Australian Capital Territory Archives and Libraries

Australia Australian Capital Territory, Australia  Archives and Libraries

The Australian Capital Territory is home to a number of libraries and archival collections. As the site of the national capital, it hosts collections of national significance including specialist collections. The two universities have research and teaching libraries and institutional and specialist archives. The Parliament and public service have collections although these may have restricted access. The ACT Public Library and other community libraries have holdings of interest to family and local historians.

National Archives of Australia
The National Office of the National Archives of Australia (NAA) is located in Parkes, ACT. The NAA is the official repository for the Commonwealth Government including the personal papers of Commonwealth officeholders and senior employees. It holds significant records of interest to family historians including military, immigration and naturalisation files. It also offers advice about conserving your personal archives.

If you are unable to visit Canberra to use the reading room, you may be able to request copying or use a professional researcher.


 * NAA Family History resources
 * NAA Fact Sheets
 * Family History sources held in the ACT.

National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia (NLA) claims to hold "the greatest collection in the world of material relating to Australia and the Australian people. It ranges from the earliest European works about the Great Southern Land to the most current publications. The collection includes all formats of material, from books and magazines to pictures, photographs, maps, sheet music, oral history recordings, manuscript papers, ephemera and much, much more".


 * NLA family history services (includes short video).
 * NLA Catalogue
 * NLA Trove online search and access to books, images, historic newspapers, maps, music, archives and more.
 * Electronic resources available either only in the library, or from home with a library card, or from anywhere via the internet.

Australian Dictionary of Biography
The National Centre of Biography conducts biographical research on prominent and representative Australians. It has a computer database containing references relating to over 20,000 individuals, a biographical card index consisting of an estimated 300,000 entries and obituaries of those who died in the period 1981 to the present. It publishes the Australian Dictionary of Biography.


 * Australian Dictionary of Biography
 * Obituaries Australia
 * ANU.Lives Series in Biography

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) describes itself as "the world’s premier institution for information and research about the cultures and lifestyles of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, past and present." It claims to hold "the world’s largest collections of printed and other resource materials for Indigenous Studies" including films, photographs, video and audio recordings.


 * AIATSIS Family History Unit
 * Family history kit

Basser Library
Housed within the Australian Academy of Science the Basser Library specialises in the history of science in Australia. Its manuscript collection concentrates on the personal papers of prominent Australian scientists and records of scientific societies.


 * National Capital Authority Education Portal