Future Perfect Conference 2012
The Future Perfect Conference – Digital Preservation by Design will be held in Wellington 26-27 March 2012.
With guest speakers from the United States, Europe and Australia the conference is expected to attract interest from information technologists, records and information managers, enterprise content architects, developers, academics, librarians and archivists.
People with an interest in digital preservation, digital continuity, open standards and open data (particularly government data), metadata, public sector information, technology management and archiving are also expected.
Check out the programme and registration of interest form at: http://futureperfect.org.nz
Coromandel goldmining features in new exhibition
A celebration of goldmining in the Coromandel peninsula is behind a new online exhibition put together by Archives New Zealand’s Auckland Regional Office.
The exhibition shows what it was like to live and work in the goldfields. As reported by Alexander Aitken, Mining Inspector, alluvial deposits found in the Coromandel district in 1851 were the earliest discovery of gold in New Zealand.
From 1862 Warden's Offices were responsible not only for the local management of gold mining and the resolution of disputes, but also the allocation of residence, business and machine sites, water rights, administration of agricultural and pastoral leases, and the hearing of civil and criminal suits within the district.
These Warden’s Office records feature heavily in the exhibition and include applications for rights, registration of claims and claim plans. Mining company registration records also appear. The names of some of the claims are quite fanciful – Nil Desperandum, Asteroid, Golden Anchor, Mount Aurum, and Harp of Tara are just a few examples.
Life in the goldfields would have been dirty, noisy and dangerous. An extract from the Thames Hospital register records details of three men who had been involved in an explosion at the Caledonian Low Level mine in 1884.
The Wardens Courts also licensed machine sites, including stamper batteries, which were used to crush the gold-bearing ore. At one time there were 693 stamper heads operating in Thames alone. These batteries operated almost 24/7, with a break on Sunday mornings to allow for church attendance. It was a stressful environment and people reported that they found the silence unnerving.
Currently volunteers at Auckland Regional Office are indexing some Warden’s Courts holdings, which will make these records more accessible. These records are being made searchable through Archway, Archives New Zealand’s online search engine.
UNESCO recognition for National Film Unit newsreels
The National Film Unit newsreels, a significant collection in the care of Archives New Zealand, have just been placed on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) New Zealand Memory of the World Register.
UNESCO recognition for National Film Unit newsreels media release.
Ngā Tapuwae December 2011
Ngā Tapuwae December 2011 - the latest issue of Archives New Zealand's newsletter is available online.
Ngā Tapuwae October 2011
Ngā Tapuwae October 2011 - the latest issue of Archives New Zealand's newsletter is available online:http://archives.govt.nz/about/publications-media/nga-tapuwae-october-2011
Re-housing the Treaty of Waitangi under consideration
A new home for this country’s founding document the Treaty of Waitangi is under consideration in a specially prepared space in the refurbished National Library building in Molesworth Street, Wellington.
In an announcement yesterday (19 October) Hon Nathan Guy, the Minister Responsible for Archives New Zealand and the National Library, said creating a new exhibition space in the Library building for Te Tiriti gives many more New Zealanders the opportunity to engage with and learn about this country’s founding document.
Archives New Zealand Chief Archivist Greg Goulding said moving Te Tiriti to a larger venue would give more New Zealanders the opportunity to engage with and learn about this country’s founding document. The close proximity to Parliament, which also has a high public profile, is another plus.
Speaking on behalf of manu whenua, Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika, Sir Ngatata Love said the prospect of re-housing Te Tiriti is a welcome move, as giving the document a higher profile is in keeping with its mana.
The Treaty is currently on display at the Archives New Zealand building in Mulgrave Street in Wellington. However, the National Library’s newly refurbished building on Molesworth Street is due for completion later next year presenting an opportunity to maximise the use of this new facility.
Connecting to women’s suffrage at Archives New Zealand
“Many New Zealanders are proud to have a family connection to the world’s first suffrage petition,” says Greg Goulding, Chief Archivist Archives New Zealand.
“Wellingtonians can find out whether their great-grandma (or great-grandpa) was a suffragist and signed the 1893 petition at a special suffrage display in Archives New Zealand’s Wellington office, “Mr Goulding says.
The 1893 Women’s Suffrage Petition was assembled by Kate Sheppard and rolled down the central aisle of Parliament. It resulted in New Zealand becoming the first country in the world where women won the right to vote in a general election. The suffrage movement was this country’s first truly mass movement – mobilising tens of thousands of New Zealanders with rallies and a series of massive petitions.
The Petition was signed by nearly 32,000 New Zealanders. Nearly 24,000 of those signatures have survived on the copy of the petition presented to Parliament.
“We are proud to have the petition on permanent display in the Constitution Room at Archives New Zealand in Wellington together with the nation’s founding document the 1840 Tiriti o Waitangi,” Mr Goulding says.
Both documents are on the UNESCO International Memory of the World Register and in June this year were formally recognised on the inaugural UNESCO New Zealand Memory of the World Register.
The special display, including copies of the Wellington pages from the petition, is open at 10 Mulgrave Street, Thorndon, until 26 September, from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday and entry is free.
An online database, jointly developed by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, Archives New Zealand and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs enables people throughout New Zealand to see if their family members signed the petition.
Suffrage Day celebrations will be held throughout the country with a Ministerial launch in Wellington on 19 September. Special displays will be held in libraries in Waiuku, Whangaparaoa, Warkworth, Thames, Whanganui, Palmerston North, Lower Hutt, Dunedin and Invercargill and people will be able to check the petition online to see if they have a family connection.
