Ngā Tapuwae October 2011
Message from the Chief Archivist
The last two months have been a busy time for Archives New Zealand as we look to make advantage of our strong links with the National Library of New Zealand by considering integrated service delivery in the Wellington Library building in Molesworth Street after it reopens next year.
Since both our institutions have customers in common and with the potential to increase what we can offer them from one venue it makes sense to consider new opportunities.
Up for consideration is sharing public exhibition space, reading rooms and storage facilities in the new building. This would involve digitising high-use records and archives and moving collections in support of the proposed shared reading room.
Sharing a public exhibition area would be a great plus for all New Zealand as it involves re-housing Te Tiriti o Waitangi in a specially prepared space where it would, given its close proximity to Parliament and the number of visitors to the Library, be showcased to many more people.
Working together is not a new concept for our two organisations as the National Library’s Alexander Turnbull Library and Archives New Zealand currently share customer service space in the Archives’ Wellington office while the Library building is refurbished.
This arrangement sees Turnbull manuscripts and Archives New Zealand holdings available in the one place while maintaining the identities of our institutions.
Currently Archives New Zealand and National Library staff are working on the in-depth analysis required in order to make a decision, and the outcome should be know later in November.
As customer service is a priority for both the National Library and Archives New Zealand any change will be done by talking to customers about their expectations about how integrated services will work best for them. You can read more about the proposal in this edition of Ngā Tapuwae.
In addition I have been working to pull together a more streamlined internal structure for Archives New Zealand. This new structure which brings together our functions into two main workstreams – one with a client focus and the other centered on our holdings and how best to make these available – will roll-out over the next few months.
National Librarian Bill Macnaught and I have also signed a high-level agreement towards helping to ensure the ongoing security and viability of New Zealand’s digital documentary heritage and public archives.
The Digital Preservation Strategy is a template setting out the way digital information is managed in both our institutions now and in the future.
Making more information available online continues to be a top priority for us and in this issue you can also read about our efforts to digitise the 1893 Women’s Suffrage Petition and more of the probates which are high-use records.
Our work in the Pacific and what’s been happening in the world of recordkeeping is also covered. You can also find out about what’s new in our holdings from the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade. The archive of the moment is an interesting story on the New Zealand Navy League.
All the best
Greg Goulding
Chief Archivist and General Manager
Archives New Zealand
A new home for the Treaty of Waitangi being considered
A new home for this country’s founding document the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi is under consideration in a specially prepared space in the refurbished National Library building in Molesworth Street, Wellington.
Perspective of the new refurbished National Library building.
In an announcement earlier this month (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.
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.
Chief Archivist Greg Goulding and National Librarian Bill Macnaught say 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.
Other documents currently on show in the Archives New Zealand’s Constitution Room, including the 1835 Declaration of Independence of the Northern Chiefs and the 1893 Women’s Suffrage Petition, would also be moved.
Besides sharing public exhibition spaces, the proposal is looking at the feasibility of shared reading rooms and storage facilities in the refurbished building. This includes digitisation of high-use materials and moving collections to support the proposed shared reading room service.
Wide shot perspective of new National Library building.
Currently the National Library’s Alexander Turnbull Library and Archives New Zealand share customer service space in the Archives’ Wellington office while the Library building is refurbished. This arrangement sees Turnbull manuscripts and Archives New Zealand holdings available in the one place while maintaining the identities of the institutions.
If the decision is made to go ahead with the move, Archives New Zealand and specifically the Chief Archivist will still be responsible for the care and access to Te Tiriti. Statutory roles would also remain the same and there is no intention to dilute the roles and brands of Archives New Zealand, the National Library and the Alexander Turnbull Library.
A decision on whether or not Te Tiriti will be moved is expected by late November.
Perspective of the Aitken Street entrance to the new building.
Securing a way forward for digital information
The recent signing of the Digital Preservation Strategy by Archives New Zealand and the National Library of New Zealand has strengthened the ongoing security and viability of New Zealand’s digital documentary heritage and public archives.
