The Objects Gallery

The Objects Gallery is a free display featuring nearly 1000 objects from the State Library of NSW’s realia collection acquired over the past century.

Many of these objects came with manuscript collections of writers, artists, surveyors, politicians, community organisations and businesses. Others came from Sir William Dixson (1870–1952), who gave his extensive collection to the Library, both during his lifetime and as a bequest in 1952.

The objects on display are mostly inorganic — made of metal, stone, glass or clay-based materials — and will not be damaged by exposure to light. The rest of the collection, which includes 8000 other objects, remains below ground in the Library’s multi-level storage areas or ‘stacks’.