Historic Pacific newspapers now online

Historic Pacific newspapers now online

Nearly ten thousand pages of news history from Pacific newspapers have recently been added to the National Library’s popular Papers Past website.

Six new titles have been added to the website’s collection making it the first time the Library has included Pacific newspapers in their collection.

Chief Librarian for the Alexander Turnbull Library, Chris Szekely says, “New Zealand is a Pacific Island nation and to finally put some news history on the table for the Pacific Region and for Pacific New Zealanders is very exciting.”

These papers include the Samoa Times and South Sea Advertiser, the Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, the Samoa Weekly Herald and the Samoanische Zeitung.

Dating back as far as 1877, the papers were digitised using microfilm from the collections of the State Library of New South Wales.

“This is not only the first time we have been able to add newspapers from beyond New Zealand to our website, but also marks our first international collaboration. This exciting addition would not have been possible without the help of the State Library of New South Wales who provided the microfilm.

“I am delighted with this content, but it is only a small step. I hope in the future we can work with other international organisations to help us bring more Pacific content online so we can continue to add to our vast collection of historical news online,” says Mr Szekely.

The Papers Past website contains over 3.7 million digitised pages from 99 separate newspapers and periodicals from 1839 to 1948. The content has come from the National Library’s digitisation programme, of which an increasing amount is nominated and part-funded by external groups and individuals. This has meant more content from a wider range of places, which means more of New Zealand’s and now the Pacific Islands’ news history can be explored online.

To view these new titles please visit http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz

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