JOHANNES CARL ANDERSEN, 1873-1962

Turnbull Library Record, Volume XV, 1 November 1962, Page 18

JOHANNES CARL ANDERSEN, 1873-1962

C.R.H.T.

The long life of Johannes Andersen is eloquent of the achievement of industry, ability and a wide-ranging mind. Although he knew of no relationship to another Hans Andersen, there was an undeniable resemblance of features. He was born in Denmark in 1873, and came to New Zealand in early childhood. From 1887-1915 he was in the Lands and Survey Department, Christchurch, whence he transferred to the General Assembly Library for three years. Upon the bequest to the nation of Alexander Turnbull’s Library in 1918, he was appointed Librarian, which post he held till his retirement in 1937.

His many qualities and activities have been described elsewhere, but here it is of interest to review his work in the library. As a librarian he was devoted, even jealous, in the care of his books, and he set the Library upon its feet as a public research centre, performing wonders of cataloguing and service with a minimum staff. The Library grew appreciably in strength and richness under his hand, and in appraising its resources today one cannot always be sure whether the credit for certain acquisitions lies with Alexander Turnbull or Johannes Andersen. But many a student in the 1920’s and 1930’s acknowledged the help he had received from this knowledgeable Turnbull Librarian.

One example of his attitude to his work is illuminating. An opportunity occurred to secure a set of Gould’s “Birds of Australia” at £250, a huge sum in the 1920’5, but the Department of Internal Affairs, less interested in the Library then than it later became, would not approve the expenditure. Mr. Andersen concluded the purchase, insisting that it was his duty to ensure that such a work was available in some public library in the country. Reluctantly payment was made. Time has proved its value to scientists, while its monetary worth has nearly quadrupled.

The story of the Kinsey Collection shows him in yet another light. For many years the close friendship with Sir Joseph Kinsey continued, with occasional visits and frequent correspondence. When Sir Joseph died, Lady Kinsey sold the collection, valued at £4,000 to the Turnbull for the price of the death duty, £1,400. It owed much, in its development, to the guidance of Johannes Andersen, and supplemented most valuably the resources of the Turnbull.

He was especially a delightful correspondent, and kept contact with many friends abroad and within New Zealand. Mr. P. A. Lowlor plans to publish a selection of his letters, and they would be informative, witty, whimsical and entertaining.

Perhaps I can add a personal note, and say that in the four years or so that I worked closely with him, he was a delightful and learned companion, kindly but forthright, helpful and generous. We “got on" well, partly from kindred interests, partly from a common origin the Lands and Survey Department, Christchurch, where at a distance of thirty years, we had each for a term been record clerks in the charming beauty of the old Provincial Chambers. That I had written a booklet about these picturesque buildings, first ensured me some place in his regard.

As he interpreted the Library to me in those early years, so I envisaged its growth and specialisations, following them, inevitably qualified, ever since. The romance and wonder of great, famous, quaint or beautiful books he always retained, and it was as much his pleasure as mine to guide me in these realms of gold.

It would be difficult to select publications of his that will stand the test of time, but his book “The Laws of Verse" continues to be highly regarded by students of prosody. What can ever supersede the vast detail of “South Canterbury”? No-one yet has gone further than his “New Zealand Bird Song and Song Birds", his “String figures" or his “Maori Place-Names". Although he intended “Maori Music” as an introduction, the development of the theme is still to be done.

In his kindly cheerful wife he had a valuable complement, who predeceased him by only a few years, when her burden was assumed by his two sons Laurence and Hrolf, of Auckland.