NZ Herald up to 1945 now available on Papers Past

The New Zealand Herald is now available from 1863 up to 1945 on Papers Past!

This is the culmination of a collaborative project  between Auckland Libraries, the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga O Aotearoa and APN (the publishers of the New Zealand Herald) to fully digitise 82 years of the New Zealand Herald from 1863-1945. Prior to this latest release, content for this newspaper was available up to 1924.

Ref: excerpt from New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23680, 12 June 1940, page 12

All of this wonderful content is now available and fully searchable through Papers Past, an online newspaper database run by the National Library. Papers Past contains more than 3 million pages of digitised New Zealand newspapers and periodicals from between 1839 and 1945, including 83 separate newspaper titles.

For the Auckland region, Papers Past now includes the archived issues of eight newspaper titles. The essential morning and evening papers are digitised up to 1945, with the New Zealand Herald starting in 1863 and the Auckland Star in 1870. The oldest title is the Daily Southern Cross, with coverage from 1843-1876.

Ref: excerpt from New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 24907, 31 May 1944, page 2

“1925-1945 was a period of worldwide economic depression, the creation of the welfare state in New Zealand and the Second World War," says David Verran, Central Auckland Research Team Leader at Auckland Libraries. "Issues of the newspaper for 1945 identify a world that had just come through a devastating World War and its hope for the future".

This is a great resource and is brimming full of social, family and local history stories, just waiting to be tapped. There is something for everyone from school children to university students to people interested in their family tree. Use the keyword search functionality and filters to narrow down your search and make sure that you hit the 'jackpot' each time!

Ref: excerpt from a supplement page in the New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23009, 9 April 1938, page 8