The Richmond River Historical Society Inc is based in the city of Lismore in the Northern Rivers region of NSW. The society was founded in 1936, one of the first three historical societies formed in New South Wales outside the Sydney region.

It consists entirely of volunteers who maintain, develop, interpret and promote the collections of the Lismore Museum and its Research Centre Archives.

The overall focus of the Richmond River Historical Society Archives is on the Northern Rivers of New South Wales; namely Clarence, Richmond and Tweed, with special emphasis on the Richmond District.

The Research Centre archive contains documents dealing with the region’s community, social and family history. It includes a large photographic collection, as well as books, manuscripts, maps and other printed materials, for example:

• 4,000 files on people, places, and subjects
• 16,000 photographs and portraits
• audio files, including oral histories
• personal diaries
• indexes of land grants, obituaries, funeral notices, births, deaths and marriages
• electoral rolls
• NSW Government Gazettes from 1878 to 1900
• family histories
• maps

and a large reference library.