This summer, we ran a pilot project to transcribe the diaries of George Leslie Adkin, and put them online. Adkin wrote in his diary every day, and his 1913 diaries detail his courtship of Maud Herd, whom he later married. Adkin was also a talented photographer, and took many photographs ofRead more
Movember is drawing to a close, and thousands of men in New Zealand and around the world are sporting moustaches for a good cause. In New Zealand, the funds raised are being used for research, advocacy and survivor support around men’s cancer and mental health. Here’s a small selection ofRead more
Brian Brake grew up in Arthur’s Pass and retained a love of New Zealand’s mountains all his life. He took hundreds of photographs of South Island peaks, lakes and rivers. If you’re an alpine enthusiast, a keen tramper, or you know the South Island well, please take a look andRead more
Te Papa has a collection of nearly 4,000 glass plate and film negatives taken by the Wellington photography studio Berry & Co. The studio was founded by William Berry in 1897, and operated in Cuba St until 1931. The negatives are mainly portraits – of families, children, men and women,Read more
Te Papa has an enormous collection of photographs, negatives and transparencies by Brian Brake (1927 – 88), one of New Zealand’s best known photographers. Brake became famous while working overseas as a photojournalist – one of his best known works is the Monsoon photo essay, which he took in 1960. Read more
In my last post I touched on the shipwreck of the Dundonald on Disappointment Island in 1907, and the rescue of its survivors by the Hinemoa when she was taking scientists to the Auckland Islands. The Auckland Islands were on a major shipping route, but the available charts were not always accurate,Read more
I’ve been enjoying our scientist’s fieldwork posts. We have scientist’s photographs from several historic field trips in the photography collection. My favourites are in this photo album from the 1907 Expedition to the Subantarctic Islands. The Expedition was initiated by the Canterbury Philosophical Institute with support from the Government, and studied plants, animals, soilsRead more
We have an enormous collection of photographic negatives and transparencies on glass and film, going back to the 1870s. They include all sorts of images from studio portraits to holiday snaps, landscapes, photographs of sports teams, and artists’ negatives and transparencies. Many negatives are chemically unstable and, if left in anRead more
