Heritage et AL

“Things—beautiful or simply practical, expensive or everyday, fragile museum objects or robust items that have withstood years of use—things”, write the editors of 'The Lives of Colonial Objects' , “invite us into the past through their tangible, tactile and immediate presence”. Things can be fascinating not only for what they tell us about their own historical times, but also for how their ‘past-ness’ makes them objects of special value even when their origins are lost. It is no profound observation to remark how not everything from the past survives, but this means an old thing can be interesting because it survives at all. And sometimes the afterlives of these historical objects become a fascinating subject all their own, gaining new meaning by becoming old things. An historical “thing” happens to share space in the Central City Library amidst our shelves of books and records. On top of an index card cabinet in Research Central, inside a glass case, sits an ornament both pec...

In the 1930s, in California, author and raw food proponent Dr. Norman Walker invented the first juicing machine which enabled juicing to become more easily available in the home. Although the health benefits of drinking fruit juice are now being questioned by nutritionists , in the 1930s and 40s juicing was seen as an efficient way to encourage people to consume more fruit and vegetables. Image: Food and drink poster, date unknown. Ephemera Collection. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections. Helen Deem , born in Wellington in 1900, worked as a doctor, a Plunket medical adviser and a university lecturer. The poster above was perhaps the kind Deem was thinking about when she drew attention to the contrast between public health campaigns and popular habits during an Auckland Provincial Plunket Society Conference. Deem complained that ‘beautiful posters’ in railway refreshment rooms ‘urge the public to eat nutritious food, yet the meals inside consist to a great extent of pies, white brea...