Historic images
Historical images held at the City of Sydney Archives may show the place where you live. More than 95,000 photos have been digitised and catalogued in Archives and History Resources, and staff are still adding more.
In this video guide, the City Archivist Janet Villata introduces the photographic collection held in the City Archives. Learn how to find photographs in the catalogue, obtain copies and manage and share your favourites. One of the key collections of historic photographs is the Demolition Books, which comprises almost 5000 photographs and associated glass plate negatives. In this video guide, historian Laila Ellmoos explains how and why the collection was created and shares some of her favourite images.
Research tips
- While you may not find your house, a photo of the street or close by in the suburb will give you a sense of the locality in a particular period.
- You can filter by photograph as a type to limit your search only to photographs
- Keyword search street number and street name eg. 76 Ultimo
- Not all photographs are identified with street numbers. Try searching on the street name only and/or nearby numbers to find more photos in and around your house
- Try searching without the road type in your search (street, st, avenue, ave etc) as there are many variants.
- Try searching on the building name or business name; these are sometimes mentioned in the description.
Other collections
Many other libraries and archives have large photographic collections of Sydney, including interstate institutions. The best way to search for photographs across multiple institutions is to use Trove.
Outside of the City of Sydney, it is also worthwhile checking the local studies collection for your local government area. These are usually held in the local council library. For suburbs such as Glebe, Camperdown and Newtown that were previously located within Leichhardt and Marrickville Council areas it is worthwhile checking the Inner West Council local studies collection.
Remember, for the City of Sydney, all photographs are held by the City Archives and identified using Archives and History Resources.
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