In Association with the Royal Australian Historical Society.
Speaker: Dr Mathew Stephens
This workshop is an introduction to the sources that help us understand the history of houses, interiors and gardens in NSW. The range of research material in terms of architecture and interior and garden design is extensive. You will discover the many tools available to help you interpret the range of housing stock that survives both in urban and country areas. You will be introduced to the historical contents of these houses, ranging from door fittings to kitchen furniture and wallpapers to tiles, using trade literature, pattern books and objects from the collections of the Caroline Simpson Library, Museums of History NSW (MHNSW).
- Learn about typical housing types
- Using photographs as historic sources
- Examples of fixtures and fittings in the home
- Types of rooms in the house and approaches to their decoration
- The challenge of historic colour in the home and available sources
- Trade literature and how to use it to understand historic house interiors
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
- Identify a range of typical housing types in NSW and their historical context.
- Access and navigate resources: locate material relating to the history of the home and its design through the Caroline Simpson Library online catalogues and the MHNSW Museum Collections database.
- Interpret design and trade literature sources: read and interpret information from a variety of print and object records and full-text sources.
- Apply sources relating to the documentation and design of NSW housing to historical and contemporary design research and interpretation.
Dr Matthew Stephens is research librarian at the Caroline Simpson Library, Museums of History. His particular interests are early domestic libraries and music-related collections and how they help us understand the history of the home and its residents in NSW.
Please note: If you are a member of RAHS and wish to apply your RAHS Member discount to this course, please contact us to have this added to your student record before you enrol (unless added previously). To become a RAHS Member, visit their website at https://www.rahs.org.au/
