Glamour on Glass is an exhibition of stunning prints of 1930s glass plate negatives curated by University of Newcastle history student and Vera Deacon Scholar, Isabel Whittle.

Pyjama suit from Sperling’s 1933

On display in the University’s Auchmuty Library, the exhibition features images from the Newcastle Sun collection. The Newcastle Sun was an afternoon paper for the Newcastle region and was published from 1918 to 1980.

The collection of glass plate negatives held by the university covers the years from 1918 to 1936 and provides a glimpse of life for Novocastrians during that era – sport, business, news, fashion, community and more. Most of the images in the exhibition were taken in Newcastle in 1933 – a fascinating glimpse at the desirable fashions of the day for our grandmothers and great grandmothers!

Heavy and expensive to use, glass plate negatives gradually fell out of favour from the 1920s, but those images that remain are very high resolution and produce incredibly detailed images.

Lost Newcastle founder, Carol Duncan, spoke with Isabel Whittle about the exhibition which runs until 29 September 2023 at the university. The Auchmuty Library is located on the Western side of the Callaghan campus near the Shortland Union Building.