Putting pen to paper Chief Archivist Greg Goulding and Chief Librarian Bill Macnaught agreed the new strategy was critical to the way digital information is managed in both institutions now and in the future.
Above: National Librarian Bill Macnaught (left) and Chief Archivist Greg Goulding sign the Digital Preservation Strategy.
“Today more and more of our documentary heritage and public archives are being created in digital environments and we need to be on top of the rapidly changing technologies to ensure their ongoing viability,” Bill Macnaught said.
Greg Goulding said, “this document provides the foundation to ensure we have an enduring trace of government decisions and activities.”
A team of representatives from both institutions developed the strategy which will be complemented by policies covering the day-to-day digital preservation approaches and processes. These include ensuring the right material is saved in the right way, is identifiable, and useable for the long-term.
Underpinning the collaborative work of the National Library and Archives New Zealand in the digital environment, the strategy confirms the commitment for ensuring digital content is managed and preserved in a way that reflects its status as a knowledge asset and tāonga of New Zealand.
The strategy sets out the principles and shared core values for this and underpins the vision for working jointly towards creating and making the New Zealand Digital Archive a reality.
Set for 2013 the first goal for the New Zealand Digital Archive is to do everything necessary for the long-term management and preservation of government digital material held by Archives New Zealand and digital heritage material held by the National Library of New Zealand, and the Alexander Turnbull Library.
Secondly by 2018 the New Zealand Digital Archive aims to be the primary preservation repository for New Zealand government, heritage, research, learning and community digital content, and a significant way for New Zealanders to discover, access and reuse data and information and access digital management and preservation services.
Above: Involved in the project from left to right: Bill Macnaught, National Librarian; Lynn Benson, Manager National Digital Heritage Archive, National Library; Alison Fleming, Programme Manager Government Digital Archive Archives New Zealand; John Roberts, Senior Responsible Officer Government Digital Archive, Archives New Zealand; Evelyn Wareham, Manager Public Sector Digital Continuity, Archives New Zealand; Peter McKinney, Preservation Policy Analyst, National Library; and Greg Goulding Chief Archivist Archives New Zealand. Absent, is Euan Cochrane, Senior Adviser Digital Continuity, Archives New Zealand.
Recordkeeping standards up for review
Archives New Zealand is implementing a programme of work to streamline and improve its recordkeeping standards.
John Roberts Acting Manager Government Recordkeeping Group says, “we will be reviewing and revoking out-of-date standards, improving our support for standards implementation, and utilising our involvement in international standards work by adopting relevant ISO and Australian/New Zealand standards rather than developing our own.
“Our mandatory standards for public sector records management will be reviewed in 2012/13, and we plan to combine them into one document that is simpler for agencies to use and easier for us to maintain and support.”
Archives New Zealand and Standards New Zealand have been working to establish an International Review Group (IRG) for recordkeeping standards. The IRG is an advisory committee set up by Standards New Zealand and is New Zealand’s main liaison with the International Standards Organisation technical subcommittee on Archives/records management.
The IRG helps to ensure that New Zealand views are considered when international standards on archives/records management are developed. You can find information about this here: http://archives.govt.nz/advice/international-standards/international-rev...
A new International and New Zealand standards document on digitisation has been approved. ISO 13028 is based on Archives New Zealand's Digitisation Standard, which was issued in 2006. A project has begun to revoke the Digitisation Standard and replace it with ISO 13028. Check the information here: http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_ics/catalogue_detail_ics....
Archives New Zealand has revoked the appraisal standard. Issued in 1998 the standard has been replaced by a variety of guidance and training on appraisal.
More information here: http://archives.govt.nz/advice/questions-and-answers#What_happened_to_th...
Probing into our past reveals who we are
Our documented heritage shapes our lives giving us an understanding of who we are and where we came from, said Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker speaking at the recent launch of the project to digitise more than 1.8 million Canterbury and Westland probates.
