ALEXANDER TURNBULL LIBRARY

Turnbull Library Record, Volume 7, Issue 2, 1 October 1974, Page 26

ALEXANDER TURNBULL LIBRARY

Report by the Chief Librarian, J. E. Traue

This report marks the first full year of occupancy of the second floor at 44 The Terrace, the temporary headquarters of the Library until the National Library Building is completed towards the end of the decade. The new premises, despite some inadequacies, have functioned well and are providing a higher standard of accommodation for staff and stock than the old building in Bowen Street. However, little progress has been made towards the solution of the library’s overall accommodation problems. The growth rate of the collections, stimulated by the added responsibilities assigned to Turnbull after the creation of the National Library in 1965, is still accelerating and this year may well set a record. Some additional accommodation has been made available at Gateway House in Dixon Street, to which the Photograph Section and microfilm unit have been shifted from the local government Building on The Terrace, but more will be required before the occupancy of the National Library Building. It appears inevitable that the fragmentation of the collections, at present divided between The Terrace, the Colonial Motor Company building in Courtenay Place, the Turnbull house on Bowen Street, Gateway House, and miscellaneous basements, will continue with all its consequences for staff and users.

The Bowen Street building is currently being used for storage but it is hoped that a wider use for the building as a display and exhibition centre will be possible. The continuing interest of the Wellington City Council in the preservation of the building is greatly appreciated.

The increasing growth of the collections reflects the widening reputation of the Alexander Turnbull Library as the national collection of research materials relating to New Zealand. Two particular matters demand recognition. First, the longer-term effects of the extended collecting expedition undertaken by the Chief Librarian last year in the United Kingdom are now showing. A steady flow of gifts and offers for purchase has been stimulated by the visit and one bequest of £5,000 worth of sixteenth century books is directly attributable to Mr Bagnall’s presence in London. Heartened by this success a collecting expedition to Australia and further visits to the United Kingdom are planned. Second, the special grant of $45,000 from the Government to assist in making three purchases that would otherwise have been beyond the library’s resources is welcome recognition of the national importance of Turnbull’s collections. Three major collections became available within months of each other, the Chazal watercolours of the Duperrey expedition which visited New Zealand in 1824; a group of original water-

colour portraits of Maoris by G. F. Angas; and a collection of over 300 watercolours by Sir William Fox, a former premier of New Zealand. The special Government grant enabled the library to secure two collections entirely and five of the Angas portraits for a total of $49,900.

Prices for books, manuscripts and pictures in the United Kingdom, the library’s main overseas source, have been high for the last few years, and this has resulted in a substantial flow of material to dealers and auctioneers. The library has had an unparalleled opportunity to bring back important collections of research material to New Zealand, and this year a record sum of over SIOO,OOO was spent on acquisitions. The Alexander Turnbull Library Endowment Trust has, as in the past, made a significant contribution to purchases during the year.

The growing depth of the collections is attracting an increasing number of research workers from within New Zealand and from overseas, particularly Australia, and an extended publicity programme is making the resources of the library more widely known to the general public. As a national research library the Alexander Turnbull Library has a responsibility to ensure that its collections and services, a substantial capital investment, are used to as full an extent as practicable. Present conditions, especially accommodation, and to a lesser extent staffing are hindering the library from achieving its full potential within the National Library.

This year is marked by the retirement of A. G. Bagnall, Chief Librarian from 1966 to May 1973, who came to the library at a critical point in its development, guided it through the initial stages of the transfer from the Department of Internal Affairs to the National Library, and established its new role within the larger organisation. This period also saw the publication of two volumes of his major contribution to New Zealand bibliography, the New Zealand National Bibliography to the Year 1960.

