Heritage et AL

Awekura is a blog and podcast series that highlights treasures within Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections. In this series, library specialists provide a window into the world of these special collections. What happens when we bring 21st century technology to the heritage collections? The Mātauranga Māori team at Auckland Libraries has explored this question through an augmented reality (AR) experience focused on Te Tiriti ki Tāmaki Makaurau | Places where the treaty was signed in Auckland . We are familiar with the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi on 6 February 1840. What people are less aware of, is how the treaty was then taken around the Bay of Islands and Hokianga before being sent around the motu for additional signatures, including Tāmaki Makaurau. Before becoming an augmented reality (AR) experience, the project began as a print booklet which drew on research and heritage collection items to explore the story of the signing of the Te Tiriti in Tāmaki Makaurau. In Auckland, we...

The Mt Albert Library was first opened on the 22nd of November 1975, with an opening ceremony held outside of the library doors. Several important people from the Mt Albert community and beyond were in attendance, including Councillor Alice Wylie and Dr Lindo Ferguson, both of whom would have storied careers in local body politics in the area.  Image: Official opening of the Mount Albert Library, 1975. 1975-11-22. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 580-CV293-07. Image: Official opening of the Mount Albert Library, 1975. 1975-11-22. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 580-CV294-07. Image: A view of the front desk as it appeared on opening day, 1975. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 580-26551. The library very quickly became a cornerstone of the community, and a regular point of discussion in local community newspapers. Back when library memberships were registered to individual libraries, articles on membership numbers at the library show the steady in...

Image: School children on Apirana Ave, Glen Innnes, 1989. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 273-PAG002-10. Photographer: Stuart Page In 1990, Auckland Libraries launched a large-scale oral history project to commemorate Aotearoa New Zealand’s sesquicentennial anniversary. The aim was to preserve the voices of Aucklanders and capture the city's history through their lived experiences. This particular series focuses on Glen Innes, highlighting its unique social, cultural, and historical narratives. The oral history excerpts below highlight key themes such as the everyday social and cultural life of Glen Innes and its surrounding market gardens, mana whenua, and the communities that later moved into the area. These excerpts have been curated for the exhibition 'Glen Innes: A Century of Community and Change,' held at Te Oro Music and Arts Centre from 6 September 2025. More details of the exhibition can be found here . 1. Elizabeth Smith  Elizabeth was interviewed by Je...

Image: Auckland wharves from Point Britomart.  Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 5-2635. The Auckland Library Heritage Trust is a charitable trust that supports Auckland Libraries and Auckland Council to preserve, care for, add to, and promote Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections for the benefit of the people of Auckland. You can find out more about the work of the Trust via their website: www.alht.org.nz The Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections are one of New Zealand's key research destinations. They were originally established when Sir George Grey, 19th-century Governor of New Zealand and later Premier, gave his significant collection to the city of Auckland in the 1880s and has continued to grow since this time. The collections include photographs, maps, oral histories, manuscripts and archives, rare books and medieval manuscripts, ephemera and music; as well as Māori and Pacific heritage collections in all formats.  The Heritage Collections are held princi...

Image: Auckland City Council. Sir Dove-Myer Robinson. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 580-79140B. Sir Dove-Myer Robinson has been remembered as a visionary environmentalist, who was ahead of his time. Robinson, or ‘Robbie’ as he became known, entered Auckland’s political scene in the 1940s, when he opposed the Brown’s Island plan that would have dumped untreated sewage into the Waitematā Harbour. He was elected to the Auckland City Council in 1953 and later served as Deputy Mayor. In 1959, he took on the role of Mayor of Auckland, and was the longest-serving mayor in the city's history, across two terms from 1959-1965 and 1968-1980.  Known for his charismatic and gregarious personality, Robinson was often seen riding a bicycle around the city or walking from his home in Remuera to the Town Hall shirtless, earning him the title of Auckland’s ‘Topless Mayor’.  Robinson was a strong advocate for urban planning and helped to improve the city’s bus and rail services. His e...

Figure 1: Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, New York: Penguin Books, 2009.  In the ‘noughties’, Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food helped to popularise an approach to eating framed around a central tenet – ‘Just eat what your great-grandma ate’, suggesting those in pursuit of perfect health should avoid consuming anything from a packet or a production line.  As journalist and author, Pollan sought to disrupt understandings of nutrition and consulted a variety of different nutrition specialists to put together the book, as Pollan saw fit. As such, Pollan consulted Jewish and Italian grandmothers as expert diet authorities, alongside those with professional training in nutrition and dietetics, as well as doctors, nurses, and anthropologists. In an interview with the New York Times, Pollan recounted his favourite quote from the grandmothers he interviewed to research his book: “The whiter the bread, the sooner you’ll be dead”, these women reportedly advi...