“The Canterbury earthquakes have highlighted the importance and fragility of our documented history,” he told guests at a function held at Archives New Zealand’s Christchurch office.
“This is a project to celebrate because it’s about preserving where we come from and our family’s history and whakapapa – this is vital and worthy of preservation. Knowing the journey is important to us all.”
Mayor Bob Parker said digitising and making the information widely available was equally important, as protecting and having the information available for future generations gave them the gift of knowledge.
Above: Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker reads with interest the probate of one of his relations – Master Mariner Robert Sproul.
Digitising the probates is a joint project between Archives New Zealand’s Christchurch office and FamilySearch and will result in some of the most highly used Canterbury and Westland archives being available online.
The office holds 1,879,280 probate files and these will be digitised by FamilySearch volunteers beginning with the 35,121 files from the Timaru High Court.
Michael Higgins, FamilySearch's Pacific Area Manager said Canterbury's historical records were a vital legacy for the generations of today and tomorrow.
"We are pleased to have this opportunity to work with our friends at Archives New Zealand to rebuild and preserve these historical documents which are the foundation of this region.
“The Genealogical Society of Utah has been collecting important family records for more than 100 years and in 1959 a vault was constructed in a granite mountain to house the huge collection.
“Now more than two billion records are available free worldwide on the FamilySearch website.”
He noted that the partnership with Archives New Zealand began in 2008 with the digitisation of all the shipping lists from1855 and 1972.
Above from left to right: Michael Higgins (FamilySearch) with Chris Adam (Archives New Zealand) and Alicia Wright (Archives New Zealand).
Providing more services online
Alicia Wright Group Manager Access Services said Archives New Zealand is committed to moving its services online to provide better and more equitable access to a valuable national and community resource.
“Our aim is to have 90 per cent of our high-use paper archives digitised and available online by 2018,” she said. “Working with FamilySearch to digitise the probates will help us achieve this goal.
“Digitising records also helps to protect and preserve the originals and helps ensure their endurance during times of disaster.”
Probate digitisation has already begun in the Wellington national office and this is the first extension of the project outside Wellington.
“While this has been planned for some while, the timing has been determined by the Canterbury earthquakes,” she said. “The probates constitute the single most used record held by the Christchurch office and account for well over half of the items requested by researchers.”
Transferred to the Christchurch office from the High Courts in Timaru, Christchurch, and Greymouth the records include all the surviving probate files from Canterbury and Westland.
The project is expected to last five years, with the first of an estimated 1,879,280 images available free of charge on the FamilySearch website from mid to late 2012.
Archives New Zealand’s Christchurch Regional Archivist Chris Adam said the project was a good public private partnership that focussed on the past and the future.
Partnership with FamilySearch
The Archives New Zealand and FamilySearch partnership began in 2008 and sees FamilySearch provide resources and equipment, enabling staff to produce high-quality digital images.
The partnership has established a new digitisation laboratory in Archives New Zealand’s Wellington office, including microform readers, document scanners, a photograph scanner and professional digital photography stations.
Digitising all New Zealand’s shipping lists was first-up. These records include passenger and crew lists noting arrivals and departures from all New Zealand ports between 1855 and 1972. As a result nearly three million records have been digitised and are being uploaded on to the FamilySearch website.
Digitising these records provides both New Zealanders and a worldwide audience with direct online access to important parts of their family history – for example genealogists use these records to trace their own history, also to search for missing people and the beneficiaries and heirs of deceased estates.
What is FamilySearch?
FamilySearch is a non-profit genealogical organisation funded by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Working with many archives throughout the world in similar collaborative partnerships FamilySearch has built the world’s largest repository of genealogical information which is freely available to all people through www.familysearch.org and in 4,500 history centres globally.
NZSIS files on transfer
Police Special Branch documents dealing with the activities of the Christian Pacifist Society between 1938 and 1954 were recently transferred from the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) to Archives New Zealand.
