Heritage et AL

It is a unique opportunity to be able to explore and have access to the complete output of a composer’s life work. Being able to see the creative working and reworkings of their manuscript from initial inspiration through to the finished work provides a deeper understanding of them as a musician – and you can gain an appreciation of their musical life as their influence and outreach in the community becomes evident. Not to mention discovering beautiful music! In 2023, a collection was donated to Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections of the life work of composer Margaret Wegener. While she is not a widely known composer, being British born, she has an amazing story of a life filled with music which continued to enjoy even after her move to Auckland in 2005 aged 85. Margaret Wegener was born in north-west London in 1920 and began composing as a child, continuing composition into her late 80s. After studying at Maria Grey College she qualified as a teacher, eventually holding posts as D...

The Atrium display in the Central Library Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero (6 November 2024 to 13 January 2025) features six exceptional works ranging from outsize folios to a modest volume, similar that seen in the portrait of James Tannock Mackelvie painted at his home in Hyeres, France in 1884, a year before his death. Image: James Tannock Mackelvie by George Halkett, 1884. Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Mackelvie Collection M1885/1/32. Following a 2024 stocktake and Heritage Cataloguer Ian Snowdon’s cataloguing enhancements for the Mackelvie Collection, there are new opportunities to showcase aspects of the extraordinary Victorian library the philanthropist and collector James Mackelvie built for us. See it here. The recent talk ‘Ex Libris JT Mackelvie’ was an opportunity to showcase books from the Mackelvie Collection. The visually arresting pattern books are a good way to sample the collection. In the mid-19th century colour lithography was being developed and there was a growing an awar...