Catalogues & Search Tools
Online Search Tools | Research Tips | Research Options | Copying Archival Documents | Fees and Charges
Records held in the City of Sydney Archives can be accessed quickly and easily via the following online search tools.
Archives Investigator
Archives Investigator provides ambient, context and content information about archival records created by the City of Sydney Council, municipal councils absorbed by the City, and Sydney Festival Ltd.
Most of the City's pre-1979 records are inventoried in Archives Investigator and we continue to add more every month.
More recent records are usually catalogued in the City's online records management system called TRIM. Access is not publicly available. The archivists can send you lists of TRIM records that could be useful, from which you can select relevant items. If your research request is relevant to current Council business we may refer it to the responsible business unit to respond to you directly.
Search Archives Investigator >>
ArchivePix
ArchivePix is the Archive's online catalogue of photographs.
Over 50,000 photographs held in the Archives have been digitised and catalogued into ArchivePix. We continue to add more every month. Some photographic records series and collections are only selectively represented. This is indicated in the captions of the selected images.
Assessment Books
The Assessment Books record details of ownership, occupation, construction, and value for property in the City of Sydney between 1845 and 1948. They provide valuable information for family and property history which is not available from any other source.
Search the Assessment Books >>
Historical Atlas of Sydney
The Historical Atlas provides access to maps of the City of Sydney from different periods of the City's history. The maps can be downloaded as PDF files, and panned and zoomed to pick up smaller areas and close-up details.
Go to the Historical Atlas of Sydney >>
Sydney Reference Collection
The Sydney Reference Collection (SRC) contains published material and unpublished ready-reference research files relating to the study of all aspects of the City of Sydney. Published items are catalogued bibliographically within the City Library's on-line catalogue.
Search the City Library catalogue for published items in the SRC >>
Sands Directory of Sydney
Sands Sydney Directory was published annually from 1859 to 1932. The lists of householder and business names it contains have become a fundamental source for research into Sydney history, especially family history. We have had the complete Sands volumes for three sample years (1868, 1888, 1918) digitised from the fiche, and they are presented here for public access and comment.
Go to the Sands Directory page >>
Planning Street Cards
The Planning Street Cards provide information about historical buildings and development applications from about 1908 to the 1990s.
The street cards show all the applications submitted to the Council, whether or not the original files and plans exist. To see if the records are actually available you will have to check Archives Investigator or (for post-1987 records) ask the archivists.
Browse the planning street cards >>
Last updated: 10 September 2009
