Research Notes

Turnbull Library Record, Volume 34, 1 January 2001, Page 114

Research Notes

National Library Fellow Dr Damon Salesa was appointed Research Fellow for 2001 and joined the staff on his return from the University of Oxford where he had been completing his doctorate as a Rhodes Scholar. His research topic, ‘Samoa Matalasi: a people’s history of Samoa’, is based on the Library collections, particularly papers and publications recording 19th century Samoan history. In December Dr Salesa takes up his appointment as Assistant Professor of History, University of Michigan, in their new Pacific Studies programme.

Fulbright Scholar From January to June 2001 the Library was host to Dr Rob Weir. Dr Weir, whose specialist subjects include Gilded Age social, labour and cultural history, spent his New Zealand stay looking for evidence of the work of the Knights of Labour in New Zealand, with a view to rounding out his research about this organisation, and to provide comparative studies of labour history during the period late 1800 sto early 20th century.

History of Print Culture in New Zealand The research programme established in 1995 as a partnership between the Turnbull Library and the Humanities Society of New Zealand/T e Whainga Aronui and funded by project grants from the Marsden Fund (Royal Society of New Zealand) continued throughout the year. A full account is provided in the introduction to this issue.

Access projects The most significant project undertaken this year was the search for a replacement system for TAPUHI, the automated database providing collection management for, and access to the unpublished collections. Extensive work defining functionality to provide specifications for tender was undertaken under the direction of a contract project manager. A worldwide search failed to find an off the shelf system that could deliver the comprehensive support currently available through TAPUHI. The search has now been put on hold in the hope that the vendors of the systems used for the published collections will develop a comparable system for unpublished collections.

Several Library collections are now available online through the National Library’s web site <http://www.natlib.govt.nz> and further digitisation projects will follow as work on planning for the ‘digital library’ is completed. This includes selection policies, implementation of internationally recognised standards in both recording and imaging originals, and the collection and preservation of electronically published New Zealand and Pacific information. There are major concerns about the levels of funding required for the Library to continue its traditional work at the same as keeping up to date with researcher demands for online access, and providing access at a popular level similar to Timeframes.

Maori Oral historian Taina Tangaere McGregor (Ngati Porou) was recently appointed to the new position of Oral Historian, Maori, Te Tumu Korero a-Waha, Maori. Taina will take part in all aspects of the work of the Oral History Centre. She will be specialising in providing training, advice and

project support for Maori groups and individuals recording oral histories, and in providing access to Maori material in the oral history collection.

From Papua New Guinea Eric Nandoma, a staff member at PNG National Library Service, spent time in all sections of the Library during October and November as an intern, working and learning about the management of all formats of unpublished materials, and identifying works in the published collection.

Conferences and workshops The Alexander Turnbull Library and NOHANZ (the National Oral History Association of New Zealand Te Kete Korero-a-Waha o Te Motu) co-hosted the 2001 national oral history conference on the theme ‘Communities and oral history Te Whare Korero Hapori’ at the National Library in Wellington, 2-3 June 2001.

Dave Small, Curator, Cartographic Collection, attended the annual New Zealand Map Society Conference in February 2001 held in Wellington. Topics ranged from early place names of New Zealand to the LINZ (Land Information New Zealand) Land online project.

During the year four Turnbull staff attended overseas training courses about the digitisation of cultural materials. The Humanities Advanced Technology and Information Institute (HATH) of the University of Glasgow runs these week-long courses, which are aimed at archivists, librarians and museum professionals, rather than IT experts. They are run at Rice University in Houston (David Retter and John Sullivan attended) and in Glasgow (David Colquhoun and Jocelyn Cuming attended).

Members of staff also attended the conference ‘Lockout 51: 50 years on’ (Stout Research Centre) and Maori staff members attended the annual conference for Maori librarians.

A very successful ‘cartoonists’ convention’ was held by the New Zealand Cartoon Archive Trust; an associated exhibition of the 30 best cartoons published during 2000 judged by Rt Hon. Jonathan Hunt, Denis Welch and Margaret Calder was launched by Hon. Marian Hobbs.

Exhibitions and events Three major exhibitions based on the Turnbull collections were held in the National Library Gallery this year. ‘Come on Jack! ’ The Lovelock Olympic story was based on the journals and training diaries of Jack Lovelock held in the Manuscripts and Archives Collection. It was curated by David Colquhoun and provided a new interpretation of the sometimes mysterious life of New Zealand’s most famous sportsperson.

The world was all before me, an exhibition of Edward Ashworth’s journals and watercolours, 1838-1845, was curated by Jill Trevelyan. During his brief stay in New Zealand, Ashworth created lively and accurate watercolours, particularly of Auckland, and his journal illuminates these glimpses of colonial life.

The exhibition which attracted the largest number of visitors was Burning bright: the visionary art of William Blake 1757-1827. The exhibition included works borrowed from other institutions as well as books, prints and facsimile editions from the Turnbull.

An exhibition based on the photographic portraits of Samuel Carnell was opened in November in Hastings. A joint project with Ngati Kahungungu, the exhibition Kahungunu . . . ka moe . . . ka puta . . . will be shown in the National Library Gallery in 2002.

20 th anniversary of the founding of the New Zealand Oral History Archive: Former trustees, staff, families and supporters, Library staff and oral history association members attended a celebration of the founding of the Archive on 19 June. Judith Fyfe, Hugo Manson and Jean Harton founded the Archive and completed 56 projects, nearly 500 interviews, in the first 10 years. On 1 January 1991 the Library’s new Oral History Centre assumed responsibility for the activities of the NZOHA, though Judith Fyfe and Hugo Manson have continued working as oral historians as well as training and providing advice to many others engaged in oral history work. A display in the Library foyer during June featured the work of the Archive.

Charles Poynter journal published: In October 2000 the Hakluyt Society published a valuable Library manuscript in The discovery of the South Shetland Islands , ed. by R. J. Campbell (Series 3, Vol. 4). Midshipman Poynter’s journal is the only first-hand account of the 1819-1820 voyage of discovery on the brig Williams. The Hakluyt Society can be contacted d- Map Library, The British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NWI 2DB (email: <office@hakluyt.com>). An article by A. G. E. Jones about the journal was published in the 1997 Turnbull Library Record, pp. 9-24.