but aren’t the thing they personally are looking for and so are passed over. The real myth about discovery in archives is not discovery itself – it happens! – but that the discoverer is solely responsible. But this myth is widely peddled all over the place. The myth of the lone scholar is as tired as that of the lone entrepreneur: research and innovation are collaborative. No one ever does it by themselves nor have they ever. In order to make your discovery you first read quite a lot of books by quite a lot of people, used catalogues and online systems they built, bounced ideas off your colleagues, partner, friends, pets and therapist. Read the full post

19 (legitimately!) astounding photos from the Museum of Natural History’s newly digitized archives

For over a century, the amazing photographs in the American Museum of Natural History’s vast archives were squirreled away in the fourth-floor research library of a museum in Manhattan’s upper West Side. But thanks to a large-scale digitization project begun in 2006, more than 7,000 images went online this week — and they’re just the start of an eclectic, legitimately wonder-inducing collection of 1 million photos the museum eventually wants to put online.

Learn more

What impact have archives had on your life?

A world without records is a world without memory. Archivists, record managers and conservators invite you into the UK and Ireland archives where the records of your life, your community, your business, your nation and your world are collected, kept safe and made accessible. From this page you can begin to explore your own history and your own interests, online or through visiting an archive. You can learn more about the endless variety of records held by archives and how they contribute to education, business, identity and democracy.
Check out this great site