Methodist Church of New Zealand Archives opening

From 4 September 2018 the Methodist Church of New Zealand Archives in Christchurch will be open for researchers after 7 years of restricted availability after the Christchurch earthquakes.

Our new purpose-built, environmentally controlled building Kei Muri Māpara, is located at the back of the Methodist Church Administration Division office at 50 Langdons Road.

Contact

Archivist, Methodist Church of New Zealand Archives
54 Langdons Road, Christchurch 8053, New Zealand
PO Box 931, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand

Telephone:     (03) 366 6049

Email:             archives@methodist.org.nz

Web:               http://www.methodist.org.nz/archives

Hours

• Tuesday and Thursday 1 pm-4 pm or by appointment.
• Closed weekends and public holidays, including Easter Tuesday.
• Christmas—New Year from 13 December 2018-reopening 8 January 2019.

Note that if the Archivist away, because this is a sole-charge repository, there is no one else to open it for researchers.

Charges

No charge for access during office working hours, but charges for purchasing copies or for the Archives staff undertaking research on your behalf.

For more details of charges, please see Research fees and charges

Parking

• While our street address is 54 Langdons Road, we are accessed through the carpark off an un-named lane on Langdons Road between numbers 50 and 58.
• Visitor parking beside Archives building Kei Muri Māpara.

Collection

• Inclusive dates of collection are 1817—present day.
• Finding aids:  Inventories of the Archives Collection are available on the Methodist Church website:  http://www.methodist.org.nz/archives/archives_collection

The Methodist Church of New Zealand Archives has moved. Sort of.

The Administration Division of the Methodist Church has moved to its new office, Weteriana House, 50 Langdons Road, Papanui, Christchurch.  The Methodist Archives is part of the Administration Division.

While the Archivist and volunteer team have relocated to Langdons Road, the Archives Collection has not and this still remains in a storage facility.

For researchers to access documents, photographs, books or plans, from now on they will have to make a prior arrangement with the Archivist.

The Archivist will retrieve requested items from storage and transport them to 50 Langdons Road where they can be viewed.

Researchers will need to consult the catalogue on our website and let the Archivist know what they want to see.  At least 24 hours notice in advance is required and an appointment time needs to be made during office working hours as a meeting room will have to be booked.

http://www.methodist.org.nz/archives/archives_collection

This move to Langdons Road has meant that our opening hours are longer and more flexible than the previous half day per week, but records do need to be pre-ordered.

The future Archives Repository building has been approved by the Board of Administration of the Methodist Church and we have been advised that construction will start in 2017.  This is a purpose-built building and will be adjacent to Weteriana House at 50 Langdons Road.

For more information please contact:

Methodist Church of New Zealand Archives Christchurch
National repository for the archives of the Methodist Church of New Zealand

Contact:

Head Archivist, Methodist Church of New Zealand Archives
Weteriana House, 50 Langdons Road, Christchurch 8053
PO Box 931, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand

Telephone:        (03) 366 6049 ext 831

Email:                 archives@methodist.org.nz

Web:                   http://www.methodist.org.nz/archives

Hours:                By appointment with the Archivist.  Closed weekends, public holidays, Christmas—New Year and Easter Tuesday.

Availability:       Please telephone or email the Archivist before visiting to make an appointment and arrange for records to be retrieved from storage.

Charges:             No charge for access during office working hours, but charges for purchasing copies or for the Archives staff undertaking research on your behalf.

• Transcript of entry in baptism register: $10.00
• Written enquiries requiring research on behalf: $25.00 per half hour.

For more details of charges, please see our website http://www.methodist.org.nz/archives

PS – unfortunately while the Archivist is away, there is no service.  I will be away from 16 December – 16 January 2017.

Season’s Greetings to you all.

Methodist Archives, Christchurch: notice of short term closure

The Methodist Archives in Christchurch will be closing our Reading Room in the Archives storage facility during the cold winter months, while the Archivist is away.