Acquisitions Acquisitions have continued at an increasing rate with a quite substantial growth in pictorial and manuscript materials. Important purchases include 27 seventeenth century items added to the Milton collection, including the Pro Populo Anglicano Defensio of 1651; 7 additional Defoe titles; Captain Cook’s florilegium (1973); Peron’s Voyage of discovery to the southern hemisphere (1809) ; Jerome Osoriot’s History of the Portuguese during the reign of Emmanuel (1752), and five Golden Cockerel Press editions and the Officina Bodoni edition of Aesop’s fables added to the fine printing collection. The library continues to receive New Zealand publications under the Copyright Act and substantial quantities of microfilm from the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau and

the Australian Joint Copying Project. The British Library supplied 183 reels of microfilm of New Zealand newspapers. Important art and manuscripts acquisitions are noted elsewhere as well as some of the major donations made during the year.

Donations The library once again acknowledges the generosity of those who have contributed by donation to the growth of the collections. The outstanding donation was a bequest of £5,000 worth of sixteenth century bibles and prayer books from English and continental printers by Sir Arthur Howard. Another significant donation was that of 65 Thomas Arnold letters from Mrs Moorman. New Zealand materials include the Sir Joseph Heenan papers from Lady Heenan; a selection of Sir John Ilott’s papers from Lady Ilott; Greenwood family papers from Miss P. Greenwood; a William Mein Smith diary from Mr H. H. Trapp; and 30 J. G. Richmond drawings from Mrs E. H. Atkinson. A full list of donors is published in the Turnbull Library Record.

Cataloguing During the year, 2,647 books and pamphlets were catalogued as well as sound recordings, microfilms and pamphlets. This is a substantial drop on the previous year, brought about first by staff shortages and second by the need to deploy catalogue staff elsewhere to support essential services. The section continues its responsibility for the compilation of the New Zealand National Bibliography, noted below, the maintenance of the Union Catalogue of pre-1801 imprints held in New Zealand, the control of the periodicals unit and binding programme and supervision of the cataloguing of the library’s special collections.

New Zealand National Bibliography

Throughout the year monthly issues of the New Zealand National Bibliography were prepared, listing 1613 titles, including 5 art prints, 19 sound recordings, and 8 music scores. Also listed were 283 new periodical titles and 81 ceased periodical titles. The annual cumulation for 1972 appeared in July 1973.

The editing has been completed and typesetting is well advanced for the third volume of the New Zealand National Bibliography covering the letters P-Z for the period 1890-1960, and publication of this volume is expected later in the year. The editor and principal compiler, Mr A. G. Bagnall, formerly Chief Librarian, is working on the volume covering the period up to 1890 and work will commence shortly on the final index volume which will also contain a supplement.

Reference Services The advantages of less crowded working conditions for the Reference staff in the temporary accommodation on the Terrace have been apparent during the year. Although less than half the book and periodical stock is on the premises it is better housed with space for expansion. 5,352 readers used 17,958 books during the year; 230 books and periodical articles or photocopies were lent to other libraries; there were 436 telephone calls and 763 letters were answered. Ph.D research subjects included early reactions between church and society in Samoa, censorship, publicity and propaganda in New Zealand 1939-45, penal legislation of New Zealand 1909-73. Topics for broadcasting and film documentaries included Gate Pa, the Napier earthquake, the land wars, and Te Kooti.

Manuscripts The increased space and better housing available for the manuscript collection has paid dividends in improving conditions for the staff, but a rapidly accelerating acquisitions programme raises problems for future expansion. It is, however, hoped that this will be partly solved by the installation of compact shelving at Gateway House. Acquisitions during the year included further letters of Thomas Bernard Collinson, a journal of William Gisborne’s trip from Auckland to Rotorua in 1847, 6 volumes of illustrated journals and notes of Samuel Stutchbury, naturalist and geologist, incoming letters to Sydney Waterlow from Katherine Mansfield, Middleton Murry and other members of their literary circle, the diary of William Jowett, 1820-21 who spent nine months in New Zealand on H.M.S. Dromedary, further letters to and from Thomas Arnold, a South African war diary and 5 volumes of Ernest Clifton’s First World War diaries. Among the more important local acquisitions were the records of St. Peter’s Church in Willis Street, Wellington Chamber of Commerce minute books, the records of Wellington Jaycees, 73 volumes of farm diaries and letterbooks of the Mcßae family of Southland and further Trade Union material from the West Coast. In addition many people lent material for copying by xerox or microfilm. During the year there was a sharp increase in the number of readers using manuscripts —963 compared with 680 last year, and 231 letters requesting information were answered.

