Archival items are documents which have been made or received or accumulated in the course of everyday living by individuals, families, societies, or businesses, and which are considered worthy of preservation for the future because of their continuing value. The State Library's archival collections include manuscript, pictorial, oral, film and other formats of material which document a rich diversity of South Australian life. The collections began to be formed in 1920, when a South Australian Archives was established, the first State archives in Australia. The archival collections now form part of the State Library's South Australiana collections, and the Library collects archival material which is predominantly South Australian in content, or is by or about South Australians and has research value.

This is a guide to publications by Barbara Hanrahan and references to her work and life compiled by Library staff in 1999. It comprises selected articles from published and unpublished sources, such as books, pamphlets, periodical articles, newspaper articles, parliamentary publications, theses, archival material, oral histories, pictorial images, films and other audiovisual held in the State Library. Material published since 1999 can be found on the three Library catalogues. Not all material listed here is on open access, and some material will need to be retrieved from storage. Check with staff at the Information Desk.

Catherine Helen Spence was born on 31 October 1825 in Melrose, Scotland. Her family migrated to South Australia in 1839. Spence became Australia's first truly professional woman journalist and first female political candidate. She was a dedicated social and political reformer in her home colony. Spence's influence on suffrage, culminating in South Australia being the first Australian colony to grant the vote to women, and the first in the world to give women the right to stand for Parliament, extended beyond Australia. In later years known as the 'Grand Old Woman of Australia', she died on 3 April 1910.

This is a guide to the topic of children and institutional care in South Australia, covering children's hospitals, orphanages and reformatories. References to private and public schools, Aboriginal missions and the 'stolen generation' have not been included. It was compiled in 1999 and comprises selected articles from published and unpublished sources, such as books, pamphlets, periodical articles, newspaper articles, parliamentary publications, theses, archival material, oral histories, pictorial images, films and other audiovisual held in the State Library. This material and more can be found on the library catalogue. Not all material listed here is on open access, and some material will need to be retrieved from storage. Check with staff at the Information Desk.

This is a guide to the topics of conscription and enlistment from 1900 to 1950 and was compiled by Library staff. It comprises selected articles from published and unpublished sources, such as books, pamphlets, periodical articles, newspaper articles, parliamentary publications, theses, archival material, oral histories, pictorial images, films and other audiovisual material held in the State Library. Further material may be found on the Library catalogues. Not all material listed here is on open access, and some material will need to be retrieved from storage. Check with staff at the Information Desk.

This is a guide to publications by David Unaipon (1872-1967) and references to his work and life compiled by Library staff. It comprises selected articles from published and unpublished sources, such as books, pamphlets, periodical articles, newspaper articles, parliamentary publications, theses, archival material, oral histories, pictorial images, films and other audiovisual held in the State Library. Further material may be found on the Library catalogues. Not all material listed here is on open access, and some material will need to be retrieved from storage. Check with staff at the Information Desk.

This source sheet provides a guide to the topic of the Hon. D.A. Dunstan, QC, government of South Australia, 2 June 1970 to 15 February 1979. It comprises selected lists of published sources including books, newspapers, pamphlets and periodicals.

This is a guide to the topic of depressed economic times in South Australia from the 1840s to the 1930s compiled by Library staff in 1997. It lists selected items from published and unpublished sources, such as books, pamphlets, periodical articles, newspaper articles, parliamentary publications, theses, archival items, oral histories, pictorial images, films and other audiovisual material held in the State Library. Material acquired since 1997 can be found in the Library catalogue. Not all material listed here is on open access, and some material will need to be retrieved from storage. Check with staff at the Information Desk.

This source sheet provides a guide to publications about the expeditions of Matthew Flinders and Nicolas Baudin along the coastline of South Australia in 1802-1803. It comprises selected lists of published and archival sources held in the State Library of South Australia.

This factsheet provides a guide to the topic of gardens, including the various Botanic Gardens of South Australia and was compiled by Library staff in 1995. It comprises selected articles from published and unpublished sources, such as books, pamphlets, periodical articles, newspaper articles, parliamentary publications, theses, archival material, oral histories, pictorial images, films and other audiovisual items held in the State Library. Not all material listed here is on open access, and some material will need to be retrieved from storage. Check with staff at the Information Desk.

This factsheet provides a guide to the topic of Germans in South Australia compiled by library staff. It comprises selected articles from published and unpublished sources, such as books, pamphlets, periodical articles, newspaper articles, parliamentary publications, theses, archival material, oral histories, pictorial images, films and other audiovisual material held in the State Library. German family histories listed in the catalogue may be good sources of information, such as the families Jeaschke, Koop, Linke and Wurst. Further material may be found in the Library catalogue. Not all material listed here is on open access, and some material will need to be retrieved from storage. Check with staff at the Information Desk.

