The resurgence of interest in the work of Rennie Ellis, who died in 2003, is a case history of how valuable a photographer's archive can become.

Rennie published his first book, Kings Cross Sydney (a joint effort with Wes Stacey) in 1971. It was the first of 17 publications. Perhaps the best known of these is Life's A Beach (1983), a study of Australian beach culture at a time when a lot of females were not wearing bikini tops.

These books were bestsellers in their day; now they capture the nostalgic spirit of times long gone. Did we really behave that badly? Yes, we did.

Images from Rennie Ellis' first book are on display at the Kings Cross 1970 to 1971 exhibition at the State Library of New South Wales, open until May. This show is especially timely given the current reputation of the Cross as a place to avoid at all costs. More than 40 years ago, Ellis captured a previous generation of hookers, drug addicts and psychos.

Selected prints of this and other periods are now available through the Rennie Ellis Photographic Archive in St Kilda. The archive was set up in 2006 by his former assistant and close friend Manuela Furci, with the blessing of Ellis' second wife, Kerry. Their first task was to go through the enormous stockpile of negatives and prints, dating back to when he set up a studio in Prahran in 1974.