Active Archives event recap

On the 28th of February we held a very successful ‘Active Archives’ event in conjunction with the regional branches of National Digital Forum (NDF) and the Archives & Records Association of NZ (ARANZ). With a group of around 50 people we came from all parts of the GLAM sector and included participants from local and central government, tertiary and secondary education, volunteer groups, museums, and the private sector. It was a wonderful chance to hear some truly interesting presentations, engage with the Canterbury Disaster Salvage Team, network with each other and have a moment to think outside of our everyday boxes!

The day began with presentations by Canterbury Disaster Salvage Team (CDST) members Joanna Condon (Archives NZ), Lydia Baxendell (University of Canterbury) and retiring member Lynn Campbell. It was a good chance to reflect on the work of the CDST since it began in the 1980’s and to gather feedback from our community as the team moves into the future. As well as the survey results (sent to Cantage members a few weeks ago) we broke into workshop groups and ran through a series of disaster related questions and brainstorming on what support our community would like to see from the CDST group in coming days.

The CDST also presented founding member and conservator Lynn Campbell with a special trophy and flowers to thank her for all of her hard work over her years. Many of our institutions have benefited from her help and guidance.

Left to right: CDST members Joanna Condon, Lynn Campbell, Julie Sowby, Lydia Baxendell.

After lunch we reflected on the UNESCO Memory of the World project – presented by Caroline Etherington and Jo Condon from Archives NZ and Erin Kimber, from University of Canterbury. They shared recent Canterbury nominations, inscriptions to the register from their own institutions and their experience of the process. The Canterbury Provincial Government papers inscribed on the register were shared in an earlier Cantage blog post but further details of all collections on the NZ register, including the three held by the Macmillan Library (Armson Collins architectural drawings, Tokyo War Crimes collection and Ursula Bethall collection) can be seen at: https://unescomow.nz/new-zealand-register

The afternoon continued with a discussion on the ethics of the colourisation of black & white photos led by Matthew O’Sullican (Keeper of Photographs, Air Force Museum of New Zealand). The conversation raised all kinds of questions and gave lots of food for thought around not only colourisation but the rise of AI, copyright and how we will deal with collection challenges of the future.

The last session of the day was led by Jonathan Hunt from Catalyst on Linked Data. This included an exercise where we broke into groups and managed to successfully publish some linked data ourselves on NZ artists. It was a technical exercise that pulled some of us out of our comfort zone but again allowed us to broaden our thinking on different aspects of access and metadata outside of our day to day experiences.

Thanks to everyone who helped organise this joint event (Helen Thomas and Matthew O’Sullivan from NDF, Evan Greensides from ARANZ and Joanna Condon from Archives NZ), to the Cantage committee for helping on the day and to all of our presenters. Keep an eye out for our next event and come and join us!

Highlights of the Rangiora Museum Tour

Thank you to everyone who came out to Rangiora Museum on the 15th August for the first Cantage event since our 2023 reset! It was great to see so many people – and from such a range of organisations so thank you for the support and enthusiasm for the group starting again. We did discuss ideas for of what would be useful for future workshops, events and tours – and announced our next event on 2^nd November at the MacMillan Brown Library at University of Canterbury, details to follow closer to the time.

We had a wonderful presentation from some members of the Rangiora Museum Committee – and a big thank you to John, David and Angela for presenting. It was a really interesting overview of the collection, their family and local history resources (including photos and archives), how they deal with potential accessions and donations, and the research materials specific to their area, such as the Horrell land ownership resource.

David and John gave us an insight into their photo collection which totals around 30,000 images. The collection now includes a new accession – the actual camera local photographer John Miles Verrall used, which has now been donated by his family along with further glass plates. John Miles Verrall farmed at Swannanoa from 1893-1913. He was also an MP and a photographer who was very active in the district, specialising in rural photography. His large glass plate slide collection was already part of the Musuem collection so the camera was an absolute bonus. The Museum now holds more than 5,000 glass plate negatives from Verrall, Charles Jennings and others.

We also had a view into the highlights of their textile collection from Angela – which was fascinating and dates back to the early 1800’s. Angela talked about the challenges of storage and preservation as well as a few highlights including the wedding dress that was featured on TVNZ last year! Also the fabulous knitted outfits from the 1940’s, currently on display, that had been passed to the Museum after being donated to a local second shop.

We then moved on to a tour of the museum and a big thank you to the kind members who provided the lovely morning tea.