This factsheet provides a guide to resources relating to the history of hospitals and nursing homes in South Australia, with a note concerning admission registers, and a supplement on the history of public health in South Australia. It was compiled by Library staff in 1999. It comprises selected articles from published and unpublished sources, such as books, pamphlets, periodical articles, newspaper articles, parliamentary publications, theses, archival material, oral histories, pictorial images, films and other audiovisual material held in the State Library.

Most people are interested in the history of the houses they live in as well as in significant buildings in their locality in South Australia. This guide to selected lists of published sources and archival sources held in the State Library relating to the history of houses and buildings in South Australia was compiled in 1996. Not all material listed here is on open access, and some material will need to be retrieved from storage. Check with staff at the Information Desk.

This factsheet provides a guide to publications by Max Fatchen and references to his work and life and was compiled by Library staff in 1997. It comprises selected articles from published and unpublished sources, such as books, pamphlets, periodical articles, newspaper articles, parliamentary publications, theses, archival material, oral histories, pictorial images, films and other audiovisual held in the State Library. Not all material listed here is on open access, and some material will need to be retrieved from storage. Check with staff at the Information Desk.

This factsheet provides a guide to the topic of prostitution in South Australia and was compiled in 1995. It comprises selected articles from published sources, such as books, pamphlets, periodical articles, newspaper articles and parliamentary publications held in the State Library. Material since 1995 can be found in Library catalogue. Not all material listed here is on open access, and some material will need to be retrieved from storage. Check with staff at the Information Desk.

This factsheet provides a guide to the topic of Scots in South Australia. It comprises selected published and unpublished sources, such as books, pamphlets, periodical articles, newspaper articles, parliamentary publications, theses and archival material held in the State Library. Further material may be found in the Library catalogue. Not all material listed here is on open access, and some material will need to be retrieved from storage. Check with staff at the Information Desk.

This factsheet provides a guide to published and archival sources relating to Sir George Grey held in the State Library and was compiled by Library staff in 1998. It comprises selected articles from published and unpublished sources, such as books, pamphlets, periodical articles, newspaper articles, parliamentary publications, theses, archival material, oral histories, pictorial images, films and other audiovisual held in the State Library. Not all material listed here is on open access, and some material will need to be retrieved from storage. Check with staff at the Information Desk.

This factsheet provides a guide to material by and about the South Australian Company and was compiled in 1999. It comprises selected articles from published and unpublished sources, such as books, pamphlets, periodical articles, newspaper articles, parliamentary publications, theses, archival material, oral histories and pictorial images held in the State Library. Material since 1999 can be found in Library catalogue. Not all material listed here is on open access, and some material will need to be retrieved from storage. Check with staff at the Information Desk. Resolutions for the formation of a 'South Australian Company' were passed at a meeting in London on 9 October 1835, the Company was legally constituted on 22 January 1836 and officially ceased business on 17 March 1949.

A railway from Adelaide into the far north was first suggested in the 1860s, yet it was not until 1891 that the line reached as far as Oodnadatta. That town remained the railhead for the next forty years, and it was 1929 before the line finally reached Alice Springs. 'The Ghan' name was used soon after the completion of the Alice Springs leg, but the railway was variously known as the North-South railway line, Transcontinental line, Adelaide to Alice Springs line, Adelaide to Darwin line, or the Great Northern line. Listed here are selected references to the northern railway under all its names, in published and unpublished material, held by the State Library of South Australia, compiled in January 2004. Not all listed material is on open access, and some will need to be retrieved from storage. Check with staff at the Information Desk.

This factsheet provides a guide to the topic of National Service and the Vietnam War from an Australian perspective. It comprises material from selected published and unpublished sources, such as books, pamphlets, periodical articles, newspaper articles, parliamentary publications, theses, archival material and oral histories held in the State Library. Further material may be found in the Library catalogue. Not all material listed here is on open access, and some material will need to be retrieved from storage. Check with staff at the Information Desk.

This factsheet provides a guide to the topic of War Service Records and was compiled in 1991 and updated in 2003. It consists largely of books and pamphlets, and some research notes held in the State Library, as well as several websites. Not all material listed here is on open access, and some material will need to be retrieved from storage. Check with staff at the Information Desk.

The State Library has a range of useful resources relating to women in South Australia, in particular its own subject websites and databases, which are described here. Also included here is a listing of published and unpublished State Library resources relating to women which was compiled in 1995. It comprises selected books, pamphlets, periodical articles, newspaper articles and theses. Material since 1995 can be found in the Library catalogue. There are many primary archival and oral history sources listed in the Archival database. Not all material listed here is on open access, and some material will need to be retrieved from storage. Check with staff at the Information Desk.

This is a guide to the issue of women's suffrage in South Australia compiled by Library staff in 1994. It concentrates on the late nineteenth century, and comprises selected lists of published sources including books, periodicals and newspapers, and archival sources held in the State Library. Not all material listed here is on open access, and some material will need to be retrieved from storage. Check with staff at the Information Desk.