Heritage et AL

In late 2022, Auckland Libraries received a significant donation of fashion photography negatives by Noel Brotherston (1932–1997). Most of the images date from 1968 to 1969. For me, it marked the beginning of a piece of work to make this substantial archive discoverable. Of the nearly 19,000 frames in the collection, over 7,000 now include metadata and are available to view on Kura Heritage Collection Online . Creating metadata for this collection turned out to be more revealing and more rewarding than I had expected. Metadata is generally defined as data about data. It records information such as format, dimensions, media type, and other technical or descriptive details. As dry as that may sound, effective metadata is essential – it helps users locate, search, and make sense of content.  At Auckland Libraries, those of us creating metadata for photography collections work in spreadsheets adding descriptions, keywords, subject headings, and relevant notes for each image. Thankfully...

  That’s so last century: What we wore 1950s-1990s provides a snapshot of what some New Zealanders were wearing during the latter half of the twentieth century. Learn about how the garment industry impacted on different parts of Aotearoa society including the popularity of home sewing, where we shopped for clothes, the emergence of New Zealand based fashion designers, and the prevalence of local clothing manufacturers. This exhibition is on at Level 2 of Auckland's Central City Library from Wednesday 20 March - 13 July 2024.  In this podcast you’ll hear stories of all things fashion – from home dressmaking to professional tailoring, pattern shops and fabrics, being a follower of fashion and what sustainable fashion means in this century. Voices have been drawn from Auckland Libraries Oral History and Sound , Heritage Collections .  The lived experience – 50s & 60s fashion  In this track, jazz singer and follower of fashion, Wendy Moore provides her lived experien...

The South Auckland Research Centre has recently added 1142 photographs to our image database Footprints . To date this database now includes a selection of over 8000 photographs and other images relating to South Auckland, and adjoining areas. A sample of thirty-two photographs from the Beauty Pageant Photographic Collection , donated by beauty pageant organiser Val Lott , has been added covering the years 1990 – 2003. Ref: Val Lott, Beauty pageant, Māngere, 6 May 1990, photograph reproduced courtesy of Val Lott, South Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries, Footprints 07210. Ref: Val Lott, Beauty pageant, Māngere, 6 May 1990, photograph reproduced courtesy of Val Lott, South Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries, Footprints 07209. Ref: Beauty pageant, Pukekohe, 24 May 1992, photograph reproduced courtesy of Val Lott, South Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries, Footprints 07223.

This Sunday Auckland Libraries will be down at Viaduct Harbour for A day at the beach . Ref: Stapley Farmer, Apprentices picnic, 1960s?, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 1056-32. To celebrate over 100 years of New Zealand’s beach fashion and the exhibition 'At the Beach' , the Maritime Museum will be bringing the beach to the city centre for Labour weekend. The exhibition will be on display across the Maritime Museum, and has been devised and produced in conjunction with the New Zealand Fashion Museum . Ref: Group in car at Takapuna Beach, c1960s, North Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries, T6843.

Spectacles, specs, glasses, bin, gegs or gigs, goggles or whatever you call them, are worn by so many people that they are a common sight , if you'll excuse the pun ... Not always worn to aid sight but also as a fashion statement or for other purposes. such as sunglasses or shades to protect the eyes against the sun (a must have with NZ's strong sun) and lorgnettes for viewing the opera. Other forms of eye wear that are less commonly seen nowadays but were popular in the past include: monocles and pince-nez (glasses worn with a nose clip instead of earpieces). Glasses can change the way people look, giving them a distinguished air and can accentuate features like hairdos, facial hair and other accessories. Have fun looking through the spectacle of the past that is glasses wearers (that really is the last pun now ... !). A distinguished air: Ref: 34-122, Clifton Firth, 1952, Clifton Firth, Sir George Grey Special Collections Ref: 31-58154, Mr Kemp, 1909, Sir Geor...

The latest blog post from Walter Cook at the advent of his retirement from The National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga O Aotearoa is a fascinating read. He divulges the 'tricks of the trade' used to date photographs. I was so interested in this idea, that I decided to test out his 'taxonomy of fashion', which is based on women's fashion and hairstyle trends of the day. I used these dated headings as a framework to search for complementary photos in the Sir George Grey Special Collections, using the Auckland Libraries Heritage Images database. You can see from what I found below, that it was quite a success! In a few cases where we don't know the exact date the photograph was taken, the taxonomy can be used as another tool in helping us to pin this down the date to a narrower time period. So enjoy and thanks to the National Library for the inspiration and what turned out to be a very fun exercise! The full crinoline, 1856 to 1865. Characterised...

Ah summer .. long days of sunshine, trips to the beach and of course, the all important picnic. Summer wouldn't be summer without at least a few picnics. Despite the sand in your food and the insects buzzing around, eating food outside never fails to bring a sense of excitement to a meal. From simple sandwiches to grand affairs, picnics are always popular with everyone, whatever their age. Ref: 4-7028, group picnic, no date, Sir George Grey Special Collections Take a look through these heritage images from the Auckland Libraries collections and see how people went picknicking in the past!

Fashion and design students or anyone with a sartorial lean will be pleased to discover some of Auckland Libraries fashion related resources. Ref: 34-M741, Model for Milne and Choyce Department Store, 1940-1949,  Sir George Grey Special Collections  The Heritage Images database is a great place to spot images of fashion fads. Advertising shots, candid family snaps and professional portraits all show clothing trends through the decades. A great way of refining an image search is by using what librarian’s call ‘subject headings’: this is a defined keyword or tag. In the advanced search screen subject headings can be entered in as a search term. Some examples of fashion related subject headings are: ‘clothing and dress’, ‘fashion’ and ‘mens clothing’. Ref: Advanced search screen on Heritage Images database

During the mid twentieth century, there was no NZ photographer more versatile, imaginative and accomplished than Reginald Clifton Firth (1904-1980). Yet he fell into photography by fluke. Ref: 34-M7B3 woman modelling a hat for Milne and Choyce department store, c. 1940-50s, Sir George Grey Special Collections When he was young, he he trained as a graphic designer at the Elam School of Art in Auckland. In the late 1920s and early 1930s he made a living as a commercial artist. By chance, a client asked for photographs of company products rather than drawings. Firth bought a camera for £4 from an Auckland shop in anticipation of the job. However, knowing little about photography and feeling concerned that he wouldn't do a good job and lose hard earned cash, he asked the shopkeeper for a money-back guarantee. He needn't have worried since the client  was delighted by the results. This changed Firth's career path forever.

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