Heritage et AL

Image: Books of Mana: 180 Māori authored books of significance He kaimahi from Auckland Libraries interviews Dr. Spencer Lilley on  Books of Mana Rin: E te rangatira, Tena koe. Thankyou so much Spencer for joining us here to chat. As you already probably know, I loved your classes at Te Herenga Waka. It was so cool learning about some of the amazing taonga here at Auckland Libraries to assist with whakapapa, tikanga Māori, Reo Rangatira and Waka histories. So it was great coming across your chapter while perusing through this beautiful new pukapuka  - Books of Mana (Otago University Press 2025). Can you please tell us how did you happen to contribute to this pukapuka?  Spencer: I was invited to participate by the editors about five years ago, after they had published the list of books.  They had received a grant from Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga to produce the book and sent out invitations to people who they thought would have something to contribute. Luckily, one of th...

To mark Te Epetoma o te Reo Māori Kūki ‘Airani, Cook Islands Language Week, we have a special behind the scenes post today. This year is also particularly significant as today, 4 August, marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Cook Islands achieving self-government. Last year David Ashman, the Preservation Manager at Auckland Libraries, performed conservation treatment work on The Cook Islands Proclamation (E Tuatua Akakite) of 1891. This was reported on earlier this year in both the  Cook Islands News  and the  Cook Islands Herald  as well as on the website of the  Cook Islands Museum and Library Society . The proclamation is described on the UNESCO Memory of  the  World  Register  for Asia/Pacific : A fragile and rare, one-paged document written in Maori, the language spoken by most of the population of the Cook Islands at that time, called the Proclamation (E Tutatua Akakite), signed by the Earl of Onslow, on 4th April, 1891...