Future Memory looks back on the past four years of collecting at the National Library and contains approximately 200 items. In this exhibition, rare books from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries sit beside the contemporary photography of Wolfgang Sievers, the personal papers of Eddie Mabo, political cartoons, material on Australian pearling and mining industries, the sheet music of pop princess Delta Goodrem, the torch from the 2000 Sydney Olympics, an early nineteenth-century map of the Pacific and a satellite map of bushfires, paintings and portraits, oral history recordings, and Manga comics from Japan.

The exhibition highlights the many ways in which the library acquires new material. A significant proportion of this material is published in Australia and received under the scheme known as ‘legal deposit’. Since 1912, Australian publishers have been required by law to give copies of all their publications to the National Library, ensuring that the Library maintains a current collection of Australian publications. But this is only one of the mechanisms through which the library acquires material. Auctions, donations, bequests, schemes such as the Cultural Gifts Program, and serendipity all play a part.

The Manager of the Library’s Pictures Collection, Linda Groom, says that donations from descendants often begin with a letter. ‘The exquisite 1846 watercolour of Mary Murray with her daughter Leila, by William Nicholas, was one such donation,’ she recalls. ‘From Melbourne, Grant Aubrey Garrioch, the great-great-grandson of the influential landholder Terence Murray, sent a letter to the National Library of Australia offering four paintings. He wrote: “As I am now in my 85th year, and not in robust health, it appears unlikely that, in the event of your Library accepting these works, I could deliver them in person.” We were delighted to accept the donation and speedily sent a specialist art courier to collect it.’

Another donation, from Mrs Ruth Cramond, survived 300 years of British history before reaching the National Library. The 1732 edition of Samuel Butler’s Hudibras on display in Future Memory was retrieved undamaged after a World War II air raid on Bristol that destroyed much of the historic centre of the city. It remains in very good condition in spite of its age and history.

Many from Australia’s creative and research communities play an important role in the growth of the Collection, along with people in public life. In recent years, the Library has received the personal papers of many notable Australians, including writers Judith Wright and Murray Bail, medical researcher Graeme Clark, businessman Sir James Vernon, artist Russell Drysdale, singer Nellie Melba, actor John Bell, journalist and commentator Phillip Adams, biographer Allan Martin, politician E.G. Theodore, philosopher David Armstrong and feminist Elizabeth Reid.

Some may question the variety of acquisitions to the National Library’s Collection. Where, they might ask, is the common sense of purpose in a collection that includes wilderness photographs by Peter Dombrovskis, cartoons by George Molnar. and a board game called Courtship and Marriage, a Fascinating Game for 2, 3 or 4 Players? ‘The real answer to the question,’ says Linda Groom, ‘is that to achieve the Library’s aim of documenting Australian life and society, diversity in collecting is essential. The concept of “balance” in a collection may sound a little dull, until it is redefined as variety or contrast or surprise.’

Future Memory: National Library Recent Acquisitions is on display in the Library’s Exhibition Gallery until 1 August 2004.