Catalogues and search tools
Find what you want
Records held in the City of Sydney Archives can be accessed quickly and easily with the following online search tools.
Archives Investigator
Archives Investigator provides information about archival records created by the City, councils absorbed by the City and the Sydney Festival.
Most of the City's records up to 1979 are inventoried in Archives Investigator and staff are still adding more. More recent records are usually catalogued in the City's online records management system, which is called TRIM. There is no public access to TRIM, but the archivists can send you lists of records that could be useful. You can then select any relevant items.
ArchivePix
ArchivePix is the Archive's online catalogue of photographs.
More than 60,000 photographs in the Archives have been digitised and catalogued into ArchivePix. Staff are still adding more. Some photographic records series and collections are only selectively represented. If so, this is indicated in captions.
Historical Atlas of Sydney
The Historical Atlas provides access to maps of the City from different historical periods. The maps can be downloaded as PDF files, then panned and zoomed to pick up smaller areas and close-up details.
Assessment Books
The Assessment Books record details of ownership, occupation, construction and value for property in the City between 1845 and 1948. They provide valuable information for family and property history not available from any other source.
Sydney Reference Collection
The Sydney Reference Collection contains published material and unpublished ready-reference research files relating to the study of all aspects of the City. Published items are catalogued bibliographically within the City Library's on-line catalogue.
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 City, 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 records after 1987 – ask the archivists.
The Newtown Project
Local volunteers worked with City archivists to create the Newtown Project website that brings together historical information about the former Municipality of Newtown, a colourful area of the city which is now overseen by the City of Sydney and Marrickville Council.
Past in Print project
The junk mail you receive today is tomorrow's historical detail. The Past in Print project collects ephemera such as pamphlets, tickets, menus and postcards among many other items that are usually thrown away or recycled to preserve them for future generations.
Last updated: Thursday, 23 May 2013