Notable Acquisitions

Turnbull Library Record, Volume 33, 1 January 2000, Page 91

Notable Acquisitions

Special Printed Collections Two works purchased for the Rare Voyages collection contain reports and images of the Pacific, Australia, Norfolk Island and Hawaii in the 18th century: Hunter, John, Johan Hunters resa tilNya Sodra Wallis (Stockholm: Pfeiffer, 1797). This is the first Swedish edition of Hunter’s Historical journal of the transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island (1793). Meares, John, Voyages de la Chine a la cote Nord-Ouest d’Amerique (Paris: Buisson, 1794), 3 vols and atlas. The first French edition of this account. Three further 18th-century editions of Paradise Lost were added to the collection of works relating to John Milton: the first edition of the German translation by S. G. Biirde (Berlin, 1793), the second edition of the French translation by Dupre de St. Maur (Paris, 1729), and the rare duodecimo issue of the Foulis Press edition (Glasgow, 1750). John Buckland Wright’s Surreal times, hand-printed and published in England by Simon Lawrence at his Fleece Press, was purchased for the Fine Printing Collection. This is the third volume in a limited edition series reproducing the designs and book illustrations of the New Zealand-born artist. Twelve laments & one, a collaborative artists’ book published by the Christchurch Polytechnic and the Caxton Press in 1999, was donated to the Archive of New Zealand Printing by the School of Art & Design, Christchurch Polytechnic.

Papers of Sir Alister Mclntosh

The extensive papers of Sir Alister Mclntosh (7.5 linear metres) cover the period from 1931 to his death in 1978 and detail his distinguished career as a public servant. The collection includes material on the early development of the National Library Service while he was in

charge of the General Assembly (now Parliamentary) Library and there is good coverage of his subsequent role as Secretary of the Department of External Affairs, a position he held from its inception in 1943 until he retired in 1966. He was also concurrently Permanent Head of the Prime Minister’s Department. The papers deal extensively with the development of New Zealand ’ s foreign policy through a period of international unrest —the Korean W ar, the Suez Crisis, Rhodesia and the Vietnam War - as well as defence, trade issues and Pacific relations. The collection supplements those of other politicians held (Sir Keith Holyoake, Sir Sidney Holland, Sir John Marshall) and provides another viewpoint on the events of the period. Some of the letters were published in Unofficial channels: letters between Alister Mclntosh and Foss Shanahan, George Laking and Frank Corner, 1946-1966, edited by lan McGibbon (Wellington: Victoria University Press with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Historical Branch, Dept, of Internal Affairs, 1999).

Additional Dorothy Freed papers

Further papers of Dorothy Freed (1919-2000), composer and pioneer of music librarianship in New Zealand, were bequeathed to the Library and complete the collection. They include 56 folders of material covering from 1930 to 1999, many relating to various musical organisations with which she was associated, such as the Composers Association of New Zealand (CANZ), the New Zealand Music Centre, Repertoire International de Litterature Musicale (RILM) Abstracts, and the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). There are also articles written by her, and some personal and music correspondence. Music scores of her compositions form a large part of the collection.

Trevor Richards papers

Trevor Richards’s papers (11 linear metres) are a large collection including material on his involvement with the Halt All Racist Tours (HART) organisation, which he founded in 1969. The papers reflect Richards’s active involvement in the movement until the 19905, focusing in particular on sporting contacts with South Africa. They include extensive series of correspondence, subject files on the rugby tour campaigns, the United Nations, conferences, research papers and publicity material including press releases, newspaper clippings, articles and other papers. Much of this collection forms a background to his book Dancing on our bones: New Zealand, South Africa, rugby and racism (Wellington: Bridget Williams Books, 1999). The collection is supplemented by the large collection (23 metres) of HART Aotearoa records acquired by the Library, in a number of accessions, since 1986.

Meade watercolour (1865)

A significant watercolour was purchased at the International Art Centre in Auckland in July 1999. The work is titled Pai Marire karakia, held by the Te Hau fanatics at Tataroa, New Zealand, to determine the fate of their prisoners, January 27 th 1865. The artist, Lieutenant Herbert Meade, has depicted himself and his Maori guide in an incident in Waikato, when the two men were captured by Hauhau and would have been put to death, but for the intervention of a woman amongst the captors. Meade ’ s military connections were concealed, otherwise death would have been certain. The watercolour shows a bush clearing with Hauhau surrounding the prisoners, waving their characteristic flags. Meade described his adventures in his A ride through the disturbed districts of New Zealand (London, 1870). The watercolour has more detail than an engraving based on it that illustrates the book.

Jock McEwen collection

Jock McEwen was a senior public servant within the Department of Maori Affairs, an administrator on Niue and a compiler of a dictionary on the Niuean language. His generous donation of papers to the Library provides a valuable resource for researchers into Maori and Pacific Island culture. The collection reflects his professional and personal interests in Pacific Island affairs (particularly Niue and the Cook Islands), ethnology, the Maori language, carving, whakapapa and the performing arts. In addition to three metres of correspondence and research files, the collection has yielded material in other formats, including printed monographs, invitations and programmes, photographs, audiotapes and sketches. Of particular interest are twelve manuscript maps and plans and seven printed maps from the Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa, and Wellington regions, containing a variety of information on archaeological sites, Maori land claims and Maori land ownership from about 1865 to 1964.

Galina Wassiliewa collection

The Galina Wassiliewa (1925-1999) collection was donated to the Library by the trustees of her estate. Wassiliewa was bom in Lithuania, where she trained as a ballet dancer in the 1930 s and was a soloist with ballet companies in Germany and at the Vienna Opera before emigrating to New Zealand with her mother in 1949. She met her future husband, the Russianborn musician Wassili Wassiliew, here and they established the Galina Wassiliewa School of Classical Russian Ballet in Wellington in 1953, where she continued to teach until shortly before her death in November 1999. The collection consists of papers and photographs relating to ballet activities. Music scores of compositions and arrangements, and many of the photographs, are by her husband. This collection complements the Library’s strong holdings on theatre and music in Wellington.

John Ashton photographic negatives

A collection of photographic negatives has been acquired that significantly enhances the Library’s holdings on Maori life in the 1950 s and 19605, and on the arts in New Zealand. John Ashton commenced photography in Wellington in 1948 and from then until 1984 he undertook commissions for the journal Te ao hou, the New Zealand Ballet, the New Zealand Players, the National Art Gallery, and a number of architects, including Ernst Plischke.

Aroha Trust oral history project

Aroha Trust was a cooperative of women associated with Wellington gangs in the late 19705, whose aim was to provide work, housing and support for members who were mostly Maori, young, unskilled, unemployed and homeless. In these interviews with Pip Desmond some members talk about their childhood, experiences as Trust members, and their current lives.

Shipping posters

Three large New Zealand Shipping Company posters were acquired at British auctions. These date from the 1940 s and 1950 s and add depth to a growing collection of ephemera promoting shipping lines, in the form of tickets, menus, posters, luggage labels, printed passenger lists and brochures.