Dictionary of Sydney
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The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Mitchell, David Scott

Book collector and national benefactor who used his wealth and position to amass an unmatched collection of Australiana. His entire collection was bequeathed to the people of New South Wales as the Mitchell Library, in a building purpose built for it.

Milestone
Born
Sydney
19 Mar 1836
Died
Darlinghurst
24 Jul 1907
Buried
Rookwood Cemetery
25 Jul 1907
Name
Commemorated by
Mitchell Library
Commemorated by
Mitchell Library building
Occupation
Landowner
Barrister
Position
Benefactor
State Library of New South Wales
Student
University of Sydney
1850 - 1859
Founder
Mitchell Library
1907
Relationship
Child of
Mitchell, Augusta Maria Frederick
Child of
Mitchell, James
Relative of
Scott, Rose

The Mitchell

CC BY-SA 2.0
by
David Marr
,
2014
supported by
City of Sydney - Cultural Ribbon Foreshore Histories Project

For a century the Mitchell Library has been Sydney's memory, a storehouse of treasures and a club of eccentric scholars. It is all but impossible to write or read about the history of Australia, the Pacific and the Antarctic without being in debt to the great collector and eccentric recluse David Scott Mitchell.

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Mitchell, David Scott

CC BY-SA 2.0
by
Catie Gilchrist
,
2015
The Mitchell Library was officially opened on 9 March 1910, three years after the death of its acclaimed benefactor, David Scott Mitchell, on 24 July 1907. Approximately 40,000 volumes were given to the new library along with a large collection of manuscript journals, diaries and letters, thousands of prints, maps and charts, pictures and portraits, miniatures, bookplates, coins and medals. Just over 100 years later, Mitchell's bequest to Sydney, to New South Wales and to Australia, remains remarkable.
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