Closed from Wednesday 29 May 2013 reopening Wednesday 17 July 2013.

Over this period, emails to the Archives email address will be monitored, and any urgent enquiries will be responded to.

We apologise for any delay in responding to enquiries or inconvenience caused by our temporary closure.

Jo Smith
Archivist
Methodist Church of New Zealand Archives
Email: archives@methodist.org.nz
Web: www.methodist.org.nz/archives

• Archives Reading Room at Unit 7, 515 Wairakei Road is open Wednesday afternoons 1-4 pm.
• Space is available for 2 people only at a time, so please contact the Archivist to book a seat before visiting.
• Temporarily closed 29 May 2013-17 July 2013.

Methodist Archives re-opening 9 January 2013

Methodist Church of New Zealand Archives re-opening 9 January 2013 in Wairakei Road

After nearly two years, the national repository for Methodist Church of New Zealand records in Christchurch is to re-open on Wednesday 9 January 2013.

The Archives was cordoned off within the Red Zone of the central business district of Christchurch until May this year, and although we knew the collection was safe, it was virtually impossible to get to it.

Once the cordon was lifted, the Archives collection was moved to a warehouse storage facility in Wairakei Road.  The Archives team consisting of Jo and volunteers Enid Ellis, Joyce Challies, Marlene Borgfeldt and until recently Frank Paine, have spent numerous hours putting the collection back to rights.  The combination of earthquakes tipping boxes on the floor and a hurried move, meant that most of the boxes ended up out of order on the mobile shelving.

There are over 6000 boxes, and I can say I have lifted each box at least twice!

Because the storage facility’s main purpose is to store the records, there is only a small space available for researchers.  We have introduced a system of reserving a table during opening hours to avoid having to turn people away because there is no space for them.  There are only two tables, with seating for 3 people.

The Christchurch Methodist Church of New Zealand Archives will be open weekly, Wednesdays 1.00 pm-4.00 pm from 9 January 2013.  Please contact Jo to reserve a table during these hours on 03 3666049 ext 831 or by email: archives@methodist.org.nz

Also in the good news department is that our branch in Auckland is to resume weekly opening hours from 20 November 2012.  It has only been open once a month since February.

The Auckland Methodist Archives will be open weekly on Tuesday afternoons 1.00 pm-4.00 pm at 409 Great South Road, Penrose, Auckland.  Contact our new Archivist, Cynthia McKenzie, at auckarchives@methodist.org.nz or 09 525 4179

Jo Smith
Archivist
Methodist Church of New Zealand Archives
PO Box 931, Christchurch, New Zealand 8140

Methodist Archive – 2010

The volunteer team and I have been working hard over the past few years to document the collection here, and get lists up on the Methodist Church website under our Archives tab on the site.

This year, a list of all baptism registers held here was posted, and we have just included a descriptive list of Taranaki and Wanganui parish and church records held (we will be posting details for other areas of NZ as they are completed). We hope this will give researchers a greater understanding of the records available here.

Looking ahead to next year, we hope that now we have received the building consent for our storage extension, that this will now happen after 5 years of waiting! However the 4 September earthquake has caused difficulties in us getting a builder.

We will advise of closure dates as soon as we know – the present storage area is going to be sealed to prevent dust etc, and the Reading Room will be used to store furniture, shelving and boxes of the collection which don’t have homes, so we will be completely closed when the storage development happens, rather than running a reduced service.

When this happens, the volunteer team are going to divert their activities to tackling the enormous pile of handwritten indexes, lists etc so we will be able to include even more information on the website once it is transferred to electronic form.

On the topic of our volunteer team, on 14 December we farewell Esther Trim, who at the age of 90, is retiring after 21 years of volunteering. One of the main projects she has worked on recently, documenting and boxing the parish records held in the Archives, involved her filling over 800 boxes of archives.

Jo Smith
Archivist
Methodist Church of New Zealand Archives