Art Collection Last year, noted as a vintage year for the art collection, has been surpassed. Accessions have risen three-fold from 863 to 2,530, including

852 watercolours and drawings and nine oil paintings, all of historical and topographical significance. Some 300 photographs and colour transparencies of other works of art, significant for the library’s collections but held elsewhere, have been added during the year. A notable addition is the New Zealand Heritage collection, donated by the firm of Paul Hamlyn, comprising 915 colour transparencies as well as photographs of works of art published in the series New Zealand’s Heritage.

Three outstanding purchases were made during the year by the Endowment Trust with the backing of a special government grant of $45,000. The largest in number and in spread of historical interest is the Wilkie Collection of paintings by Sir William Fox. Of the 337 already in the Library’s possession, 93 document New Zealand landscape and the remainder Fox’s mid-century travels in U.S.A., Cuba, the Middle East, Europe, England and Australia. The bulk of the collection has been on loan in the library since 1964 and a selection was exhibited at the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts Gallery in 1972. Another was the watercolours, proof plates and hand coloured engravings done in Paris for Duperrey’s Atlas, 1826, which recorded the voyage around the world of 1822-25 from sketches done by the expedition’s artist, Jules Le Jeune. This supplements an earlier purchase of photographs of Le Jeune’s original drawings and a microfilm of his journal. The third was a group of five original watercolours by George French Angas of Maori chiefs painted in 1852. The substantial investment made by the library in historical works of art in the last few years is a response to the amount of material available and to the demand for illustrative materials from scholars, publishers, newspapers, advertising agencies, and television and film studios.

Map Collection The development of the existing collections of maps held by the Turnbull Library and the General Assembly Library to form a National Map Collection is under review. Progress is being made on defining the scope and aims of the collection but the amalgamation and rationalisation of the existing collection is hampered by lack of space and staff. Use of the Turnbull map collection has increased during the year. Contributing factors are the relocation of the map collection in the main library and the increasing awareness among users of the value of maps as research tools. Two notable acquisitions during the year were the K. A. Webster collection of maps and plans (mostly relating to Otago) and the Sir John Hall collection covering the area in the vicinity of Hororata, Canterbury.

Photograph Section Because of change in accommodation and shortages of staff elsewhere in the Library the statistics of Photograph Section for 1973-74 reveal a decline in some of the basic activities of the Section. Chief of these is the reduction of the accessioning and cataloguing of new stock which is down by half of what was done in 1972-73 and three-quarters of 1971-72. Orders are down by a third from last year. These figures are disquieting because there is abundant evidence from elsewhere in the Library and from other institutions holding pictorial materials that the demands for illustrative material for research, publication, and broadcasting purposes has been increasing year by year. Gateway House is a mile from the Library and our major processors, National Publicity Studios. It has greater space for housing the collection but its distance has resulted in a significant loss of staff time. Lack of staff in the Library’s Reference Section and in the National Library’s Microfilm Unit has resulted in the effective reduction of the Section’s staff by a third.

Conservation Work on the fitting out of ground and first floor rooms in Mayfair Chambers for the conservation laboratory, begun in May 1973, was completed in January. The ground floor workshop houses a comprehensive range of equipment for document restoration, and the first floor provides office accommodation and a small photographic studio with a dark room. The lamination machine, modified by the Physics and Engineering Laboratory of the D.S.I.R. to convert plastic laminate from roll to sheet form, is now under test. As soon as staff are appointed the long planned programme of conservation of documents and photographic recording of pictorial materials will be set in motion. With the detailed planning of the National Library building under way the Conservation Officer’s specialised knowledge is being increasingly drawn on by librarians and architects. The transfer of microfilming activities from the Terrace to Gateway House in Dixon Street has exacerbated the already difficult staffing situation. Some additional staffing is essential if the microfilming programme, a matter not just of Turnbull but of national importance, is to continue at an acceptable standard. A National Library Microfilm Unit is being created to deal with all microfilming, and the General Assembly Library camera has already been transferred to Gateway House. The co-operation of the Government Printer in extending staffing assistance to the programme is greatly appreciated.

