40 years of history from the pages of the NZ Herald

13 May 2013

40 years of history from the pages of the NZ Herald

The New Zealand Herald’s coverage of some of the most significant and dramatic events in the history of New Zealand, including the First World War, is being made freely available on Papers Past, the National Library website.

The digitisation of the New Zealand Herald issues from 1885-1924 is the next stage in an ongoing collaborative project between Auckland Council, the National Library of New Zealand and APN (publishers of the New Zealand Herald) to upload early New Zealand newspapers onto Papers Past. It started with issues from 1863-1884 being added last year.

1885-1924 was a crucial period of political, cultural, social and economic change within New Zealand, says David Verran, Auckland Libraries’ Central Research Centre Team Leader.

“This was further impacted by external events such as better communication infrastructure, the Boer War, the First World War and the influenza epidemic.

“The availability of the New Zealand Herald on Papers Past for this period now provides another and often different Auckland perspective from that already provided by the Auckland Star,” he says.

"Papers Past is getting close to 3 million pages of digitised New Zealand newspapers and periodicals from between 1839 and 1945, from 77 separate newspaper titles," says the National Library’s Manager Digitisation, Sam Minchin.

"The site is getting increasing use, between 10,000 - 20,000 visitors a day: family history researchers, academics and people who are just interested in finding out more about our past,” says the National Library’s Digital Services Manager Emerson Vandy.

Auckland Libraries’ Acting Manager of Regional and Heritage Research, Jane Wild, says the digitisation of New Zealand Herald papers is making an impact on research and discovery.

“It is now possible to get previously obscure information in a single search. This latest release will be a vitally important resource for research related to First World War commemorations,” she says.

Background information
• Auckland Council Libraries and the New Zealand Herald have a longstanding agreement, going back to the 1950s, to provide public access to print versions of the iconic newspaper at our libraries.
• The New Zealand Herald celebrates its 150th anniversary on 13 November 2013.

ENDS

© Scoop Media