U-Z | National Library of Australia (NLA)

U-Z

V

Collection guide
Valente Collection

Around 6,000 books, mostly in Portuguese, mostly relating to literature, history and religion among many other topics.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Van der Sprenkel Collection

Around 150 Chinese books, including some very rare works, about a range of subjects such as Chinese history, literature, society, classics, philosophy and religion.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Victorian minor verse

Around 500 titles by minor and obscure British poets of the nineteenth century, most having been published during the reign of Queen Victoria, but there are some earlier imprints extending back to 1801.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Villanueva Collection

Around 270 books, pamphlets and serials, mostly published in the Philippines 1900-1965 but also some items from the USA, Spain and Spanish-speaking countries.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Vryonis Collection

The Vryonis Collection is a comprehensive archive of around 1,600 books and periodicals on Byzantine history, art, literature, and the Greek Orthodox Church, along with its interactions with Islamic and Slavic cultures. Spanning languages such as English, Greek, Turkish, and more.

Collection guide

W

Collection guide
Wang Collection

A vast repository of over 4,000 books, primarily in Chinese, covering history, culture, politics, and religion. Collected between 1950 and 2000, it includes rare texts from Taiwan and China, reflecting the richness of Chinese scholarship. Founded by Sing-wu Wang, this collection remains a cornerstone of the National Library of Australia, offering invaluable insights into East Asia’s past and present.

Collection guide
Watercolour of a bay with a sailboat in the foreground and a large white building in the background overlooking the bay

William Westall, Drawings, 1801, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-138873713

Westall Collection

139 pencil drawings and watercolour paintings produced by Westall, all but 2 from the voyage of HMS Investigator (1801-03).  Capturing landscapes, coastal profiles, and Indigenous peoples, these works offer a vivid, accurate record of early Australian encounters. As one of the first professional artists to visit Australia, Westall’s collection is a significant historical and cultural treasure.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Whelan Collection

Discover the Whelan Collection, a remarkable archive of Australian literature with over 1,000 autographed books, manuscripts, and letters from 1892 to 1967. Collected by bibliophile Philip Whelan, it offers a rare glimpse into Australia’s rich storytelling heritage and vibrant literary culture.

Collection guide
Collection guide
White Collection

Personal papers of Patrick White, plus letters from White to other Australian writers acquired as part of their papers. Also papers of White's biographer David Marr and those of the artist and theatre designer Desmond Digby who had a long friendship with White.

Collection guide
Tokyo and environs road map

Tokyo and environs road map, 1953, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1584417804

Williams Collection

About 3200 books, pamphlets, serials, maps, newspapers and ephemera mainly related to Japan plus some works on China and Korea.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Williamson Collection

The J.C. Williamson Ltd archives include a wide range of materials, such as business records, playscripts, libretti, music, programs, magazines, books, costume designs, and photographs. It also contains personal papers from Williamson's business partners, the Tait family and George Tallis.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Willis Collection

One of the largest oral history collections in Australia with recordings of over 900 individuals in all States, as well as folk groups, singing groups, bands and choirs.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Wilson Collection

Drawings, sketches, plans and photographs of Australian colonial architecture, ancient buildings from China and Greece, furnature designs and sketches for a proposed "ideal city" of Kurrajong.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Woodland Collection

27 recordings of traditional music, recitations, folklore and oral histories made in New South Wales between 1968 and 1995.

Collection guide

Y

Collection guide
Yetts Collection

715 Chinese and Japanese books. Most date from the period 1911-1940, but there are some much earlier works. The main subject areas are Chinese art, epigraphy, archaeology and early history of the Chinese script. Other subjects include classical writings, Buddhism and Taoism, myths and legends.

Collection guide
Collection guide
York Collection

About 140 oral history interviews, the majority for his Maltese-Australian and Polish-Australian folklore and social history projects. Personal papers of York plus papers of the historian Michael Cigler. Also a large quantity of Maltese newspapers, student newspapers, radical pamphlets and ephemera.

Collection guide

Z

Collection guide
Zimmerman Collection

About 600 books and 66 serials mainly relating to entomology and the natural sciences. The strength is works on British entomology but also includes Europe, North and South America. About one-third were published in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Collection guide
Collection guide
Zwalf Collection

535 pamphlets on socialism and related subjects published in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, the USSR, France and Britain from 1875-1950

Collection guide
Page published: 12 Nov 2024

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