Exhibitions and Public Relations The library received a high level of publicity during the past year and grateful acknowledgement is given to the national press and the Broadcasting Corporation for radio and television coverage. School parties and varied adult groups continue to visit the library frequently and are addressed by members of the staff, while outside organisations call for speakers from time to time. The new premises and the several special exhibitions have also brought large numbers of the general public into the library.

The major exhibitions presented were the five Angas watercolour portraits with supporting materials relating to the artist, and the Chazal watercolours depicting Duperrey’s Pacific voyage in the eighteentwenties; the Cook-associated material assembled from other New Zealand institutions for the Oregon Exhibition, shown briefly before shipment to the United States; recent acquisitions by the Endowment Trust; a memorial exhibition of medieval manuscripts, incunabula and fine printing from the collection donated by the late Sir John Ilott; and pictures and manuscripts relating to Thorndon and Old St. Paul’s. In line with the library’s policy of making its collections widely available to the public many items have been lent for exhibition elsewhere during the year. The most important activity of this nature has been participation in the International Cook Exhibition being mounted for six months from 1 July 1974 in Portland by the Oregon Historical Society. On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the library has undertaken all arrangements for the collection and shipment of paintings and manuscripts to add to the Turnbull contribution. The Education Officer, Mr A. A. St. C. M. Murray-Oliver is New Zealand coordinator for the exhibition and at the request of the Oregon Society is being sent to Portland by the Ministry to supervise the mounting of the New Zealand material, and to assist with the general preparation of the exhibition catalogue.

During the year the library lent paintings to the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch, for the Commonwealth Games Art Exhibition; to the Manawatu Art Gallery for an exhibition of Manawatu scenes; to the Waikato Art Museum; to the Wairarapa Arts Centre for the William Beetham exhibition; and to the National Museum for an Auckland Islands exhibition. In co-operation with the Wellington Regional Committee of the N.Z. Historic Places Trust an exhibition to mark the reopening of Old St. Paul’s was mounted by the library in the church. Photographic displays on Katherine Mansfield were lent to Downstage Theatre, Wellington, and to the Court Theatre, Christchurch, for Mansfield readings, and with manuscripts and published material by Mansfield were shown at the Auckland Public Library for the United Women’s Convention.

At the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the library mounted an exhibition of modern prints of historical New Zealand paintings for display by the Arts Council of Australia. The library also selected twelve nineteenth century New Zealand paintings from the collections for the calendar prepared by the Tourist and Publicity Department for use by New Zealand missions overseas.

Functions at the library included the presentation of the Angas and Chazal watercolours by the Hon. Henry May, M.P. on behalf of the Government, the launching of the 1973 Turnbull Library Prints, four addresses under the auspices of the Friends of the Turnbull Library by Professor W. B. Todd, Mr A. G. Bagnall, Mr Nicolas Barker and Professor Wallace Kirsop, and farewell ceremonies for the retiring Chief Librarian, Mr A. G. Bagnall. A new departure in public relations was the preparation of an audiovisual presentation by the advertising agency Dobbs-Wiggins McCannErickson free of charge as a public service. The presentation, entitled ‘Alexander Turnbull and his Library’, will be of great assistance in presenting the library and its services to a wide variety of audiences.

Publications The 1973 print series reproduced four Angas watercolours recently purchased by the Endowment Trust. The Friends of the Turnbull Library produced two issues of the Turnbull Library Record during the year. Printing of Dr Eric McCormick’s biography of Alexander Turnbull, the third publication sponsored by the Endowment Trust’s H. B. Fleck Memorial Fund, is now complete and copies will be on sale by the middle of 1974.