Since its official opening in March 1910, Sydney’s Mitchell Library has become one of Australia’s pre-eminent cultural assets. This remarkable institution was named in honour of the reclusive bachelor collector and bibliophile David Scott Mitchell (1836–1907), whose private library sits at its heart and whose fortune provided a rich endowment to support its continued growth and enrichment.

In the care of successive generations of dedicated and ambitious (in the best sense) staff, the Mitchell is the jewel in the crown of its parent body, the State Library of New South Wales; and it is the asset not just of the state and people of New South Wales, but of Australia itself. It is appropriate therefore, one hundred years on, that there should be a program of celebrations to commemorate that event, to honour once more the founding genius of David Scott Mitchell and to take stock of the ways in which the Library has grown and flourished.