Heritage et AL

On now on the 2nd floor of the Central Library is our latest exhibition, Behind the camera , featuring a selection from photographers and photography studios whose work is now held in Sir George Grey Special Collections. New Zealand Herald Ref: New Zealand Herald / Auckland Weekly News, Seaman Kehoe and cat from the S S Wiltshire, June 1922,  Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 1370-0568-05.

The history of freemasonry in New Zealand goes back to the 1830’s and includes members such as Sir George Grey , former Prime Minister William Ferguson Massey , Sir Peter Buck and Sir Mason Durie . Now 100 years of local and international Masonic history is available to view on a CD-ROM containing Auckland’s United Masters Lodge No. 167 Transactions periodical, 1909-2009, revealing a detailed picture of Freemasons’ ethics, ceremonies and symbols. Several items document early Freemasons activities in Auckland including the first recorded meeting at which members were present - the laying of the foundation stone of St Paul’s Anglican Church, then in Emily Place, in 1841. Ref: Excerpt from Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 231, 27 September 1895, p.5. The first Lodge in Auckland to build its own meeting place, Ara Lodge, held their meetings in the Exchange Motel, Shortland Street, before moving in February 1844 to the Royal Hotel, where the Northern Club now stands. In 1...

It was an appropriately dark and stormy night in Auckland for the opening of ' It’ll be over by Christmas ' - an exhibition about the First World War (1914-1918) at the Central City Library (9th July-12 October 2014). The guests crowded in to the exhibition ahead of the formalities and made their way back there afterwards. Ref: Paul Nash, ‘The field of Passchendaele’, from the British artist at the Front, ‘Country Life’, 1918 Bobby Newson from Te Waka Angamua (the Māori Strategy and Relations Department within council) opened the evening with a karakia/prayer and set the scene back 100 years ago. Allison Dobbie, Libraries Manager welcomed the guests and introduced the mayor. Mayor Len Brown discussed the many and varied commemorative activities Auckland Council is delivering. This includes the new Heritage Trail for Auckland sites of First World War significance, which opens in August this year.

We have already seen the splendid selection of moustached gentlemen photographed by Aucklander Herman Schmidt (1872-1959) (see posts on 1 and 3 July 2013). Now for your viewing pleasure here is an illustrated tour of Hats from the Schmidt collection in the Sir George Grey Special Collections. Ranging from women in the bizarre, beautiful and downright embarrassing, Schmidt photographed men, women and children in them all! Man about town hats: Ref: 31-WP8097, McCahon group, 1910-199, Sir George Grey Special Collections

Herman Schmidt (1872-1959) was a prolific and talented Auckland photographer working at a studios on Queen Street throughout his training, professional career and eventual retirement in 1942 (see post on 1 July 2013). Schmidt's main income came from taking people's portraits. Over the course of over his career, he must have seen a whole array of people come through his door to sit for their photograph to be taken. This would have included a fair number of men with facial hair ...moustaches to be exact ...... Here is an illustrated tour through images of moustached men from the Schmidt collection at the Sir George Grey Special Collections at Auckland Central Library. Enjoy! The thin moustache: Ref: 31-65737, Mr Orr, 1911, Sir George Grey Special Collections

It sounds like something out of a movie but it is true .... In 1970, a construction worker found a large number of glass-plate negatives stored in the attic of the Edson’s Building, a century-old structure at 270 Queen Street, Auckland which was marked for demolition . News of this discovery travelled fast and when deputy librarian Wynne Colgan and New Zealand reference librarian Pat French heard about it, they organised a speedy rescue mission. A team of determined rescuers climbed repeatedly up into the attic and carried out the precious find. Around 26,000 half plate and whole plate negatives were saved. These images represented the lifetime’s work of the gifted and versatile photographer Herman John Schmidt (1872-1959). Amazingly, Schmidt’s accession registers and day books were also found and saved - these have proved to be essential for identifying the subjects of his portraits. Ref: 31-WP626, Schmidt family, by Herman Schmidt, c.1910s, Sir George Grey Special Collections ...