Curio

Mitchell Library

c.a. 1910

‘ … The story begins, of course, with David Scott Mitchell’s bequest, which included not only his collection, but in part his character as well. As book dealer Fred Wymark recalled, Mitchell “started collecting books and at the last the collection collected him and held him in such a grip that he became a part of his own collection”. Mitchell didn’t simply acquire. He actually knew his collection, impressing visitors with an astonishingly detailed knowledge of it which he gladly shared.’ – State librarian Regina Sutton, 2010 [1]

Promised in 1898, Mitchell’s bequest came with the condition that ‘a special wing or set of rooms’ be provided to house the collection [2] – and came at a time when the Library had already outgrown its existing premises on the corner of Bent Street. After a string of delays and setbacks, work on a new building finally began in 1906. The sandstone façade with pilasters and hood-moulds above the windows reflected late Renaissance architecture. The grand framework’s interior featured reading rooms, work areas and galleries, and was fitted out with state-of-the art steel bookshelves, electric built-in table lamps, oak swivel chairs and heavy teak tables. Then president of the Library’s Trustees, Prof Mungo MacCallum, described the building by saying ‘we have here a worthy shrine for Mr. Mitchell’s gift’ [3]. Mitchell, however, had died on 24 July 1907, only months before the building was completed.

The Mitchell Library officially opened in 1910 and in 1929 was extended to the south with the addition of the Dixson Wing. This enabled storage and gallery space for the extensive collection of historical paintings presented by Sir William Dixson. In 1939 work began on the central portion of the building, which included the portico, the ornate vestibule and a splendid new main reading room for the Public (now State) Library. The Public Library, located on the opposite corner of Bent and Macquarie streets, had outgrown its early 19th-century premises. As the additions were completed in June 1942, both the Public Library and Mitchell Library were at last united under one roof. In 1964 the south-east wing, facing towards Hospital Road, the Domain and Parliament House, was added containing additional storage areas.

Mitchell believed passionately that it was important to inspire Australians to develop an interest in the origins of their culture. He claimed that ‘the main object of his life’ had been to enable future historians to ‘write the history of Australia in general and New South Wales in particular’ [4]. His gesture not only laid the foundation for the Mitchell Library’s creation and direction but has also influenced many other donors and supporters to contribute to this institution.

Timeline

1910: The original section of the Mitchell Library opens, including the Level 2 Mitchell Gallery.
1929: The Dixson Wing opens.
1942: The central wing is built to house the public library and unite the Mitchell and Public libraries on the one site. The additions facing Shakespeare Place along with the extensions to the north and east, which include the portico, General Reference Library (now known as the Mitchell Library Reading Room), Shakespeare Room, vestibule and Tasman map are completed.
1959: The Dixson Library and marble staircase are built.
1964: The south-east wing is completed.
1988: The Macquarie St Wing is completed and minor refurbishments are made to the Mitchell Wing.
2001: Major refurbishment of the 1942 Reading Room is completed.

_Footnotes

_{1. One hundred: a
tribute to the Mitchell Library, 2010, p 5}

_{2. D J Jones, A
Source of Inspiration and delight, 1988, p 38}

_{3. Jones 1988, p 50}

_{4. B H
Fletcher, Magnificent Obsession, 2007, p 34}

David Scott Mitchell bequeathed £70,000 and approximately 40,000 items to the library.

David Scott Mitchell handed over the first part of his bequest in 1899, which amounted to 10,000 volumes, but with no room in the Library, the principal librarian Henry Anderson moved out of his house so the collection could be stored there. On Mitchell’s death in 1907, much of the remainder of his collection was placed in damp-proof boxes in the vaults of two Sydney banks until the new Mitchell Wing was completed. Mitchell’s pictures were temporarily stored at the Art Gallery of NSW.

The earliest acquisition by David Scott Mitchell in the collection is believed to be an edition of Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, given to him on his seventh birthday by his father.

David Scott Mitchell was a very private person: the last known image of him is a photograph taken when he was about 35 years old – the Library’s portrait of him by Norman Carter was painted 18 years after Mitchell’s death.

Described by the then premier as renowned for their ‘faithful work and straightforward dealing’ brothers John and Archibald Howie won the building contract for the Mitchell Wing. They had previously worked on a number of Sydney’s significant public buildings, including the Art Gallery of NSW and the old Public Library.

_Footnotes

_{D J Jones, A Source of Inspiration and Delight, 1988, p 50}

David Scott Mitchell didn’t keep a record of the books in his collection as he had a photographic memory.

Finding stonemasons to work on the Mitchell building was a struggle: following the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, many of Australia’s stonemasons had gone there to help rebuild the city, leaving a shortage of experienced stonemasons here.

Many of the decisions regarding architectural design and features of the Mitchell Library were made by William Herbert Ifould, who held the position of principal librarian from 1912 until 1942. Under his instruction, library staff sourced elements of design from the Library’s collection to be used in the plans, so that the new structure would have ‘unusual decorative work of a character entirely different from other Australian buildings.’

_Footnotes

_{D J Jones, A Source of Inspiration and Delight, 1988, p 85}

When the Public Library moved from Bent Street into this building in 1942, it took three weeks to transfer all the books to the new Reading Room. They were moved using a 1936 Ford truck instead of the Library Bookmobile, which had been converted for use as an ambulance.

The Mitchell Library’s collections today comprise of over 5.5 million or 13 km of items. This includes 600,000 books, as well as photographs, manuscripts, maps, pictures, oral histories, newspapers and artefacts. It is the world’s foremost archive on European exploration and settlement of Australia and the Pacific, and the Indigenous peoples of those regions.

The Library’s digitisation project aims to publish as much of its collections online as possible, enabling people throughout the world access its unique archive of Australian history.

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