Preserving Aotearoa’s valuable recorded heritage
A ceremony to celebrate the addition of five new inscriptions to the prestigious UNESCO Memory of the World Aotearoa New Zealand Register took place at the National Library of New Zealand on 9th March 2021.
Five new inscriptions
The five new inscriptions bring the total number of items inscribed to the Aotearoa New Zealand Register to 45.
The Register seeks to recognise items of recorded heritage which have national significance, to bring their cultural and historic value to people’s attention, alongside the work done by libraries, archive and museums in preserving this valuable heritage.
The ceremony honoured the following inscriptions and their hosts:
Crown Purchase Deeds
Archives New Zealand
Crown Purchase Deeds document the original alienation of Māori land and customary title by the Crown, which by the mid-1860s included two-thirds of Aotearoa New Zealand and virtually the whole of Te Waipounamu, the South Island.
Robin Hyde Literary and personal papers
Alexander Turnbull Library / University of Auckland
The Robin Hyde literary and personal papers held by the Alexander Turnbull Library and Special Collections at the University of Auckland illustrate many facets of Hyde’s short but fierce life, reflected in manuscripts, notebooks, correspondence and photograph albums
Olaf Petersen Collection
Auckland War Memorial Museum
Olaf Petersen (1915-1994) is Aotearoa New Zealand’s pre-eminent 20th century nature photographer. Patient and exacting, Petersen said capturing nature was being in the right place at the right time.
Colin and Anne McCahon papers
Hocken Collections
Colin and Anne McCahon’s papers document their life and work from 1918 until 1987. The papers, and in particular the letters between friends and family, provide a wonderfully clear picture of their lives, the development of their art and their connections with significant figures in the art world.
Suzanne Aubert’s Manuscript of Māori Conversation
Sisters of Compassion
From 1883, living with Whanganui River communities Ngāti Hau and Ngāti Ruaka, Suzanne Aubert completed an English-Māori phrase book, published in 1885.
Our role
The National Commission supports the programme through a regular grant. Communication and Information Commissioner Vanisa Dhiru and Secretary General Vicki Soanes attended the event.
“It was very special to be part of the event which added five new documents to the register, contributing to the promotion and status of these works in Aotearoa, safeguarding them for the researchers of tomorrow,” Vanisa said.
