Heritage et AL

When Denise Matene designed her COVID-19 photography exhibition, currently showing at Franklin Arts Centre in Pukekohe, she imagined there could be a part of the gallery for the community to add their stories. Matene and staff from Franklin Arts Centre connected with Tracey Aramoana, kaiako from Pukekohe Intermediate School, Debra Vonk from Pukekohe Library, and Sharon Smith, Senior Librarian, Archives and Manuscripts at Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero | Central City Library, to make the exhibition 'Reflections’ happen as a whole community event. 'Reflections' combines interactive questions to the public, a video by Pukekohe Intermediate School rangatahi and a sample of Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections’ region-wide archive of COVID-19 memories. This exhibition is on display till Thursday 22 July. Matene’s ‘Kia Kaha Puke: we’ve got this!’ exhibition portrays daily life in Pukekohe during the first COVID-19 lockdown and reveals her wonderful way with colour. This exhibition is o...

2020 has had a baking theme. When Aotearoa New Zealand began the nation-wide lockdown at COVID-19 Alert Level 4 in March there was a shortage of flour as panic buyers raided the supermarkets and home baking became a focus of comfort and calm. The Edmonds cookbook might have been dusted off the top shelf for some of the kiwi classics, essential eating at a time of personal and global stress. Sometimes only bacon and egg pie will do. Image: The "Sure to rise" cookery book, front cover. 1910. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, b3099445_01. Take a look at your family copy – you might have an Antiques Road Show moment. There are only two known surviving copies of the first edition, the ‘Sure to Rise Cookery Book’ (1909) - which Thomas Edmonds produced to promote the use of his baking powder with his promise of success, “sure to rise”. He should be recognised as one of Aotearoa’s pioneering marketers in the development of the cook book with his product. It is unlikely you wi...

The Hokianga Harbour - Te Hokianga-nui-a-Kupe ("the place of Kupe's great return") - is the ancestral home of many Northern iwi, including Ngapuhi. By the 1830s it was also the heart of the New Zealand timber industry, with the small settlement of Kohukohu at its hub. C P Dawes. Ships at the Kauri Timber Company Wharf, Kohukohu. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, 1572-208 . Kohukohu no longer resembles the bustling township it once was. But through the work of local photographer Charles Peet Dawes we can see for ourselves the people and communities of the Hokianga in the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth, before fire, cars and intensive farming changed the landscape completely. I mage: C P Dawes. Group portrait of the Te Puhi Maori group, the Otene family from Te Karaka, Hokianga. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, 1142-D385 . C P Dawes. Kohukohu. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, 1572-953 . ...

The Manukau Harbour is the second largest in Aotearoa. Loved and enjoyed by many, Te Manukanuka o Houturoa has always been a source for food gathering and has long provided the means for navigating the expansive coastline. Photographs from the Auckland Libraries heritage collections form the basis of this exhibition which is on now at Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery in Titirangi, Auckland. Ref: John Thomas Diamond, The shoreline on the Cornwallis Peninsula with John Diamond rod fishing, 1957. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, JTD-08E-00513-2 This exhibition will travel around the edges of the Manukau Harbour as if spread by Te Hau a Uru, the wind that blows from the west, from Titirangi to Waiuku. 7-28 September 2017: Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery, Titirangi. 30 September-14 October 2017: Nathan Homestead, Manurewa. 17 October-4 November 2017: Waiuku Library, Waiuku. Ref: James Richardson, Stereograph of the Nihotupu Creek, 14 April 1923. Auckland L...

From humble but enthusiastic beginnings, RainbowYOUTH has grown to become one of the most successful youth organisations in New Zealand. Ref: RainbowYOUTH, RainbowYOUTH Collection, West Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries. In 2017 an exhibition was created from the Auckland Libraries RainbowYOUTH archive collection, which consists of seven recorded oral histories , images and ephemera sharing the origin and development of the 28 year young organisation , and the stories of those involved from the very first small Auckland gay and lesbian group to the highly successful present day queer youth community support network. The RainbowYOUTH Exhibition is on now at Leys Institute Library , Ponsonby, until June 3.

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 exhibition  ‘Aotearoa Houses: settlers to hippies’ is currently running in the atrium outside the Central Auckland Research Centre on the  second  floor of the  Auckland  Central Library. On this blog we've previously featured posts on Hippie A rchitecture  and  State  Houses .  Ref: Pegler for Auckland Weekly News, Showing a settler's house at Poro-o-Tarao, with people posed outside, 19 May 1899, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-18990519-6-1.