Find out more about the 1893 Women’s Suffrage Petition from Archives New Zealand http://archives.govt.nz/womens-suffrage-petition and the Ministry for Culture and Heritage http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/politics/womens-suffrage
Ngā Tapuwae August 2011
Ngā Tapuwae August 2011, the latest issue of Archives New Zealand's stakeholder and staff newsletter is now online. Catch up with some of the most recent news about our services, projects and other activities.
Recommendations for coping with disaster and change in Chief Archivist's government recordkeeping report
Public offices should have plans to prepare for and manage the effects of natural disasters on their records and information, says Chief Archivist Greg Goulding in his latest report on the state of government recordkeeping.
“Archives New Zealand is committed to assisting in the rescue and recovery of public records in Canterbury,” Mr Goulding said.
“The Canterbury earthquakes in 2010 and 2011 have shown the impact that natural disasters can have on New Zealand. Although natural disasters have significant and visible effects, disasters can occur in many forms. Information from Archives New Zealand’s annual government recordkeeping survey indicates that many public offices are not as prepared as they should be to manage the effects of disasters on their records and information. Appropriate disaster recovery/business continuity planning for records and information management can assist in both prevention and response.”
Tabled in Parliament this week, the Chief Archivist’s Report on the State of Government Recordkeeping 2010 also makes recommendations to ensure information is well managed during times of changes within the public sector.
“In this world of constant change it is more important than ever for public sector agencies to develop good information management frameworks to ensure continuity of government services and continued accountability of government,” Mr Goulding says.
As public offices increase the delivery of online services there are opportunities to ensure that information management is integrated into system design. Ensuring systems can create and maintain reliable business information and records supports efficient business practice and helps enable the delivery of better, smarter public services.
The report also reflects on the five years since the passing of the Public Records Act 2005. During this time significant progress has been made in public sector recordkeeping practices. Archives New Zealand has identified three enablers of good information management in which public offices have made notable improvement:
- 93 per cent of public offices state they now have, or are working towards implementing a formal recordkeeping programme
- Many more offices are also working towards systems to support compliance within the Act; demonstrating there is an increased realisation within public offices of the benefits of full and accurate recordkeeping
- Public offices must be authorised by the Chief Archivist to dispose of their records. Disposal covers a range of activities including destruction or transfer to Archives New Zealand. In 2010 close to half of all public offices have gained disposal authorisation from the Chief Archivist for their core business records.
Implementation of disposal authorities is identified as a major area for improvement. Regular and routine disposal of public records is a key way to improve business efficiency. Only managing information for as long as it is required to be kept reduces storage costs and saves unnecessary time managing records that are no longer required.
Mr Goulding says many historic records of value to New Zealand are held in public offices throughout the country. Transferring them to Archives New Zealand eases the burden on public offices to care for these records and lets them focus on their core business.
The report is available on Archives New Zealand’s website
UNESCO recognises Archives New Zealand and National Library documents
Two documents from Archives New Zealand and one from the National Library’s Alexander Turnbull Library were formally recognised on the UNESCO New Zealand Memory of the World Register at an inaugural launch function for the register on 30 June.
The three documents are the 1840 Tiriti o Waitangi and the 1893 Women’s Suffrage Petition, both held at Archives New Zealand’s Wellington office, and the manuscript score of Douglas Lilburn's Overture: Aotearoa – an overture for orchestra written in 1940, while Lilburn was a student in London at the Royal College of Music – and held at the Turnbull Library.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the Women’s Suffrage petition are also on UNESCO’s International Memory of the World Register.
Two other documents recorded on the New Zealand register are the Tokyo War Crimes Trials Papers 1946-1948 held at University of Canterbury, also on the Memory of the World Asia and Pacific register, and the Grey New Zealand Māori manuscripts. The manuscript, book collection and personal papers collection of Sir George Grey, twice Governor of New Zealand, are held by the Auckland Libraries.
Bryan Gould, Chair New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO, said the ‘ESC’ in UNESCO stood for education, science and culture and UNESCO had an important role in supporting countries worldwide in these fields.
Protecting a country’s heritage helped people understand their own and others’ cultures.
UNESCO launched the Memory of the World programme in 1992 to recognise significant documentary heritage in a similar fashion to the way UNESCO's World Heritage List recognises significant natural and cultural sites. The move to ensure culturally iconic documents will be protected into the future was made in response to their being targeted during the Bosnian War.
The International Memory of the World Register aims to bring the value and significance of documentary heritage to wider public notice, along with the work performed by libraries, archives and museums in preserving this valuable heritage. The programme developed from a growing awareness to preserve and open up access to heritage documentation throughout the world.
The New Zealand Memory of the World Programme is one of over 60 Memory of the World programmes and was established in 2010 by the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO.
After the awards were presented by National Librarian Bill Macnaught, guests were treated to a viewing of several short silent films from circa 1930 about the South Pacific, held at the New Zealand Film Archive, and preserved and made accessible with UNESCO funding.
Pictured above: At the awards ceremony (left to r)ight) Bryan Gould, Chair New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO, Dianne Macaskill, Chair of the UNESCO New Zealand Memory of the World Register programme and former Chief Archivist Archives New Zealand, and National Librarian Bill Macnaught.
Pictured above: Award recipients (left to right) Greg Goulding, Chief Archivist and General Manager Archives New Zealand; Sue Cooper, Regional Heritage and Research Manager Auckland Libraries; Chris Szekely, Chief Librarian Alexander Turnbull Library; and Brian Pauling, Chair of the Culture sub-commission of the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO who received the citation for the Tokyo War Crime Trials collection. Brian is based in Christchurch and received the citation on behalf of Jill Durney, University of Canterbury Macmillan Brown Library Manager who was unable to be at the function due to dealing with the aftermath of the February 22 earthquake.