Heritage et AL

Image:  The Don Smith Symposium panel – Mark Houlahan, Jack Ross and Shef Rogers (seated) with panel chair Sophie Tomlinson. Emeritus Professor Don Smith (1934-2023) and his wife Jill first visited the library in 2018 to assess the Heritage Collections holdings and the synergy of the early modern titles in Don’s working library. Don had taught English literature at the University of Auckland and was seeking a suitable research library in Auckland for the substantial library he had built during his career in the United Kingdom, North America and New Zealand.  Don was born and educated in Auckland, at Auckland Grammar School and the University of Auckland, before his post-graduate study at Merton College Oxford. His doctoral thesis ‘ An edition of The rehearsal transpos’d by Andrew Marvell, with introduction and commentary ’ (1963) is now represented in the Heritage Collections as a monograph published by the Clarendon Press, Oxford (1971) alongside his early pre-1801 editions ...

  Image: Reading in bed at Alton Ave. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1207-0455. Photographer: Ronald Clark. Summer is upon us and are librarians are delighted to share what pukapuka moved them this year. Fellow research librarian Rin has asked the Central City Librarians and Research Librarians what pukapuka blew them away in 2025. The list suggested below have a local and global connection to Aotearoa. Most importantly, they are all available at Auckland Libraries for all of us to read.  E maru ina tau! Here are our offerings: Image: Cyclists reading at Aotea Square. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 273-PAG047-07. Photographer: Stuart Page. Tony Fomison: Life of the Artist by Mark Forman A lovingly produced, long overdue biography of painter Tony Fomison. A pity it lacks reproductions of his paintings, with their doom chord atmospheres - check out the holy, deep tomb rumblings of 'Study of Holbein's 'Dead Christ' at the Auckland Art Gallery - but is sti...

I have often wandered past a couple of prominent empty lots, one between Shortland and Fort Streets and the other bounded by Albert, Victoria and Elliot Streets in the CBD and wondered how it was that there could be car parks in what must be some of the more sought-after plots of land in Tāmaki. Other than the occasional night market pre-pandemic, what has been going on with these open-air car parks?  Turns out I’m not the only one - this has crossed other’s minds too and is a popular question. A quick Google turned a heap of results, and it looks like these are the most heavily reported on carparks in the country. A colleague had similar thoughts a few years back and wrote about the Albert Street site of the Royal International Hotel.  Image:  Artist's impression of the new Royal International Hotel on the corner of Elliott Street and Victoria Street West, 1960s, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1580-24. Artist unknown. Image:  Auckland Star building, Shor...

The Mt Albert Library was first opened on the 22nd of November 1975, with an opening ceremony held outside of the library doors. Several important people from the Mt Albert community and beyond were in attendance, including Councillor Alice Wylie and Dr Lindo Ferguson, both of whom would have storied careers in local body politics in the area.  Image: Official opening of the Mount Albert Library, 1975. 1975-11-22. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 580-CV293-07. Image: Official opening of the Mount Albert Library, 1975. 1975-11-22. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 580-CV294-07. Image: A view of the front desk as it appeared on opening day, 1975. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 580-26551. The library very quickly became a cornerstone of the community, and a regular point of discussion in local community newspapers. Back when library memberships were registered to individual libraries, articles on membership numbers at the library show the steady in...