To all our members who couldn’t make it the Rangiora Museum is well worth a visit if you are in the area. Opening hours are on their website and they also have an active Facebook page. Any enquiries or questions can be sent to: rangioraearlyrecords@xtra.co.nz.

Thanks once again to Cantage Committee member Sally O’Connell for organising the event, and to the Rangiora Museum for hosting.

Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House

Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House is based at number 83 Clyde Rd which was the family home of Kate Sheppard between 1888 and 1902. It is where the pioneering suffragist and her fellow campaigners organised their movement to secure the vote for women, and it is now open for the public to visit, enjoy and to seek inspiration from. A Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga property, it was bought by the New Zealand Government to be converted into a museum and event and exhibition venue to showcase Kate Sheppard and other New Zealand women responsible for significant social change.  The house underwent a major repurposing and was officially opened by the Prime Minister in December 2020.

The property has been interpreted in a way that celebrates the life and work of Sheppard without attempting to exactly replicate her milieu. Where period furniture and treatments have been used, they’re given a contemporary twist. The house has many personal touches and treasures with the families of her extended network both donating and lending items.

But the story of her life and influence also allows for a broader story to be told. Sheppard’s former study has been recast as a ‘Legacy Room’, with pivotal social, economic and political developments affecting Aotearoa New Zealand women cited on the walls, from getting the vote to the advent of the Domestic Purposes Benefit to the election of female Prime Ministers. The story here recognises the important role played by Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia and other Māori women in the struggle for the right to vote.

In time, Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House is a heritage destination of national and international significance  – as a domestic setting where the suffrage campaign brought world change for women.  The house museum provides a source of inspiration, a place for discussion on historical and progressive action. 

The surrounding acre of garden, is still graced by established heritage trees planted by the Sheppards and rose gardens, camellia and rhododendron stands, perennial beds and a riverside pathway.

The property is open from 10am – 4pm from  Wed – Sunday. Entry prices apply, school pupils are free.

The event venue and the gardens are available to hire – details are on the website.

Upcoming Cantage Event: Tour of the Rangiora Museum

We are very pleased to announce the first Cantage Event since our 2023 reboot! Rangiora Museum are opening their doors especially for us – we will have a talk, a cup of tea and a chance to look around the collections of the Museum.

The Rangiora Museum (the Rangiora & Districts Early Records Society Incorporated) was formed in 1960. Since its formation the Society it has benefited from donations of some 5,000 objects & more than 11,000 photographs, and glass slides. The Museum has become a repository for family histories, documents & photographs relating to those who settled in the area.

We are really looking forward to both visiting the Museum and engaging with as many of you as can attend!

Date: Tuesday 15th August

Time: 10am

Place: Rangiora Museum, 29 Good St

RSVP: by 10th August – email cantage@gmail.com

Selwyn Museums and Heritage Collections Now Online

Most of the approximately 14 small museums and archives in the Selwyn District are starting to cooperate to digitally catalogue their collections and promulgate historical information about the history of the Selwyn District.

The Selwyn District Council (SDC) has provided money for 10 museums/archives to buy 5-year Bronze licenses in eHive and the group has now formed a Community along the same lines as Project Ark in Southland.

https://ehive.com/communities/1215/selwyn-museums-heritage-collections

Selwyn Library has a subscription to Recollect and history groups in Selwyn are starting to add information to the site under the supervision of the recently appointed Local History Librarian, Sarah Davy.    

https://selwynstories.selwynlibraries.co.nz/

The groups gather periodically in an informal group “Selwyn Heritage and History Network” which has allowed members as widely spaced apart as Arthurs Pass to Prebbleton to get to know each other and provide a united voice to the SDC.

For further information please contact Mike Noonan from the Dunsandel Historic Society at popmike66@gmail.com or Sarah Davy at sarah.davy@selwyn.govt.nz

Mike Noonan,  Dunsandel Historic Society

History of the Chamber Gallery – Trevor Inch Memorial Library, Rangiora

The Chamber Gallery was part of the original Rangiora Borough Council building and home to the previous Rangiora District Library. The space has been incorporated into the Trevor Inch Memorial Library.

Content provided by Sally O’Connell, Waimakariri Libraries

The architect of the Chamber was Frederick John Barlow, who was born in Christchurch in 1868.

This building was the second Rangiora Borough Council Chambers, replacing an earlier one on the same site in 1907. It was built by local builders Arthur Vincent and John Golding at a cost of £1052. The building was designed by architect Frederick Barlow and it is his most substantial surviving work. It contained a Town Clerk’s office, a public office and a room for the Mayor – later the Electrical Engineer’s office. The first Council meeting to be held in the new Chambers was in June 1907, chaired by Mayor Edward Relph.

