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}

Books and chops

In a handsome house in Darlinghurst, Mitchell camped in rooms stacked high with books. The place was neglected inside and out. ‘It was pathetic: dust, cobwebs, a musty smell, no real sign of domestic care’, wrote Robert Scott Irving, the doctor attending him in his last weeks. ‘Furniture, probably valuable; pictures, certainly so; and books and more books and yet more books, everywhere and anyhow’. Mitchell had broken off with society and withdrawn into the house with the death of his beloved mother. For nearly forty years he ate chops and never went out except to buy books. He only ever left Sydney once or twice in his life. He never left Australia. Apart from the scholars he let through the door, Mitchell’s only companions at 17 Darlinghurst Road were an Irish housekeeper and an ancient sulphur-crested cockatoo.

Journalist and author David Marr, 2010

Footnotes

_{One hundred: a tribute to the Mitchell Library, 2010, p 43}

A lasting inspiration

Mitchell’s generosity has influenced many others to contribute to the Library, but none more so than Sir William Dixson. Also a passionate collector, Dixson dedicated much of his life to gathering information and artefacts relating to Australia’s history that purposefully complemented Mitchell’s collection. In 1929 the Dixson Galleries were opened, which were built to house Dixson’s donation of a magnificent collection of historical pictures. Over the years Dixson continued to give collections to the Dixson Galleries. He also funded the bronze doors at the entrance of the Mitchell Library, and a number of stained-glass windows. Upon Dixson’s death, he left his personal collection of books, pictures, maps, manuscripts, coins and medals to the Library, which is now known as the Dixson Library, as well as a substantial endowment to acquire art and invest in the publication of facsimiles of Australian texts.

Dixson remains the largest single benefactor of images to the Library. Both his contribution and vision has enabled the Library to continue its pursuit in becoming a leading collector of Australian imagery.

Good fruit

We come here upon the origin of things – upon the raw materials – the stuff of which books are made: not easily assimilated, not easily digested but waiting for the hand of the master-worker to bring good fruit out of it. You can touch and handle things here which, if they did not exist, would have meant that Australian history would have to be written in a different way … we ought to value this library … as part of ourselves – and give it the very highest reverence that we can.

NSW Governor Lord Chelmsford, opening the Mitchell Library in 1910

^Footnotes

^{One hundred: a tribute to the Mitchell Library, 2010, p 3}

Old Sarah

No one is really sure who persuaded David Scott Mitchell to donate his collection to the state. Perhaps it was his suffragette cousin, Rose Scott; perhaps it was Henry Anderson, the Public Library of NSW’s principal librarian; or perhaps it was ‘Old Sarah’, his housekeeper who rebelled against dusting the 61,000 books, thousands of pictures, maps, manuscripts, coins, medals and bookplates that were crowded into Mitchell’s house at 17 Darlinghurst Road.

All manner of researchers

The opening of the Mitchell Library allowed, for the first time, the serious study of Australian and Pacific life. The original bequest of David Scott Mitchell has been continuously enriched over the last 100 years so that, for example, his 40,000 printed books have now become 600,000. For a century now, all manner of researchers have been using its rich collections, which, from the beginning, were freely available to all who needed them. Books, articles, film, radio, television and the internet have all disseminated and made readily available the results of this research … It is scarcely possible to research on Australia and the Pacific without using the Mitchell Library.

NSW Governor Marie Bashir, 2010

_Footnotes

_{One hundred: a tribute to the Mitchell Library, 2010, p 3}

Photographic memory

David Scott Mitchell had a photographic memory, and was able to locate any sentence in any book in his collection. President of the Library’s Trustees, Mungo MacCallum recalled at the Library’s opening an instance when he had asked Mitchell to ‘verify the transcript of a not very important passage from a not very well known sixteenth century book’. MacCallum claimed that Mitchell rose from his chair ‘went straight to the shelf, took down the volume without seeming to look for it, and in less than five minutes had found the sentences’.

^Footnotes

^{B H Fletcher, Magnificent Obsession, 2007, p38}

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