The files on the Christian Pacifist Society are mainly documents created by the former Police Special Branch, and cover the following types of information:
- Reports by the Police to the Prime Minister
- Correspondence between the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney-General and the Controller of Censorship during World War Two
- Police reports on meetings and demonstrations
- Property confiscated by police
- Summary records of prosecutions and convictions, including prosecutions under the Public Safety Regulations 1940
- Copies of pamphlets, newspaper clippings and other publications
- Background information on individuals.
Information on the records transferred by the NZSIS to Archives New Zealand is accessible on Archives New Zealand’s online search system Archway.
Archives New Zealand and NZSIS are currently working together on the transferral of NZSIS documents into the safe care of Archives New Zealand. Earlier this year the Chief Archivist approved Disposal Authority 463 (DA463) covering NZSIS operational files from 1957 until 2005. DA 463, which was prepared by the Archives New Zealand Arrangement and Description Section, authorises records both for transfer to Archives New Zealand or for destruction.
During the public consultation process on DA463 Archives New Zealand consulted with stakeholders including representatives of a journalist, a Labour History project, the Human Rights Commissioner and the Archives and Records Association of New Zealand.
MFAT releases classified files to public
More than 700 previously restricted files have been made available in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade’s (MFAT) annual release of classified information.
The publicly released files were this month made accessible at Archives New Zealand’s Wellington office.
This annual release is part of the Ministry’s ongoing programme of reviewing and releasing classified information as soon as practicable.
The files cover a wide range of topics and date mainly from the 1970s, although some are from earlier dates.
Topics range from economic relations with Britain, Australia and the United States, to aid projects in India, Sri Lanka and Fiji.
The files include briefing papers for various Pacific regional meetings.
There are also files on ANZUS, Bahrain, China, and Five Power Defence Arrangements.
Among files released are a number returned from the Ministry’s overseas embassies including Brussels, Canberra, Kuala Lumpur, London, Singapore and Tokyo.
New Zealand women first in the world
Suffrage Day was an opportunity to appreciate what our forbears have done for us and to take stock of new challenges, the Minister of Women’s Affairs Hekia Parata told a breakfast gathering in Parliament to celebrate Suffrage Day on 19 September.
New Zealand women were the first in the world to gain the right to vote on 19 September 1893 and Ms Parata said women today needed to take up the challenge of taking on leadership roles.
Supporting women across the Pacific was particularly important and ensuring young women had an outstanding education was imperative.
Quoting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Ms Parata said unleashing the potential of women in every country will lift the economy of the world.
Above: Minister of Women's Affairs Hekia Parata (centre) with keynote speakers Vanisa Dhiru (left) and Jill Campbell (right) at the breakfast.
Keynote speakers at the function were Vanisa Dhiru, President of YWCA of Greater Wellington, who said the 1893 suffragists led the way for New Zealand to be a feisty nation, and Youth Parliamentarian Jill Campbell from Wellington Girls’ College, who said today’s young women can learn much from the experience of older women in the community.
A new online database developed by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, in conjunction with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Archives New Zealand enables people to see if a relative was a suffragist.
Suffrage petition a proud connection for many New Zealanders
“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.
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 petition presented to Parliament.
“We are proud to have the suffrage petition on permanent display in the Constitution Room in Archives’ Wellington office together with the nation’s founding document the 1840 Tiriti o Waitangi,” Greg 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.
Find out more about the 1893 Women’s Suffrage Petition from Archives New Zealand http://archives.govt.nz/womens-suffrage-petition.
Gold star for Suffrage Petition digitisation
Producing high-quality digital images of the 564 pages of the 1893 Women’s Suffrage Petition was no mean feat for Archives New Zealand Wellington.
Margaret Parbhu, acting Manager Archives Management says, “the impetus for the project came from our work with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the Ministry for Culture and Heritage to have digital images of the petition pages online in time for the Women’s Suffrage 120th anniversary in 2013.
"Staff from Access Services, Preservation and Arrangement & Description have worked together to make this happen,” Margaret Parbhu said.
