Amy D, one of our library archivists gives us a look at a part of the library most people don't get to see - the treasures in our Archives.
Allow me to introduce you to He Kohinga Pūranga, the Christchurch City Libraries' Archives! Located on Tuakiri, level two of Tūranga, the Archives are a rich collection of primary sources on the city’s history. The collection includes unpublished records of local and community organisations and clubs, churches, businesses and individuals. The material relates to Christchurch, the Canterbury region, the Chatham Islands, and Antarctica, from 1850 onwards and includes: ephemera (posters, brochures, leaflets and more), manuscripts, and a small oral history collection.
We work towards preserving our history, taking them from their original format that we receive collections in to rehousing the collection into archival boxes where they can be more easily be cared for and accessed.
For example, we have this wonderful collection of slides from the Cyril Loach Local History Papers archive (Arch 0303).
We can see in the slide below an old view of Church Corner.
The Cyril Loach archive has papers on various subjects, largely local history including genealogy, local history, the frozen meat industry in New Zealand, and historic buildings and places, collated by Albert Cyril Loach. The rest of the Cyril Loach archive consists of papers, photographs, maps, press articles and much more. Having archives with multiple formats can be difficult but provide us with a challenge and a chance to find hidden gems.
Other interesting items we have include scrapbooks. The scrapbook pictured below is from the Pan-Pacific Women’s Association 6th International Congress papers (Arch 0331) which showcases wonderful photographs from 1952.
We have several archival collections that relate to groups and associations that range from small Christchurch groups to larger groups such as the Pan-Pacific Women’s Association which was formed in 1928 to support women in the Pacific region (in 1955 the name of the group change to the Pan-Pacific and Southeast Asia Women’s Association).
This is just scratching the surface of what is available to researchers in our archival collection. For more information on what we hold see our online database of archival holdings, ArchiveSpace or pop into Tūranga and speak to one of our Archivists.
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