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Cultural Collections

Access to Materials

All are welcome to visit our Cultural Collections reading room and to view material held in our archives and rare books and special collections. We are open between 9:00am and 5:00pm, Monday to Friday.

Because many of the books and other items held in our area are valuable, fragile, and sometimes contain material that legally may not be accessed for a certain period, there are some rules and procedures associated with their use. Some of these are outlined below. Our staff can supply detailed information on the use of our resources.

General Information

In general, material must be used within the Cultural Collections Reading Room and may not be borrowed.
To access the material, please come to the reception desk and make your request. Material, if available, will be retrieved for you by a member of staff.
Certain material may not be photocopied. Please ask our staff before photocopying anything. We provide a light box for digital photography.
Please ask our staff if you have any questions about access to our resources.

Access to Archives Collections

The Anglican Diocese of Newcastle Archives
- Parish Register Microfilms, 1826 - 1899
Genealogical searches
Hospital records
Regional Archives
State Archives
For our University of Newcastle, Schools & Hospitals State Archives Holdings please consult the Archives Investigator Database (http://investigator.records.nsw.gov.au/investigator.htm) at State Records NSW: The New South Wales Government's Archives and Records Management Authority. Researchers wishing to consult State Archives that are in the open access periods will need to obtain a reader's ticket from the Cultural Collections front desk and show proof of identity.
The University of Newcastle Archives

Access to Rare Books and Special Collections

If you wish to use our books, please fill in a form at the reception desk and a member of staff will retrieve it from the collections for you.
If a book is especially fragile, gloves are provided for your use.