Preservation technician Carolyn Garret attends to the Petition pages in the Digital Copying Centre, watched by Chief Archivist Greg Goulding and Acting Manager Archives Management Margaret Parbhu.
“Arrangement & Description team members carried out considerable research to determine what descriptive work had been done around the petition with a view to how this would aid us now that the digitisation is complete.
"There is still much work to be done before the images can be uploaded onto Archives New Zealand’s online search system Archway.
“We are aiming to provide search capability by individual name which will take the viewer to the page of the searched name. We will also be looking at other enhanced description such as, grouping names by regions and showing the region referred to on a map,” Margaret Parbhu said.
Preservation Manager Diana Coop supervised the removal of the petition from its display case in the Constitution Room, taking it to the Conservation Laboratory where it was unrolled and prepared for digitisation.
“A specifically designed frame was constructed to support the fragile petition for the digitisation process and to ensure it unrolled safely,” Diana Coop said. "The petition was put in security each night and taken out in the morning.
“We also updated the petition's condition documentation as the digitisation took place. This involved checking any damage and noting the many annotations found on the back of the petition and photographing these.”
Diana Coop says, “the petition is very fragile. We discovered it was not all one long document joined together and there were in fact still several pieces.”
Scanning of the pages was carried out on a Zeutschel OS 12000 HQ book copier in the Digital Copying Centre at Archives New Zealand’s Wellington office.
Alan Ferris Manager Access Development and Operations said, “this has been a great example of staff from across the business working to achieve a very high quality result under conditions that protect the original archive.
“The signatures are in different coloured inks so the new, full colour, high resolution images reveal detail only previously available by viewing the original archive.
Archives Support Assistant Edwar Eshow digitises pages from the Petition as Margaret Parbhu looks on.
“Each individual page of the petition begins with the list of suffrage requests and is followed by signatures. When the petition was pasted together it was done in such a way that the requests appear only on the first page and then the signatures flow uninterrupted; quirky but effective.”
Scanning now complete the original petition has been returned to the Preservation Laboratory for treatment before being prepared for return to the Constitution Room.
The digital images will undergo a substantial documentation and checking process to ensure the quality is just right and that all images and associated information is correct.
Besides Archives New Zealand, the images will be available on the Ministry for Culture and Heritage and Women’s Affairs websites giving greater access of this historical document to many more people.
Innovative Use of Suffrage Data a Mix and Mash Winner
A suggestion by Euan Cochrane, Senior Adviser Digital Continuity, Archives New Zealand, to release data from the 1893 Women’s Suffrage Petition to this year’s Mix and Mash competition came up trumps for one lucky entrant.
Run by DigitalNZ in association with the National Library of New Zealand, Mix and Mash challenges people to build something completely new by reusing existing New Zealand digital content and data.
The Supreme Creative Remix award winner A Grand Mother by Candy Elsmore, used data from the Suffrage Petition, amongst other things, as source material in her winning entry: http://www.mixandmash.org.nz/2011-winners/supreme-creative-remix/
Inspired by the discovery that her grandmother signed the Suffrage Petition over 100 years ago, Candy’s film was described by Lawrence Lessig, co-founder of Creative Commons and special judge for the competition as: "simple, clean, unbelievably compelling".
This year’s competition attracted over 100 entrants, including an entire primary school class, with $50,000 in cash and prizes up for grabs. The $10,000 award for the Supreme Data Mashup went to Alex Gibson and Graham Jenson for their entry: 100 Companies.
School student prizes went to: Otahuhu College; Casey Carsel (St Margaret’s College); Marsden Collegiate, Karori, Wellington; Amanda Tauber (Diocesan School for Girls); Luke Davia (Tawa College); and the entire Year 5 class at Point England School, Auckland, whose entry made the judges "laugh and clap".
All winners and their entries are available for viewing on the Mix and Mash NZ website.
Euan says, “I found a copy of the Suffrage petition data on old floppy disks we had been experimenting with in the digital preservation laboratory. My first thought was ‘this data has to be set free’. I'm really pleased Candy was able to find inspiration for her remix in the data. It shows how much value can be packed into datasets. That single name in the suffrage petition dataset, Candy's grandmother's name, was hugely valuable to Candy and there are tens of thousands more in that one dataset.”
