Heritage et AL

Lily Lee and Ruth Lam, the authors of the book ' Sons of the Soil ' have done a good job of pulling together what little 'original' documentation there was available about early Chinese market gardeners - such as newspaper articles, account books, photographs. The families described in the book sometimes set up gardens in different parts of the country and moved around and frequently inter-married. So staff at the Central Auckland Research Centre decided that it would be very useful to index families mentioned in the book and add this information to Auckland Libraries heritage online database: Index Auckland . The goal was to help people track down the families mentioned in the book and set up useful connections. Index Auckland is a rich resource of history, art, theatre, film and music references sourced from Auckland area newspapers and journal articles. Whilst the index predominantly covers Auckland, other regions are also covered, which means that the index a...

A book about the children who lived in children's institutions in Hawkes Bay has been written by Dr Kay Morris Matthews , an acclaimed academic historian and author. It will be launched on 22 November by John McKinnon, a Hastings resident who grew up in France House, a home in the Esk Valley for teenage boys.  Ref: 4-3681A-57, Parnell orphanage, Sir George Grey Special Collections Entitled entitled 'Who Cared? Childhoods within Hawke’s Bay Children’s Homes and Orphanages 1892-1988', the books covers the experiences of thousands of youngsters who were orphaned, illegitimate, abandoned or destitute.

One of the delightful aspects of the research centres is the absolute diversity of material we have here. Some might question just why we collect the material we do but there are times when one feels particularly pleased with the powers-that-be who have, over the years, built up the collections.   In this case, I am talking about the work of the renowned Kiwi romance writer, Essie Summers .  She was a Mills and Boon phenomenon, a pastor’s wife who began writing for the publisher in the 1950s, and became one of their best selling and most loved authors. She died in 1998, but her popularity is such that at times M&B still reprint her novels as part of their Bestseller programme.  Essie Summers books at the Central Auckland Research Centre A few months back, a customer came in to the Central Auckland Research Centre looking for the fiction. She was a huge Essie fan and, as all fan-girls do, she was going through a re-reading stage. However, she was missing a few tit...

Working at  Research Central , one does tend to fancy oneself as a bit of a Nancy Drew at times. As we locate missing relatives and solve mysteries, we hope don’t start too many world wars in unsuspecting families. Whilst scrolling through microfilms on a job for a customer, I came across an interesting photo in a 1948 copy of the Auckland Star. The caption reads: “Juliet Hulme and William Brown make a colourful picture in their bright tartan slacks when they arrived at Whenuapai this morning.” The issue was dated Tuesday 23 March 1948.  Could it be .... I wondered. Was this the murderess Juliet Hulme, aka Anne Perry, aka Kate Winslet in ‘Heavenly Creatures’? And why was Juliet and the boy, who appeared not to be related, wearing matching tartan slacks? Juliet did have a younger brother called Jonathan but it seems he arrived in New Zealand much later in the year with their parents. Naturally, I went ahead and sleuthed.  Ref: Auckland Star, cutting from 23 ...

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Sir John Logan Campbell , often considered to be the founding father of Auckland. There are many reminders of Sir John in the Auckland of today, including his gift of Cornwall Park to the people of Aotearoa New Zealand. The deeds for the park  can be found in the Sir George Grey Special Collections at Central City Library.   Ref: 7-C2033, Sir George Grey Special Collections Professor Russell Stone has recently edited  ' Poenamo ', Sir John's pioneer reminiscences. Republished as a complete facsimile of the 1889 reissue,  'Poenamo Revisited: New Zealand's very first adventure story'  is full of additional content, illustrations and biographical details.   Ref: 1-W1497, Sir George Grey Special Collections Stone is an Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Auckland and a specialist on Sir John Logan Campbell. He is...

Bruce Ringer, Team Leader South Auckland Research Centre, has just had a new book published on the history of Totara Park.