The White Family outside 6 Napier St North Sydney
The North Sydney Heritage Centre of Stanton Library has an
enormous number of historic photographs in it’s collection. Over 8,500 of these images are viewable online
through the ‘Face of North Sydney’ database. These can be of many subjects; the
landscape, both built and natural, or of local inhabitants, among other things. They are often an amazing
source of family history information.
I remember once, in my job as a local history librarian at
Stanton Library, finding a photo for an elderly man who came in to see our
image collection. It was a photo of his grandmother. Not only had this man not
ever seen that photo, he had never seen a photo of his grandmother. He was so
moved that it brought him to tears. A
moment I will never forget.
Most people researching their own family’s history often
don’t realise that there might be images of their ancestors that they can
access online through the database of a public library. These will not come up
by doing a basic Google search. The
photo database can only be found through the website of the local Council’s library
where your ancestor lived.
To search for these photos first find what local Council area your
ancestor lived in. Then find that Council’s website and see if there
is an image database on that website. It might be connected to the part of the
website devoted to that Council’s library or local history. If there is one then
search by the ancestor’s name, place of residence etc. Not every library has their photos online but
most do.
Public libraries throughout Australia are increasingly
making their image collections available for anyone to see anywhere in the
world. As internet download speeds increase and the costs of creating and
hosting an image database become more economical, making photos available for
viewing online is becoming a more attractive way to display them.
Through the National Library’s Trove website you can search
a number of photo collections from public libraries around Australia as well as
the National Library’s own collection. This includes Stanton Library’s Face of
North Sydney database. There are also other great image collections online which
the State Libraries of each Australian state have. Sometimes
museums will also have great image collections online as well. I think of the
Powerhouse Museum in Sydney in particular.
You can access the Face of North Sydney database through the
North Sydney Council’s website. It is one of the Heritage Databases on that
site.
H G Kent's Crows Nest blacksmith shop
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