Libraries have long been about more than just books, but it may still come as a surprise that the State Library of NSW holds about 2 million photographs.

A selection of 400 images from its vast collection — with one for nearly every year between 1845 and 2022 — will be on display in the library’s first exhibition in its new dedicated photo gallery.

It begins with Australia’s oldest surviving photograph, traverses early experiments with colour, the rise of press photography, and through to some of the best contemporary works.

Many of the early photos in the collection were acquired inadvertently, pasted into books or official documentation.

Among the rarest is a photo of Ned Kelly affixed to his criminal file, and a volume of the princes of India containing original albumen prints.

Senior curator Geoffrey Barker said they decided not to frame them but preserve their “physical nature”.

“They’re not really made for exhibition. In fact, the intention of most of this stuff was never to be on a wall like this,” he said.

‘Tip of the iceberg’

Rather than attempting to tell a comprehensive visual history of Australia, Mr Barker says the exhibition simply offers a taste of the variety in the archives.

“As you walk through, each decade offers up maybe not the things you’re used to seeing from that decade,” he said.

The exhibition includes highlights from its most-prized collections such as Frank Hurley’s personal album of the Shackleton expedition, the Holtermann collection documenting life on the goldfields, and Max Dupain’s commercial archive.

A contact print from the negative of the famous Sunbaker is displayed alongside its envelope containing Dupain’s handwritten instructions for how it should be handled in the darkroom.

Australia’s oldest surviving photograph

Almost every type of photography technology is represented in the exhibition — from the daguerreotypes of the 1840s to glass-plate negatives and digital photographs.

Unlike modern photographs, which generally conform to the same dimensions, earlier photos come in all shapes and sizes.

Many of the earliest photos were tiny due to the cost of the materials to produce them.

Measuring just 6 by 5 centimetres, the daguerreotype of doctor and politician Dr William Bland is the oldest known surviving photograph in Australia.

It is in “incredible condition” for its age, Mr Barker said.

Taken in 1845, it remained in family hands until it was acquired in 1993.

While it had been almost perfectly preserved, details about the subject’s identity and when the photo was taken had been lost, but the library’s researchers were able to piece it together.

Though modern-day viewers are accustomed to viewing and zooming in on photos on devices, there is something special about being forced to get up close to view images, Mr Barker said.

“You have to work a little bit, you’re not spoon fed,” he said.

The exhibition Shot opens at the State Library of NSW on Sunday and runs until October 20, 2024.