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How the campaign started
The Library's iconic Mitchell Library is a jewel of Sydney architecture and one of the grandest spaces in the city. It is one of Australia’s finest public sandstone buildings. Yet refurbishing and renewing such a majestic building is extremely expensive and requires a lot of resources.
The Mitchell Campaign was established to mark the 25th Anniversary of the State Library of NSW Foundation in 2014 with the goal of supporting the refurbishment of the Mitchell Library building. It was also aimed at addressing the necessities of today’s educational expectations of our scholars, students, visitors, friends and volunteers.
A passionate group of benefactors collaborated to support the refurbishment of the ground floor of the Mitchell wing.
One initiative was the chance to ‘sponsor’ a study table or chair in the iconic Mitchell Reading Room. The campaign was exceptionally well received with over 150 items of furniture supported by a diverse group of individual donors, giving the contributors a real sense of being part of the Library community. Each sponsored study table or chair has been engraved with a brass plaque dedicated to a family, partner, grandchild, loved one or in memory of a special individual.
In 2015 the Library completed Stage 1 of The Mitchell Campaign which encompassed the restoration of the Mitchell building’s ground floor heritage spaces. Throughout the year we had a strong response to our general appeal and have reached our overall target of $1.15 million.