Designed in an ornamental classical style, an unusual design aspect of the building is the asymmetrical façade with the front door placed off-centre. One of the most notable features of the Chambers is the beautiful leadlight ceiling dome.

Built by local builders, Arthur Vincent and John Golding, for £1052 it also contained a Town Clerk’s office (now the small meeting room), a public office and a room for the Mayor – later the Electrical Engineer’s office (now occupied by the Citizens Advice Bureau). The Mayor Edward Relph presided over the first Council meeting held there in June 1907.

The building was used as the Council Chambers until 1966, when the Rangiora Library and the Council swapped places and the Council moved into the Rangiora Town Hall. In 1977 a five metre extension was added to the back of the library, but the building became increasingly inadequate as Rangiora and the surrounding district’s population grew. The building was almost threatened with demolition, but it was retained by a narrow vote of the Council in favour of incorporating it into the new library building and using the space as an art gallery. The Trevor Inch Memorial Library opened in 1997 and since then the Chamber Gallery has been used as a gallery for art exhibitions and concerts put on by the Waimakariri Community Arts Council.

The Chamber Gallery was closed in June 2011 due to concerns about the stability of some of the walls. Strengthening work and refurbishment was carried out in 2012 and the Gallery reopened in August 2012.

The Council Chambers was given Landmarks status at a ceremony held on Friday 23 May 2014. The plaque was unveiled by Mae Whittington who started working for the Rangiora Borough Council in 1942. The building has a Historic Place Category II registration.

For further information please visit: https://waimakaririlibraries.com/heritage/local-history/places-of-the-waimakariri/rangiora/history-of-the-rangiora-library

Christchurch Heritage Festival – Applications Now Open

Applications open today!

Have a great idea for a heritage event you would like to host? Why not share your passion at Christchurch Heritage Festival 2023. Apply now! If your event showcases this year’s theme, Our Stories of Living and Learning, even better.

We’re looking for event providers from across the community – groups, businesses and individuals are welcome to get creative and submit an application. A heritage walk, talk, performance or tour could fit the bill. Whilst it’s encouraged, it’s not compulsory to relate your heritage event to the theme.

Applications to be part of the festival are open from Monday 8 May to Sunday 11 June.  

This year’s theme, Our Stories of Living and Learning, is a time to reflect on how education and learning have shaped our diverse communities here in Ōtautahi-Christchurch, Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū-Banks Peninsula, and the wider Canterbury region.

If you would like to find out more about what’s involved in taking part as an event provider please visit our webpage ccc.govt.nz/heritagefestival or get in touch by emailing heritage@ccc.govt.nz

This year’s festival will run from Friday 6 to Monday 23 October. We hope you’ll be a part of it!

Ngā mihi,
Christchurch Heritage Festival Project Team

CCC Archives – Inward Correspondence 1862-1863

The Christchurch City Council Archives are beginning to digitise and make publicly available some of our most vulnerable, fragile and fascinating early records of the Council. CCC/ARC/343/4 – the first volume of inward correspondence to the Christchurch City Council from May 1862-March 1863 is now complete and available to the public to view.

This volume of correspondence includes the very early transactions with the Provincial Government at the time of the establishment of CCC, such as the allocation of 10,000 acres of ‘waste lands’ to the city (item 1, page 1, February 19^th 1862) and the election of the first Municipal Council (item 2, page 3, February 26^th 1862). As expected, there are many letters regarding the inevitable work that took place in the early days of the city – draining swampy land, dealing with of sanitary conditions (or lack thereof), the building of roads, footpaths, and bridges, sinking of artesian wells amongst other things. But they also feature a wide range of issues and concerns that were facing the citizens of the early city. Interesting letters include item 94 (page 166, 15^th Nov 1862) from the volunteer fire brigade requesting the Council to help them pay the men who assist them during a fire ‘as it is usual during a fire of any magnitude to employ men from the crowd of bystanders’. Or a letter of outrage from the Albion Cricket Club (item 85, page 149, 20^th Oct 1862) over a young man who insisted on riding his horse through their cricket games in Latimer Square (not to mention their newly prepared ground). Or W G Carver (the Officer of Customs) wanting to step down from his responsibility from firing the signal gun, at that time fired each Sat at 12pm for the regulation of time for the public, which you’ll find in item 49 (page 80, 5^th July 1862). He also suggests the time between Christchurch and Lyttelton be regulated so both towns maintained the same public time, particularly with the advent of the electric telegraph allowing ‘instant communication’. Concerns about public health include the letter from T W Maude (Provincial Government Secretary) from 12^th June 1862 (item 36, page 59) which suggested the council pass a regulation for the public to ‘cleanse their houses’ in cases of fever ‘for the prevention of spread of infection’. Not to mention the danger of the lack of lighting in certain areas of the city as pointed out by Frank Guinness (Inspector of Police) on the 12^th December 1862 (item 108, page 191) – ‘the danger to anyone passing on horseback is considerable – perhaps the Council could take some means to have this danger lessened’.

