Heritage et AL

This year Auckland Libraries remembers it is 100 years since New Zealand’s first major baptism of fire during the First World War when our troops landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. To commemorate that event Sir George Grey Special Collections staff are working to make the Auckland Weekly News Supplement photographs from 1915 more searchable for researchers, librarians and readers who look at the Heritage Images in our Digital Library . These photographs feature events and people from all major war fronts but also include New Zealand personalities and scenes. How our attitudes to the people who were then our enemies have changed during the past 100 years! But back then Auckland Weekly News caption-writers jingoistically stirred up public hatred for the Germans, contempt of the Turks and mockery of the Austrians. The depths of German depravity were unfathomable as this propaganda cartoon of German troops massacring Belgian citizens in Louvain shows. Ref: M Matthews f...

The origin of the cardboard album which holds Dorothy’s silk postcard collection is unknown. The date that it was made is not known either. Perhaps it was bought in the early 1900s, or perhaps at a later date when the owner wished to keep the cards protected from wear and tear. Dorothy may have purchased the album from a store, or maybe a family member bought it for her as a gift. This object was originally made to house photographs as can be seen from the embossed title on the front cover. It is made of heavy brown cardboard, the spine is bound with brown thread to match the colour of the cover and the leaves of the album. The condition of the album is very good. This sturdy photograph album has functioned very well as the object used to house these silk postcards which were sent to Dorothy Helen Facer. Please do take a look inside:  In August, Leanne blogged about some of the WW1 silks that we hold in the Ephemera Collections . Replicas of the silks in that post ...

Rua Kēnana (1868/1869 - 1937), who was also know as Ruatapunui, was a Tūhoe prophet. He called himself the Mihaia / Messiah and claimed to be Te Kooti Arikirangi 's successor Hepetipa (Hephzibah) who would reclaim Tūhoe land that had been lost to pakeha / European ownership. Rua's beliefs split the Ringatū Church , which Te Kooti had founded in around 1866/1868. Ref: George Bourne for Auckland Weekly News, Rua Kēnana, c. 1900-1909, no location, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 7-A3324 In 1907 Rua formed a non-violent religious community at Maungapōhatu, the sacred mountain of Ngāi Tūhoe, in the Urewera. By 1900, Maungapōhatu was one of the few areas that had not been investigated by the Native Land Court . The community, also known as New Jerusalem, included a farming co-operative and a savings bank. Many pakeha believed the community was subversive and saw Rua as a disruptive influence. Ref: Auckland Weekly News, the ...

Updated 18 November 2016 On 23 April earlier this year members of the local Niuean community unveiled a unique war memorial in Mt Roskill’s War Memorial Park. This was the Niue Island World War I Roll of Honour : a polished black granite tablet listing the names of men from Niue Island who served in the New Zealand armed forces during the First World War: 150 men who served in the 3rd Māori Contingent and seven who served in other sections of the NZEF. Why did so many men from a tiny and remote Pacific island volunteer to serve in a war which overtly had little to do with them? Well, New Zealand had annexed both the Cook Islands and Niue in 1901. After war broke out in 1914, many local men from both protectorates were eager to enlist, some of them motivated by patriotism, most of them impelled by a sense of adventure, and the colonial administrators on the spot were keen to facilitate their recruitment. The New Zealand military authorities back home initially welcomed only volun...

As part of the build up to the First World War centenary commemorations within NZ and around the world, Auckland Libraries, Auckland Council Heritage Unit and Auckland Council Archives have developed an A5 research guide. 'Our boys, our families' outlines the First World War resources available at Auckland Libraries and Auckland Council Archives . This includes: Rolls of Honour, cemetery records, memorials, books and photographs from the Schmidt Collection and supplement to the Auckland Weekly News. Ref: 7-A14534, a family receiving the result of the ballot for Class B reservists under the NZ Military Service Act, 1918, Sir George Grey Special Collections The research guide is intended to assist you with your own research into family members or people who took part in the war. This could be a soldier on the front line, a nurse on a hospital ship or a person on the home front including conscientious objectors. There are a selection of handy research prompts tucked into t...

I can’t believe the speed at which 2013 is hurtling along, and that 2014 - and with it the centenary of the outbreak of WW1 – will soon be here. Not an anniversary to celebrate, of course, but a time to reflect on the suffering humanity is capable of inflicting upon itself. Ref: 35-R2163, Anzac parade, Sir George Grey Special Collections Over 100,000 New Zealanders took part in the conflict, and almost 20,000 lost their lives. Many New Zealand soldiers had their portraits taken before they left for Europe, and Herman Schmidt’s Studio in Auckland’s Queen Street was a favourite place to be photographed. 4,500 of Schmidt’s WW1 soldier portraits have survived and can be seen on the Auckland Libraries’ Heritage Images database . You can also see a virtual exhibition of the Herman Schmidt’s work

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 ...

Ref: AWNS19120725-15-1, a river scene in the island of Savaii, 1912, Sir George Grey Special Collections Talofa lava, Samoan Language Week is being celebrated each year to acknowledge Samoan Independence Day. It is a time to recognise, support and help maintain the Samoan language and its use in New Zealand.   Ref: AWNS-18980909-2-1, Apia, 1898, Sir George Grey Special Collections

Papers Past contains the digitised content from key New Zealand newspapers and periodicals. It's a veritable treasure trove! Overall content in Papers Past covers the years from 1839 to 1945 and includes 77 publications from all regions of New Zealand. And all of this content is fully searchable using a basic keyword search or a more advanced search option, which allows you to narrow your search down using dates and content type (e.g. articles, adverts). Papers Past have recently added 40 years worth of the New Zealand Herald , covering the period from 1885 to1924. Content on the system starts in 1863, when the paper was established. Previous installments of digitised content, (as mentioned in blog post on 8 August 2013), took the reader up to 1864, so it is great to have to have the start of the 20th century added. Ref: 1-W625, Looking west from Queen Street up Wyndham Street showing the premises of the NZ Herald, 1925, Sir George Grey Special Collections

Ref: 7-A16555,  NZ POWs alongside camp huts, 1944, Sir George Grey Special Collections Margaret Pollock found the tattered blue diary of her late father Laurence after his death in 1989 in amongst newspaper clippings and prisoner of war artifacts. The diary details Laurence's time in German, Polish and Italian POW camps during the second World War. Laurence  was serving in the 20th Battalion, 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Forces in North Africa when he was captured by German forces. He risked his life to record the horrific and harrowing conditions inside the camps.

  Ref: WWI memorial, Birkenhead, B0314,   North Auckland Research Centre Plans are already underway for the World War I centenary commemorations, which will run from 2014-2018.      Ref: Glen Eden School WWI memorial, JTD-12A-00990-1, West Auckland Research Centre The New Zealand WW100 website, a hub for the commemorations, includes a wealth of information about the formal projects and activities planned by the New Zealand Government, such as the National War Memorial Park in Wellington . It also includes details on how the public and institutions can get involved .