Plan to sort collection of old records

Press, 5 December 1986, Page 9

Plan to sort collection of old records

Basements under Government department buildings in Canterbury and Westland are storing vast collections of old records which the National Archives Southern Regional Office plans to sort through. The officer-in-charge, Mr Chris Adam, said the collections were so big that some departments had run out of space and had rented warehouses for storage. Since the Christchurch office opened last year, about 1000 linear metres of material had been collected to preserve Canterbury and Westland Government records for the future. Mr Adam estimated that it could take another two years to appraise all the department’s records. “There is a back-log of work here,” he said. Many departmental offices were still holding records from when they were first opened. The material included old subject files, maps, films, and microfilms. The information collected was varied, ranging from records of the Hokitika Psychiatric Hospital before the turn of the century to police criminal files. Mr Adam said he had

heard of big “burn-ups” in the past when records had been destroyed, but most departments just stored their records in their basements. He said he could not speculate on the extent of the records. The office was concentrating on appraising all the information so that it could be arranged and described for reference purposes. Mr Adam said that only selected material was kept. “In most cases it is fairly obvious what should be kept. Obviously administration ‘house-keeping’-type files will not be of interest in five years, let alone 100 years,” he said. The information was used by Government departments and the public, he said. The files were often used by genealogists researching family histories. They were also of interest to many other people, such as West Coasters interested in old mining claims or people keen to find out about land holdings, Mr Adam said. It is envisaged that the South Island office will need 1500 sq m of storage space in the next 30 years.