Family History Resources

Image: Research Centre, Central City Library, 1998. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 669-183. Photographer: Kevin Durrant

Do you want to start your family history research at home? We have a wide range of resources on the Auckland Libraries website and family history librarian Seonaid has provided information about these resources below that will help get you started. 

📌Resources at Auckland Libraries 

Family history research guides

Our family history research guide can help you get started if you are a beginner, or assist you with questions like:

• What resources are available to help with finding records of births, deaths, and marriages? 
• What research resources are available for New Zealand specific research?
• When ordering an electronic printout of a birth, death and marriage, what information can I expect to receive for a birth that happened after 1875?

Our guides also cover further New Zealand resources, immigration records, international resources and more.

Ancestry Library Edition

Auckland Libraries subscribes to Ancestry Library Edition, which has all the indexes and records available to individual Ancestry World Deluxe subscribers. This valuable asset is only available when you are inside an Auckland Libraries location via our public computers or accessing the portal on our website using library WiFi on your own device.

If you don’t currently have an Auckland Libraries membership, sign up for an eMembership now to gain immediate access.

Ancestry Library Edition holds records from all over the world and covers civil registrations, parish records, censuses, directories, military records, and so much more.

Digitised newspapers

Newspapers are a rich resource for a lot more than just family notices. You can find news reports of historical crimes – information on victims, criminals and law enforcement, local gossip, coroners reports and inquests, passenger lists and more.

Auckland Libraries subscribes to a wealth of databases which archive digitised newspapers from around the world. Browse and read many of them from home with your Auckland Libraries membership.

Gems such as 19th century U.S. newspapers, Gale NewsVault - which includes newspapers from the 17th century, The Irish Times (1859 - 2015), The Scotsman (1817 - 1950), and the Times of India (1838 - 2007) are just a few of our newspaper databases.

Kura Heritage Collections Online

Kura Heritage Collections Online is the result of consolidating and collating data and images from the legacy databases created by the various Councils and Libraries prior to Auckland Council's formation. Our digitisation team are always adding more legacy documents, manuscripts and images and digitising and indexing new content.

 Kura gives you access to cemetery records, including the C. Little and Sons Funeral Cards; photograph collections, and indexes that lead to great genealogical information such as Passenger and Vessels lists, the Old Colonists Association Register, Address to Sir George Grey and more.

Old Colonists Association Register

Seonaid's favourite Kura Heritage Collections Online resource is the Old Colonists Association Register. Genealogy gold!

📌Other Resources

Historic births, deaths and marriages

The Department of Internal Affairs' Historic Births, Deaths and Marriages are usually one of the first ports of call when researching New Zealand relatives and ancestors.Here are some top tips for finding records of births, deaths and marriages.

• When entering names, they must be spelled exactly as they are in the database. This can be frustrating if the names are spelled differently or mis-transcribed.
  
  
• If you don't find the results you are expecting in this database, check other sources that include NZ births, deaths and marriages, such as Ancestry, FindmyPast and FamilySearch. These databases do fuzzy searching which can help in the case of alternate spellings or mis-transcriptions. Often you might have to try all three, as their search engines all have different algorithms and name thesauruses.
  
  - Please note that you will need to come into the library to access Ancestry, FindmyPast and FamilySearch.
  
  
• Once you've found the entry you want, use this information on the Department of Internal Affairs' Historic Births, deaths and marriages site to order the printout you require.
  
  
• We recommend that family historians order the electronic printout rather than the certificate, as the electronic printout will be a copy of the original register with a greater amount of useful information.

Papers Past

The National Library of New Zealand is gradually digitising New Zealand's heritage newspapers, often with the help of community support and sponsorship from other organisations.

Papers Past includes newspapers from all around New Zealand from 1839 to 1950. As well as heritage New Zealand newspapers you will also find magazines and journals, letters and diaries, and Parliamentary papers.

Seonaid's favourite publication is the New Zealand Police Gazette 1877-1945, which you will find in magazines and journals. It’s a real gem, and an enthralling read on its own.

 For Australian heritage publications, Australia’s equivalent of Papers Past is Trove, a wonderful resource for Australia, as well as New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.

Find out more about our family history and whakapapa resources and services on the Auckland Libraries website. If there are any questions regarding our resources and access to them, please reach out by filling this enquiry form on the Auckland Libraries website.