Anna takes charge of the PARBICA family
Archives New Zealand reinforces a commitment to recordkeeping and archiving in the Pacific with the election of Anna Gulbransen (pictured below) as the Secretary General of the Pacific Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (PARBICA).
Elected at the 14th conference of PARBICA held in Samoa, Anna (Senior Advisor Government Recordkeeping Programme) takes over from Mark Crookston (Senior Advisor Digital Continuity) who has held the position for two years.
“The Secretary General is responsible for running the Bureau, coordinating activities, and maintaining relationships with the 74 member countries, states, territories and individuals,” Anna Gulbransen says.
“This is a big responsibility and I’m excited about the task ahead. We have a great team on the Bureau and I am looking forward to working with them. I will also be looking at opportunities to involve other Archives New Zealand staff in PARBICA work.
“I have both a professional and personal commitment to PARBICA. There is a lot of work ahead with the implementation of the updated business plan and resolutions from the recent conference driving the bureau’s work over the next two years."
Above: Mark Crookston addresses the PARBICA Conference
Long-standing commitment
Anna Gulbransen's election continues a long-standing commitment from Archives New Zealand to run the PARBICA Secretariat with the post being previously held by Mark Crookston and Evelyn Wareham (Archives New Zealand Digital Continuity Programme Manager), and former Archives’ staff Michael Hoyle and Ken Scadden. Former Chief Archivist Dianne Macaskill was this year re-elected for a second term as PARBICA Vice-President.
Digital Recordkeeping module
Phase 5 of the Pacific Recordkeeping for Good Governance Toolkit was launched at the conference. These modules provide guidance and support on best practices for digital recordkeeping across the Pacific.
The toolkit aims to better equip government agencies with information to improve their recordkeeping. Archives New Zealand staff have worked with their Pacific colleagues to develop the toolkit and AusAID and NZaid have provided considerable support for the project.
The PARBICA Bureau, assisted by the National Archives of Australia and Archives New Zealand has accepted responsibility for maintaining, distributing and updating toolkit modules for as long as they remain useful.
The toolkit is available at: http://www.parbica.org/Toolkit%20pages/ToolkitIntroPage.htm
Conference highlights
PARBICA conferences are held every two years and this year marked 30 years since the first conference was held in Suva, Fiji in 1981.
This year’s conference, opened by the Prime Minister of Samoa, Hon Tuilaepa Lupesoliai Sailele Malielegaoi, was the biggest ever with 105 delegates from 18 Pacific countries, states or territories.
Delegates presented resolutions ranging from digital technology and archiving to the specifics about digital and disaster response, the toolkit, training and education for the Pacific. View the conference workshops and resolutions on the PARBICA website.
Mark Crookston and Anna Gulbransen presented workshops on Recordkeeping for Good Governance and Disaster Preparedness and Response in the Pacific as well as participating in the bureau business sessions and Annual General Meeting.
As part of a session on disasters in the Pacific region, Government Recordkeeping Group Manager John Roberts reported about disaster recovery of records damaged in the Christchurch earthquakes.
John Roberts said Pacific nations greatly appreciated the support and advice received from Archives New Zealand. This included recordkeeping and archival training for staff, the digitisation of the Samoan/German archives; and the contribution to the recordkeeping toolkit.
The next PARBICA conference will be held in the Solomon Islands in 2013.
PARBICA Bureau officials
The newly-elected members of the PARBICA Bureau are:
President: Amela Silipa (Samoa)
Vice-President: Dianne Macaskill (New Zealand)
Secretary General: Anna Gulbransen (New Zealand)
Treasurer: Helen Walker (Australia)
Member: Julian Chonigolo (Solomon Islands)
Member: Naomi Ngirakamerang (Palau)
Member: Misiwaini Qereqeretabua (Fiji)
Above: Delegates at the 14th conference of PARBICA in Samoa
Archive of the moment – The Navy League of New Zealand
Acting as a pressure group, urging government and the public on the importance of an adequate navy as the best guarantee of peace, the Navy League of New Zealand was established in Auckland in 1896.