This first volume of correspondence is now being hosted by our friends at Christchurch City Libraries via Canterbury Stories with links to it from our CCC Archives webpages:

Inward correspondence | canterburystories.nz

https://ccc.govt.nz/council-archives#correspondence

This volume of correspondence has been indexed and this is available on our website – so you can search on the name of a person or street, or subject, that you are interested in. The index can be found at 22-892832-CCC-ARC-343-4-23-CCC-Archives-Inventory-Inward-Correspondence-Indexed-Boxes-1862-1877.pdf

Please note that only the first volume from the index has so far been digitised and it appears in the index as CH343/6a, items 1-147. The next volume will be digitised in the near future.

If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you – archives@ccc.govt.nz!

Christchurch Art Gallery – New Zealand Society of Potters Exhibition Catalogues

Christchurch Art Gallery are pleased to present the annual exhibition catalogue of the New Zealand Society of Potters. We are extremely grateful to Rick Rudd at Quartz, Museum of Studio Ceramics in Whanganui who supplied the majority of these catalogues and brought our attention to the list of exhibitors for exhibitions one and two. We also thank the E. H. McCormick Research Library, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and the Macmillan Brown Library Te Puna Rakahau o Macmillan Brown at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha University of Canterbury for lending issues.

We are still missing:

6, Palmerston North, 1962
7, Dunedin, 1963
24, Auckland, 1982
39, Auckland, 1997 or 1998
43, Auckland, 2001
46, Invercargill, 2005

Please let us know if you have any of these and would be willing to lend them for scanning.

Full collection of digitised catalogues can be seen at:

https://christchurchartgallery.org.nz/about/library/new-zealand-society-of-potters-exhibition-catalogu

Cantage – A Reboot!

Kia ora koutou

Many of you will have noticed that Cantage, originally formed in around 2004, has been languishing for the past few years. Some of us have recently been discussing whether there was still a place in the region for such a group in the community. After an initial discussion at the last NDF meeting (at the end of 2022) a core group of five of us have now met and formed the next Cantage Committee and we are on our way to getting the group up and running again. The committee is currently made up of myself, Amanda Brown (Christchurch City Libraries), Sally O’Connell (Waimakariri Libraries), Damian Cairns (Macmillan Brown Librarian) and Nick Wotton (Archives NZ, Christchurch Regional Office).

Our purpose of the group remains the same – Cantage is a place to share common issues regarding documentary heritage collections in the Canterbury region, to increase knowledge sharing, communication, and collaboration between collections, both large and small.

As a reminder the word ‘Cantage’ is amalgamated from ‘Canterbury’ and ‘Heritage’ and is an informal group of people involved in heritage organisations such as libraries, archives, museums, and local government institutions. Membership is open to anyone interested within the Canterbury region to foster local networking amongst members, collection development assistance, and collaboration.  The group provides a place to discuss relevant topics such as: storage, preservation, digitisation, exhibitions, events, training and professional development, and collaborative opportunities.

We initially had a well-established list-serv as a way to ask questions and communicate but that has proved too difficult to re-establish as list-servs are no longer supported by most large institutions. We are beginning with the WordPress blog again and a simple email distribution list but hope to have a social media presence in the near future.

The blog remains a great way to share new content acquisitions to your collection, new digitised resources, promote events and exhibitions, really anything you think may be of interest to the community. If you have any content to share please initially share with cantagegroup@gmail.com and we will make sure it gets posted to the blog – please include any photos you may have to help illustrate the post. We will also be organising a couple of events and tours during the year as a way to network and meet together. Please stay tuned for the first event which is in currently in the planning stages!

If you have any questions, suggestions or comments please do let us know!

Thanks

Annabel Armstrong-Clarke

Archivist, Christchurch City Council

Christchurch Drainage Board, Sewer Construction East End of Tuam St, c1905. Source:Christchurch City Council Archives, CH659/100