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...

This blog post looks at the Abercrombie family’s outings during the 1930s and 1940s. The memories of this West Auckland family were documented by Ken Abercrombie through 4 photo albums of exquisite hand-coloured family snaps. These albums are held at the West Auckland Research Centre and you can view the first album online . A significant and attractive feature of the albums is that the majority of the prints have been hand-coloured and captioned by the photographer. Ref: KRA-PA-02-049-00, Ken Abercrombie, Album 2, West Auckland Research Centre Ken Abercrombie (b.1916) was a keen photographer, first becoming interested as a 16 year old boy when his parents gave him a camera – a ‘Balovo’, a German make. Ref: Ken Abercrombie's camera, early 1930s, West Auckland Research Centre At this time the Abercrombie family were living in Blockhouse Bay where Ken’s father, Roy had started a carrying business. The photo below shows his International truck. Ref: KRA-PA-02-031-04, ...

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.

Ever wondered what it would be like if animals lived like humans? Well here is your chance to find out ... Gathered from the vaults of Auckland Libraries' heritage collections are a comical selection of images of animal doing human things. Enjoy! Working: Ref: AWNS-19080416-2-5, monkey barber, 1908, Sir George Grey Special Collections Ref: AWNS-19050608, dog photographer, 1905, Sir George Grey Special Collections  

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

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 ...

Henry Winkelmann (1860-1931) was one of the most talented photographers operating in New Zealand at the beginning of the twentieth century. Henry tried several occupations before deciding, at the age of forty to earn a living from his camera. In 1878 he sailed to New Zealand following his elder brother, Charles, who had emigrated three years earlier. Winkelmann lived initially in Dunedin, before moving to Auckland in the early 1880s. Times were hard though and in 1881, unemployed and desperate for money, he embarked with a companion on an expedition to remote, uninhabited Jarvis Island (midway between Hawaii and the Cook Islands). The purpose was to claim the island for the merchant shipping company Henderson and Macfarlane, who were keen to exploit the commercial possibilities of guano (the phosphate-rich excrement of seabirds, prized as a fertilizer). The two men were supposed to stay on the island for three months in order to validate the claim. However, the resc...

The Sir George Grey Special Collections has recently acquired a collection of 475 glass plate negatives taken by the photographer C P Dawes in and around Kohukohu, a small settlement on the Hokianga Harbour, in the early years of the 20th century. This rich treasure trove was found unexpectedly in an antique shop in Kaitaia, by a staff member who was holidaying in the area.