This followed on from the establishment of the Navy League in the United Kingdom the previous year. While the UK body was disbanded in 1979, Navy Leagues continue to prosper around the world, including New Zealand, with the largest and strongest being in the United States.
In New Zealand the Navy League currently has branches in each of the four main centres, although at times in its history there have been branches in many other cities and towns. Set-up as a national body in 1947 the national Navy League of New Zealand coordinates branch activities.
The Sea Cadet Corps, first founded in New Zealand in 1941, was for 50 years one of the League's more demanding interests. Recession and financial constraints in the later decades of the 20th century have curtailed some of the League's activities. In 1990, the Sea Cadet Association was founded to take responsibility for youth training.
The League has now reverted to its original goal of promoting adequate naval preparedness.
The Archives New Zealand collection of Navy League records includes minute books, financial records, correspondence, instruction manuals and photographs.
Above: This sample from the Handbook of the Navy League of New Zealand is just one example of the many items relating to New Zealand defence in the collection of documents from former New Zealand Prime Minister Sir Walter Nash.
This handbook gives an account of the League and the Royal New Zealand Navy as it stood in 1950.
HMNZS Bellona was a cruiser which served the Royal Navy during the latter stages of World War Two. It was loaned to the Royal New Zealand Navy from 1946-1956. Returned to the Royal Navy in 1956 Bellona did not re-enter service, and was scrapped two years later.
HMNZS Taupo was a frigate which served in the Royal New Zealand Navy from 1948-1962.
Networking opportunity for research students
The opportunity to learn first-hand about Archives New Zealand’s research finding aids brought a group of indigenous research students to our Wellington office recently.
The students from Patumakuku training institute near Levin, were accompanied by their tutor Lindsay Poutama, a regular user of Archives’ holdings.
Lindsay Poutama says this was the students’ first visit to Archives New Zealand. “It’s been a great experience for the students. Many thanks to Archivist Donal Raethel for organising the visit at short notice.
“It’s been absolutely awesome – they have learnt so much – how to use the finding aids and research tools from an archival perspective and how to plan their research projects.”
The marae-based private training enterprise runs courses in progressive and traditional knowledge and language revitalisation.
The group are students of the national certificate of indigenous research – a one year course with the majority of graduates expecting to go back to their iwi (Ngati Tukorehe) as researchers on Tiriti o Waitangi claims.
Pictured: Students from Patumakuku training institution, learn about archival finding aids in the Gateway during a visit to Archives New Zealand’s Wellington office. From left: Peter Williams, Katarina Williams, Lindsay Poutama (tutor), Serena Cameron, Sally Petley (seated) and Amiria Arapere.
News Bytes
Recordkeeping forum focus on change
Archives New Zealand invites you the November Government Recordkeeping Forum
Date: Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Venue: James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor, Level 16, 147 The Terrace, Wellington
Time: 1-4 pm
Cost: free to attend
The focus of the Wellington forum in November is on Administrative Change, discussing the experiences of managing administrative change and what this means for recordkeeping, is planned.
Presentations on the day include: An Update from Archives New Zealand; an Update on the Digitisation Standard Review; two case studies of organisations experiencing administrative change, including a presentation from Channa Jayasinha, Chief Information Officer at the Ministry of Fisheries. The programme will conclude with a Panel Discussion, looking at some of the issues involved in managing these transitions.
To register go to: www.archives.govt.nz/wellington-forum-23-november-2011-change
Further information on the programme will be updated on:
www.archives.govt.nz/advice/training-and-events/government-recordkeeping-forums/23rd-november-wellington-forum-change
Future Perfect 2012 - Digital Preservation by Design
26 - 27 March 2012
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand
Early Bird registration has now opened for Future Perfect 2012.
