Heritage et AL

Family historians spend a lot of time researching and collecting their facts and stories. Many have been spurred on to share their research with other family members or even the wider general public. Often the stories are shared in blogs, but some have been keen enough to share in books. We call these "published family histories." In New Zealand, a couple of copies are sent to the National Library in Wellington to be preserved as part of the nation's memory. Sometimes, Auckland Libraries is also also sent a copy or two as well. Often we purchase them for our family history collection. - You should come in and have a look if you haven't already! We don't just collect New Zealand family histories , we also collect published family histories from all over the world - particularly if they relate to the historic areas that many of us emigrated from. One such book caught my eye today. Written by a New Zealander about her English grandfather's family. My ...

After a world war, and an absence of twelve years, the sports fans of the British Empire once again welcomed back the British Empire Games. The year was 1950; the host country, New Zealand. The idea for New Zealand to even consider bidding for the right to host the games came from Mr Alwyn Moon of the NZ Amateur Athletic Association. Mr Moon had observed just how well the 1947 national athletics competition had run in Auckland, and especially how well Eden Park had coped with the intense level of competition at that standard. Moon subsequently called a meeting with like-minded officials to discuss the rather bold proposal: was Auckland in a position to host the 1950 British Empire Games? Ref: New Zealand Herald. Empire Games: Athletics 3rd Day, Eden Park . From: New Zealand Herald Glass Plate Collection. 1950. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, 1370-589-24. Representatives from sporting codes across the city believed it was possible and began to explore the venture, w...

Applications for the 2018/2019 Auckland Library Heritage Trust research scholarship are now open! Ref: Dan Liu. Dr Majid Daneshagar in the Sir George Grey Special Collections reading room. 4 August 2017. Now in its sixth year, this scholarship is offered by the Auckland Library Heritage Trust to assist with research and the promotion of material held in the Sir George Grey Special Collections at the Central City Library and the distributed heritage collections across Auckland Libraries. Heritage collections are found at the north, south and west research centres at Takapuna, Manukau and Waitākere libraries. Covers of three Japanese illustrated woodblock books forming a triptych . The breadth of the collections has seen research topics range from Japanese woodblock books from the nineteenth century to the Jazz age in Auckland in the twentieth century. Last year’s scholar was Dr Majid Daneshagar from the University of Otago. Dr Daneshgar prepared a catalogue of Middl...

Many maps and plans of Central Auckland have been drawn and published since the 1840s. The first and most well-known was drawn by Surveyor-General, Felton Mathew , for Governor Hobson and published in 1841. Mathew’s design was best known as ‘the cobweb plan’ because it envisaged a circular Trafalgar Circus (where the university is today) with radiating quadrants and a crescent connecting with Upper Queen Street. Mathew’s plan was thought impractical by many influential settlers so was eventually shelved. The only echo of Mathew’s plan that survives today is Waterloo Quadrant (originally to have been named London Quadrant – but now not even actually a quadrant) and which runs between Old Government House and the High Court. Felton Mathew. Original Plan of Auckland . 1841. Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, NZ Map 2664.   One hundred years later a town planning model was created of the Auckland CBD, probably from an aerial photograph taken in 1939.  ...

Following the news that the J. T. Diamond Collection has been inscribed onto the UNESCO Memory of the World documentary heritage register , we thought that a photographic blog series featuring some of the great images from the collection would be appropriate. Spectacular Whatipu Beach attracted many day trippers and holiday makers in the 1920s and 30s, and even then little boys photobombed family portraits! Following the fashion for the Orient at the time, these two bathing beauties in substantial swimming costumes and stylish swim hats, sit beneath a parasol on the beach at Whatipu near the Gibbons' boarding house. Ref: Photographer unknown. Whatipu beach, 1921. West Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, JTD-06K-02899 . Jack Diamond sourced this photograph from the booklet 'A Guide to Muriwai' (1922). It shows two men and a young girl digging for toheroas on Muriwai Beach. This beautifully illustrated book is a tourist guide to the h...

New Zealanders have the reputation of being great overseas travellers. However they are also very proud of their own country and have explored its farthest corners, despite the often difficult terrain. In 2018 the way New Zealanders have travelled and holidayed in the past century was the theme of a Heritage Collections exhibition at Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero, the Central City Library. You can listen to an interview with principal curator Georgia Prince about the exhibition, as well as a selection of oral history stories in our exhibition playlist . Listen to the track here The exhibition featured original photographs, diaries, maps, posters and oral histories from our collections. The title recalls the slogan of a Tourism department campaign from the 1980s: ‘ Don’t leave town until you’ve seen the country ’. The advertisement encouraged New Zealanders to explore their own back yard before heading off overseas on their OE. You can watch it online at Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision . ...

On 27 February 2018 Papatoetoe will celebrate the centenary of one of its most iconic buildings, the Papatoetoe Town Hall. A centenary dinner will be held in the hall and stories and photographs from residents and community groups who have used the building over the years will be on display (contact jennya.clark@xtra.co.nz for details). This is the second part of a history of the hall. Read about the early years in The hundred-year-old Papatoetoe Town Hall (part 1) . Papatoetoe Civic War Memorial The section where the library stood was an obvious site for development, and Papatoetoe Borough Council decided to develop a war memorial building there. The makeshift library building was thus removed and, during an impressive open-air ceremony held on 8 October 1955, the Papatoetoe Civic War Memorial was opened in its place. This was a dignified two-storey building housing a new and much expanded public library downstairs, and a meeting room or ‘concert chamber’ and new Borough Council ...