Sometimes when a customer has navigated their way up two flights of escalators and come across the  Sir George Grey Special Collections exhibition room, they might decide to go through another set of glass doors to the reading room for a look around. At this point, they might scan recent acquisitions displayed in a case or walk around the edges of the room looking at the books-about-rare-books on the shelves. Next the person at the reading room desk might walk over and say 'hello' and tell them a bit about the collection. And thankfully, there is always the book  Real Gold on hand: making the task of briefly outlining the wonderful, varied and expanding Sir George Grey Special Collections much easier. Ref: Iain Sharp, Real gold: treasures of Auckland City Libraries, Auckland: AUP, 2007. When Real Gold was published in 2007 there was a physical exhibition to coincide with the book launch. In addition, there is an online version of this exhibition which gives de...

A new exhibition from the Sir George Grey Special Collections entitled 'The Romantics: Jane Austen meets Frankenstein' has recently opened at the Central Library (Level 2) and runs until 22 June. The exhibition of rare books and manuscripts from late 18th to early 19th century covers a time when there was a revolutionary mood in art and literature, and a new emphasis on the imagination and the emotions. Jane Austen and Mary Shelley are some of the well known authors included. Find out more . Ref: an illustration from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein by Lynd Ward Another author from this time, although he is not included in the exhibition is Robert Southey (1774-1843). He was an English poet of the Romantic school, one of the so-called "Lake Poets", and Poet Laureate for 30 years from 1813 to his death in 1843. "The Story of the Three Bears" (sometimes known as "The Three Bears", "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" or, simply, "G...

Central Auckland Research Centre is currently displaying work by award-winning picture book writer and illustrator Robyn Kahukiwa. Ref: Robyn Kahukiwa display in the Central Auckland Research Centre, February 2014 Kahukiwa illustrated her first children’s book in 1981 - 'The Kuia and the Spider: Te Kuia Me Te Pungawerewere', a collaborative project with writer Patricia Grace, which won the Children’s Picture Book of the Year. She also worked with Joy Cowley on 'Grandma’s stick' and 'Hatupatu and the birdwoman' before writing her own picture books, often drawing on Māori myths and legends which she also includes in contemporary settings. Ref: Robyn Kahukiwa display in the Central Auckland Research Centre, February 2014

Yes, it's that time of year again when we celebrate Auckland's distinctive heritage! This year the festival runs from 28 September to 13 October and has around 240 events and activities organised by over 180 groups and organisations , many of which are free and will keep all ages amused. Contributors include Auckland Libraries, museums, historical societies, art galleries, historic homesteads and lighthouses, and events include trails, tours, workshops and talks. Ref: 2013 Auckland Heritage Festival logo The key themes around which events have been created are:: Auckland’s waterways, including the land and sea Celebrating our heritage,  including Auckland’s distinctive built, cultural and natural heritage Learning and encouragement, such as workshops and lectures.  Ref: 4-434, comparison of the Auckland waterfront in 1852 with 1900, c.1900, Sir George Grey Special Collections The public open weekend on the 28 to 29 September marks the start of the festival. Thi...

To celebrate Comic Book Month this September at Auckland Libraries, Sir George Grey Special Collections is displaying a range of classic mid-to-late 20th century comics in the Reading Room cabinet (on display until the end of the month). Graphic literature (to use the technical flash term) has a long history, part of which includes the serialised superhero, action, science fiction and war comics of the last century. These were most often printed cheaply on newsprint and were considered ephemeral and throw away like the 'daily rag' newspaper. Nowadays comics from the 'Golden Age of American comics' - considered to be the 1930s to 1950s, are sought after by comics collectors, and fetch high prices. Ref: Display case of comics in the Sir George Grey Special Collections Another graphic literary tradition is the political comic, many examples of which can be found in the Sir George Special Collections. In 2012, 'Joking Aside' , an exhibition o...

On 2nd September 2013, the first of a series of small exhibitions will open at the Bill Laxon Maritime Library at Voyager New Zealand Maritime Museum. The exhibition will remain in place for 1 or 2 months in a case  installed in the Edmiston Gallery . The 'Out of the Box' exhibition series will showcase some of the paper objects (e.g. books, archives, manuscripts original documents and photographs) that are normally kept in boxes in storage and are only seen when needed for research enquiries or for temporary exhibitions. Ref: 4-960, Looking south from the harbour over the Auckland waterfront showing the premises of the New Zealand Shipping Company Limited, 1892, Sir George Grey Special Collections In keeping with the theme this month - Merchant Navy Day (commemorated on 3rd September to honour those who served during WW2), the first exhibition will celebrate the140th Anniversary of the New Zealand Shipping Company . Ref: 1-W1090, Looking south towards Queen St show...