The theme of Future Perfect 2012 - Digital Preservation by Design seeks to stimulate discussion about how, when and why influencing the design of systems can support digital preservation and ultimately ensure that today’s information is available tomorrow.
The two-day conference features many exciting international speakers and the programme can be found on the Future Perfect website.
For further information about this conference or the sponsorship opportunities available please contact:
Conference Organisers: Paardekooper and Associates, PO Box 41002, Eastbourne,
Lower Hutt 5047, New Zealand. Telephone +64 4 562 8259, email: info@futureperfect.org.nz
or visit our website: futureperfect.org.nz
National Digital Forum
The 10th annual National Digital Forum conference will be held November 29-30, 2011 at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington.
The National Digital Forum (NDF) is a coalition of libraries, archives, museums, galleries, government departments and other organisations and individuals working to get New Zealand’s culture and heritage online and accessible to all. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the NDF, this year’s conference will showcase all that is exciting in the sector, and discuss the issues and opportunities that are shaping the future.
For further information and to register go to the website: http://ndf.natlib.govt.nz/about/2011-conference.htm
Ruggernomics
A menu from the complimentary dinner for the 1905 “Originals” All Blacks and photographs of other early All Black teams, from the Archives New Zealand holdings, feature in the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Museum’s new exhibition – Ruggernomics.
The free exhibition, at the museum, No 2 The Terrace, Wellington, is open until the end of March 2012. Currency from 20 rugby-playing countries is on display alongside a banknote or coin for each country, and some economic data, rugby statistics and information about its currency.
2012 ICA Congress, Brisbane
The 2012 International Council of Archives international congress will be held in Brisbane, Australia, 20-24 August 2012.
Find out more about the programme themes http://www.ica2012.com/program/
Call for nominations for Memory of the World New Zealand
The UNESCO New Zealand Memory of the World Committee/Te Komiti o Aotearoa mo Nga Mahara o te Ao is now asking for nominations for Aotearoa/New Zealand documentary heritage to be inscribed on the UNESCO Aotearoa/New Zealand Memory of the World Register.
A successful nomination will raise the profile of your institution and the work that you do to preserve documentary heritage.
Information including the nomination form is at: unescomow.org.nz
The nominations to the New Zealand register close on Tuesday 15 November 2011.
New inscriptions to the register will be decided by Monday 28 November and an announcement made on the successful inscriptions.
What is Memory of the World?
UNESCO launched the Memory of the World programme in 1992 to guard against collective loss of awareness of documentary heritage. Memory of the World aims to recognise significant documentary heritage in a similar to how way UNESCO's World Heritage Convention and World Heritage List recognises significant natural and cultural sites.
Countries may develop their own national registers. The most significant items can also be nominated for inscription on the international or regional Memory of the World Registers.
The New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO supports the Aotearoa/New Zealand Memory of the World Committee/Te Komiti o Aotearoa mo Nga Mahara o te Ao to coordinate nominations for the register of New Zealand documentary heritage. The first inscriptions to the Aotearoa/New Zealand register were announced on 30 June 2011.
Two collections of documentary heritage were inscribed on the New Zealand register in June 2011. The nomination forms for these collections are on the website www.unescomow.org.nz and provide an exemplar for submissions.
What can be nominated?
To be selected for registration on the New Zealand Memory of the World Register the documentary heritage should:
- be unique and irreplaceable (in that it has demonstrable historic, aesthetic or cultural significance to a community or the nation)
- be a primary or significant source that documents an historical or cultural event that has had a lasting impact and influenced the course of New Zealand history
- be an outstanding example of a document or an experience.
Documentary heritage can be digital or analogue. Examples include, but are not limited to textual items such as documents, manuscripts, books, newspapers, posters and non-textual items such as photographs, films, discs, drawings, prints, maps; online media items, social media databases and mobile digital devices.
Enquiries
For enquiries or more information, please visit unescomow.org.nz, or contact: enquiries@unescomow.org.nz with a request to subscribe.