ALEXANDER TURNBULL LIBRARY

Turnbull Library Record, Volume 8, Issue 2, 1 October 1975, Page 45

ALEXANDER TURNBULL LIBRARY

Report by the Chief Librarian, ]. E. Traue

The Alexander Turnbull Library collects, maintains and makes available within the Library a range of research materials on New Zealand, the Pacific, English literature, Milton, rare books and the development of the art of printing. It is responsible for the national collection relating to New Zealand and the production of the New Zealand National Bibliography. During the year, by making major additions to several of its established collections and developing a number of new research collections, the library further defined its role as a national research library. Policies for the future will give further emphasis to the acquisition of research materials, especially original documentary sources, and to the encouragement of scholarly work based on the collections. The principal justification for a research library is the volume of publication of books, pamphlets, theses, essays and articles by its users and the Turnbull Library has a very special responsibility to facilitate research and publication in all aspects of New Zealand’s history.

Building The Collections The purchase in London of 12 early watercolours by John Gully added significantly both to the Sir Julius von Haast papers in the library and to the topographical paintings collection. The paintings, commissioned by von Haast in 1862 to illustrate an important geological paper on the glaciation of the Southern Alps, were purchased from the Royal Geographical Society in London by the Alexander Turnbull Library Endowment Trust for £5,000. Four of the paintings were selected by the Trust for publication in its 1974 Print Series and are thus being made available to the general public. The Mansfield collection was further strengthened by the bequest of a Vera MacKintosh Bell collection of original letters, clippings and books relating to her sister Katherine Mansfield. A large collection of William Colenso association letters were purchased at auction in New Zealand and 70 letters written by Lieutenant G. G. S. Foljambe from New Zealand in the 1860 s were purchased at auction in London. A selection of paintings by a hitherto unknown but clearly important early colonial painter, John Guise Mitford, was also purchased at auction in London and Wellington.

The largest purchase during the year was of 694 volumes of books by or relating to John Milton the English seventeenth century poet and pamphleteer. The library’s collection relating to Milton and his times,

developed by Alexander Turnbull during his lifetime as possibly the finest private collection then in existence, is the strongest of the nonPacific collections and the richest resource in seventeenth and eighteenth century English literature and history held in New Zealand. The purchase gives New Zealand a world ranking collection in an area of English studies capable of sustaining advanced academic research. The cost of about SIOO,OOO is being met with the assistance of a grant of SIO,OOO from the T. G. McCarthy Trust and a guarantee of up to $25,000 from the Alexander Turnbull Library Endowment Trust and payments will be spread over five years.

Two substantially new collections developed during the year were the Archive of New Zealand Music and the War History Documentation Centre. The Music Archive represents a major expansion of collecting activity with the object of creating a collection in depth of all materials, including published and unpublished scores, phonograph records and tapes, programmes, photographs, the diaries and letters of musical personalities and the archives of musical organisations, relating to the composition and performance of music in New Zealand. The Music Archive has been strongly supported by the Composers’ Association of New Zealand and composer members have already lodged several major collections of scores. The War History Documentation Centre is a joint creation with the National Archives to provide a focus for the accelerated collecting of diaries, letters, photographs and other original materials relating to New Zealand’s war activities. A national publicity campaign has been mounted to inform people of the importance of such records and to encourage deposit of official materials in National Archives and personal papers in Turnbull.

The rapidly growing collections of the records of business firms, associations and organisations were augmented by the records of the Kauri Timber Co., the N.Z. Student Christian Movement, N.Z. Amateur Athletic Association, Royal New Zealand Forest and Bird Protection Society, New Zealand Farmers Union, and the Wesley Methodist Church, Wellington. Important photographic collections added during the year were the John Pascoe mountaineering collection, the Berthold (coastal shipping), the Wilkinson (Kapiti Island), the Evening Post negatives and the Carnell collection of early Maori portraits and meeting houses.

The Library is once again indebted to those who have contributed by donation to the growth of the collections and acknowledges their generosity. A full list of donors is published in the Turnbull Library Record. The increasingly important role of the Alexander Turnbull Library Endowment Trust in purchasing highly priced books, manuscripts and pictures for the library and in publishing materials from the collections is documented elsewhere in this report. A new development

during the year was a joint purchase in London with the Hocken Library of the papers of James Courage the novelist. This was made possible by a guarantee from the Endowment Trust.

