UNESCO Memory of the World collections at Auckland Libraries

The Auckland Council Libraries Heritage Collections have been recognised with inscriptions on the UNESCO Aotearoa NZ Memory of the World Register . 

The Memory of the World programme was launched in 1992 with over 60 countries involved. The Aotearoa NZ register was launched in 2010 by the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO. It celebrates unique documentary heritage collections with significant research value. 

Documentary heritage formats include paper, photographs, audio visual recordings as well as digital content. There are two components to documentary heritage, both the information content and the carrier on which the information resides.

Learn more about Auckland Council Libraries' inscriptions:

#04 Grey New Zealand Māori Manuscript Collection (2011)

The Grey New Zealand Māori Manuscript collection is a substantial cultural and historical record of pre-European examples of Māori knowledge and information.

• View manuscripts on Kura Heritage Collections Online
  
• View our Ngako: The Collections Talk 'Ngā Reta Māori' episode on YouTube

This record is located at the Heritage Collections, Central City Library. Check locations and services for information about the library address and opening hours.  

#10 God Defend NZ original score and lyrics (2013)

As New Zealand’s national anthem, ‘God Defend New Zealand’ is one of our most powerful symbols of national identity.

View the collection on Kura Heritage Collections Online:

• Bracken - lyrics
• Woods - score.    

This record is located at the Heritage Collections, Central City Library. Check locations and services for information about the library address and opening hours.  

#21 John A. Lee Papers (2017)

The John A Lee papers comprise personal letters, photographs, annotated scrapbooks, hand-written manuscripts and typescripts of his published works, speeches and radio broadcasts.

View records on Kura Heritage Collections Online.

This record is located at the Heritage Collections, Central City Library. Check locations and services for information about the library address and opening hours. 

#22 The J.T. Diamond West Auckland History Collection (2017)

#22 The J.T. Diamond West Auckland History Collection (2017)

This collection represents 70 years of research on the Western Districts by the late amateur historian and archaeologist John (Jack) Thomas Diamond (1912-2001), showcasing the life of Māori and Pākehā in West Auckland, as well as West Auckland industries.

• View the collection on Kura Heritage Collections Online
  
• Watch our Ngako: The Collections Talk episode 'J.T. Diamond - Documenting the West' on YouTube

This record is physically located at Waitākere Central Library. Check locations and services for information about the library address and opening hours. 

#36 C.P. Dawes Collection (2019)

This is a collection of around 2,200 glass plate negatives from the last years of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th, largely around the Hokianga - formal portraits and informal photos of Dawes' neighbours at work and at play.

View the collection on Kura Heritage Collections Online.

This record is located at the Heritage Collections, Central City Library. Check locations and services for information about the library address and opening hours. 

#38 Richard Davis Meteorological Records, 1839-1851 (2019)

The weather journals (1839-1844 and 1849-1851) of Richard Davis are a record of weather observations which has allowed National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research climate scientists to develop a better understanding of the historical weather record of northern New Zealand.

View the collection on Kura Heritage Collections Online:

• Register of thermometer and barometer 1839-1844; 1848-1849
• Register of thermometer and barometer 1849-1851.    

This record is located at the Heritage Collections, Central City Library. Check locations and services for information about the library address and opening hours. 

#50 The Winkelmann Collection(s) (2023)

The collections of Henry Winkelmann record the transformation of Auckland from a 19th century colonial settlement to a vibrant, modern and self-confident city.

Auckland Council Libraries' two thousand glass-plate negative collection is a visual time capsule of Auckland. It provides an insight into the city and its life, through his images of the people, their houses, buildings, suburbs, bays and wharves.

• View the collection on Kura Heritage Collections Online
  
• Watch our Ngako: The Collections Talk episode 'Henry Winkelmann - The Panoramas' on YouTube

This record is located at the Heritage Collections, Central City Library. Check locations and services for information about the library address and opening hours. 

For more details on the Auckland collections on the register, see the talk by Jane Wild, Chair of the Memory of the World Aotearoa NZ Trust from 2021 on YouTube .