Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade historical records
This guide will help you navigate the thousands of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s historical records held here at Archives New Zealand.
Know before you start
About the guide
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Te Manatū Aorere has released a guide about how to navigate historical records — from briefs to diplomatic reports and aid programme files — held here at Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga Archives New Zealand.
‘The Historical Records of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade – Manatū Aorere: a Reference Guide and Glossary for Authors, Historians and Researchers’ is designed to make MFAT historical records more accessible to researchers investigating and sharing the stories of New Zealand’s diplomatic history.
The guide includes:
an introduction to the Ministry’s records
how to find and use them
a glossary to decode the descriptions of different types of information.
Read the guide
Download the guide from MFAT’s website or view it in person at one of our reading rooms.
Read the guide on MFAT’s website
Restricted access
This collection of historical records consists of physical files, aged 25 years of older, which have been transferred to us. You can use Collections search to locate the records.
Some of these records remain restricted. To give you access to a restricted record, we need to see written permission from the agency responsible for the restriction.
Requesting access to restricted files
This is how you can request access permission to restricted records.
Contact us — Contact us and we will refer you to the relevant government agency.
Contact them — Get in touch with the relevant government agency to obtain written permission to access the records.
Access the record — If you obtain permission in written form, there are two ways to access the record:
the government agency you've obtained the permission from will organise access to the record, or
you will need to contact us again with your permission letter, and we will enable access to the record.
What’s digitised
Open access records that have been digitised can be found on Collections search.
What you can find
We hold thousands of the Ministry’s historical records, dating back to the late 19th century. The collection tells the story of New Zealand’s engagement with the world — from big picture issues to the day-to-day workings of an evolving Ministry.
The collection is a valuable contribution to New Zealand’s story and making it more accessible is an important part of the Ministry’s work to be open and transparent with its information.
You can find our more about the records in this collection in the MFAT guide. The guide includes information about the record:
types
sources
history
filing systems, and more.
Archives codes and terminology
When you look up records, you might find a string of letters and numbers (for example CAWS 3420 CH931/1-229) next to their title. These are our archival codes or references.
You don't need to use them to search on Collections search. They can be useful if you visit our offices in person or contact us to access a record, as they can help our archivists quickly find records.
For more information on referencing the archives, check out the Copying and citing archives page.
To familiarise yourself with the records terminology, check out the Definitions of archival terms guide.
Browse the archives
Go to Collections search to search our records.
Please note that you might not be able to access everything online. You’re likely to have to visit one of our reading rooms to access the files you are researching.
If you still can’t find what you are looking for, contact us.