Conserving The Collections The Conservation Laboratory, work on which was completed last year, is now operational with a staff of two, a conservation technician and a photographer. The recommendations of the Conservation Officer on future policy will require a substantial investment of manpower in conservation work and it may be necessary to reduce the proportion of staff time available for services to the public in order to find staff to work on the preservation of the collections. Art, photographs, manuscripts and newspapers as well as printed books are areas where a considerable investment is required if the work of collecting and organising is not to be wasted through the progressive deterioration of the materials.

A new position of microfilm coordinator was created during the year to oversee the National Library’s microfilming programme. In Wellington the microfilming of unique material on loan to the library continues but the major activity has become the filming of current newspapers. The Government Printer has extended his assistance in Wellington to Dunedin and Hamilton where local newspapers both old and current are being filmed with the assistance of the respective public libraries. In spite of these developments additional staffing will need to be found if real progress on the microfilming of old newspapers is to be achieved before they are lost irretrievably. Newsprint containing unpurified ground wood, as most does, incorporates the seeds of its own destruction since this unstable material oxidises and embrittles the paper quite independently of storage and use. Microfilm provides the only effective and economical method of preservation for such documents. It has been estimated that to film all the newspapers in the National Library’s collections would take at least 18 camera years of work. It would be unwise to delay any longer the filming of the worst volumes.

The Pictorial Collections The Library has three divisions concerned with the development of a pictorial record of places, people and events, namely the Map, Photograph and Art Sections. The map collection continues to grow and there has been greater use made by students this year, but the potential of the collection will not be realised until the scope and aims of the proposed national map collection within the National Library are defined and proper accommodation found in the new National Library

building. The demands on the other sections have again increased substantially in the past year and both are under considerable pressure from the public. The current demand for illustrative material for books, magazines, newspapers, film-strips and other educational aids, prints, television, advertising and commercial uses is high and increasing and the library cannot adequately meet this demand as well as those of building and conserving a national asset. Heavy use of original art materials degrades the quality of the collections and heavy use of photographs draws staffing away from the conservation work required. Proposals for the reorganisation of routines to protect the collections are under discussion but additional short-term staffing will be required to carry out the reorganisation if a reasonable level of service to the public is to be maintained. Measures were taken during the year to standardise procedures, conditions and charges for the reproduction of pictorial materials from the collections. Prices for original art works have risen significantly in the last five years and the acquisition of works of historical and topographic significance has become more difficult. Fewer works are being donated and fewer originals offered for sale at prices the library can pay.

Relations With The Library’s Public To assist the library in developing its Archive of New Zealand Music a group of consultants to the Archive has been appointed representing various interests in the musical community and it is proposed to appoint a number of other consultants to assist the library in developing other research collections. As well during the year a number of scholars were invited to address the staff on the needs of historical research workers in New Zealand. The Chief Librarian has accepted several invitations to speak to historical societies and other groups about the library’s activities and the audio-visual Alexander Turnbull and His Library has been shown to groups in Wellington and Wanganui.

The library supplied materials to the ‘Face Value’ exhibition of Maori portraits toured by the Dunedin Art Gallery and an exhibition of the Waikato wars at the Waikato Art Museum; sent a photographic exhibition, ‘Maori Heritage’ to the Langlois-Eteveneaux House and Museum at Akaroa, and prepared two photographic exhibitions on the Cook bicentenary for display in New Caledonia and the New Hebrides. Exhibitions in the library during the year included a display of seventeenth century Milton editions to commemorate the tercentenary of his death, 8 November 1674, and to celebrate the purchase of a major Milton collection; the John Gully—von Haast paintings and drawings; Alexander Turnbull’s life, times and collections for the launching of

the Turnbull biography; and a display of New Zealand bird paintings by Miss L. A. Daff to mark the donation of the Royal New Zealand Forest and Bird Protection Society’s archives to the library.

Publications included Alexander Turnbull, His Life, His Circle, His Collections by Dr E. H. McCormick, commissioned and published by the Alexander Turnbull Library Endowment Trust with the aid of the H. B. Fleck Bequest; a catalogue of the Milton seventeenth century editions on display prepared by Mr V. G. Elliott of the library’s staff; two issues of the Turnbull Library Record published by the Friends of the Turnbull Library, and the 1974 Print Series of three John Gully watercolours published by the Endowment Trust. Throughout the year monthly issues of the New Zealand National Bibliography were prepared by the Library and the annual cumulation for 1973 appeared in September 1974. Mr Murray-Oliver, the coordinator on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Cook Bicentenary exhibition in Portland, Oregon, was the joint author of the catalogue of the exhibition, Captain Cook R.N.; the Resolute Mariner, published by the Oregon Flistorical Society.