Heritage et AL

What has many editions and only one? Tāmaki Makaurau’s long-running newspaper, The Auckland Star. A researcher’s worst nightmare is knowing of a source that no longer exists, and the Star is a source like no other in that it was once published as several editions every day, yet nobody bothered to collect them all. Auckland Council Libraries holds a near-continuous run of the daily periodical from its origin as the Evening Star in the 1870s to its present incarnation as the Sunday Star–Times . However, a decision was made over a century ago to only retain a single daily copy, a mere sampling of the Star’s copious output. This decision still impacts historians and researchers today and raises important questions: why did the Star print so many daily editions and what are we missing by their absence? Image: The Auckland Star masthead with various edition stamps underneath dating from 1926 through 1975. Despite covering the same geographic area—urban Auckland—the long-running newspa...

Image: Auckland wharves from Point Britomart.  Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 5-2635. The Auckland Library Heritage Trust is a charitable trust that supports Auckland Libraries and Auckland Council to preserve, care for, add to, and promote Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections for the benefit of the people of Auckland. You can find out more about the work of the Trust via their website: www.alht.org.nz The Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections are one of New Zealand's key research destinations. They were originally established when Sir George Grey, 19th-century Governor of New Zealand and later Premier, gave his significant collection to the city of Auckland in the 1880s and has continued to grow since this time. The collections include photographs, maps, oral histories, manuscripts and archives, rare books and medieval manuscripts, ephemera and music; as well as Māori and Pacific heritage collections in all formats.  The Heritage Collections are held princi...

The heritage collections at Auckland Council Libraries offer of wealth of information on the history of our city, including an early census, and map collections that document the built and natural environment at various points in time. Each source has its own strengths, and when looked at together, a picture of Auckland’s lost neighbourhoods can be found. 1842 Map Image: Plan of Auckland as it stands in January 1842. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections Map 4601 This plan of Auckland as it stood in January 1842 provides many details of the town in its early years. Shortland Crescent (now known as Shortland Street) was the main street at this time. Among the most densely built parts of the town is the area on the southern side of Shortland Crescent where the sites stretch through to Chancery Street. The position of hotels on the map helps show the location of some of the streets we know today. The Sir George Gipps Hotel was located on High Street (marked with the letter M). The a...

In a series of letters written in July 1975, Wilfred ‘Bill’ McAra applied for membership to the New Zealand China Friendship Society (NZCFS), formally known as the New Zealand China Friendship Society. ‘Dear Jack,’ he wrote in one letter, ‘Enclosed $4 to cover membership for Diana Wilsie and myself’.  McAra and Wilsie, once-active members of the Communist Party of New Zealand (CPNZ), were passionate about Marxist-Leninist ideology and found common ground with the NZCFS.  Along with the membership forms, McAra wrote, ‘I had intended earlier to commend the Society and its members, for its outstanding contribution in the struggle to secure Governmental recognition of the People’s Republic of China.’  As the National Secretary of the NZCFS at the time, Jack Ewen was perfectly happy to admit McAra and his partner into the group.  Image: A NZCFS subscription form McAra would have likely filled out. Joan Donley Papers, MSS & Archives-2007/15, Series 4. File 4/4/B/1...

Image: The scoria field where Auckland Training College would relocate is visible in the right of the frame. Henry Winkelmann, Epsom and One Tree Hill from Mount Eden, 1923, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1-W0400. In 1925, a building was erected at 72 Epsom Avenue. Where previously the area was littered with gorse and rocks, and popular among local children for playing games, the scoria field was now to accommodate Auckland Training College.   Image: The ‘red’ building, as it was known to some trainees, was erected in 1925 and demolished in 1976.  Henry Winkelmann, Auckland Teachers Training College, Epsom, 1926 , Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1-W0681. Auckland Training College officially relocated from Wellesley Street to 72 Epsom Avenue in 1926. But teacher trainees entered the building for the first time in 1925, having carried equipment there from Wellesley Street.  The trainees celebrated the occasion with dancing and singing, the Co...