Manning Clark had a long association with the Library and much of his research for
A History of Australia was carried out in the Library. In the final volume he wrote, ‘The Petherick Room, the Manuscripts Room, and the Newspaper Room are present in every page of this volume, just as they are always present in my heart’. In 1989 he donated the first instalment of his papers under the Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme. Further papers were transferred in 1990–91. He bequeathed his remaining papers to the Library and they were received in 1994–95.
The photographs of Manning Clark and his family were lent for copying by Dymphna Clark in 1995. The papers of Dymphna Clark were donated by her son Sebastian Clark in 2003.