[2][3] Many of the 3500 wet-plate glass negatives and albumen prints in the Holtermann collection capture life in the goldfield towns of Hill End and Gulgong, Home Rule and Canadian Lead between 1872 and 1873.

[6][5][4] The largest glass plate negatives produced in the nineteenth century appear to have been made in Sydney, Australia, in 1875, and three are held in the Holtermann Collection, State Library of New South Wales.

Intended for display at International Exhibitions they were made by the professional photographer Charles Bayliss with the help of Bernhardt Holtermann who also funded the project.

[11]In 1875 Charles Bayliss and Bernhardt Holtermann produced a large panorama of Sydney harbour made from a series of twenty-three wet-plate negatives measuring 56 by 46 centimetres many of which were duplicated four or more times to obtain the best image.

[17] The international significance of the collection is due to its size and quality combined with the level of detail captured in the glass plate negatives.

[4] In May 2013, the Holtermann Collection of glass plate negatives at the State Library of New South Wales was included on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register – Asia and the Pacific.

[4] Three giant views of Sydney Harbour, the largest measuring over 1.6 metres wide, were added to the UNESCO International Memory of the World Register in November 2017.