New Zealand Archivist Vol III No 2 Winter/June 1992 ISSN 0114-7676 Interest Is Not Enough

James McNeish

I am a writer. I generate paper. But my credentials in terms of the subject of this conference are almost nil. I knew nothing about literary papers until recently. What little I do know is the result of discovery by accident.

The state of play had seen in Boston began to sink in. I discovered that My starting point is Oxford. A few years ago I was in what I had seen (in 1989) was more than a few manu­ Oxford where I was told the papers of Dan Davin were script papers - it was holograph manuscripts in various destined not for a New Zealand library but for a British stages, drafts, worksheets, notes and notebooks, galley archive. When I checked later, I discovered that the sheets, printed matter, scrapbooks, juvenalia. I put this information was false, but at the time I didn't know this. exodus together with what I already knew about The thought of Dan's papers going to Exeter as I had Katherine Mansefield material which had ended up in been told, instead of to Hocken or Turnbull, seemed a US libraries, and added it to what I subsequently learned bit peculiar. Then shortly after I returned to New Zea­ from John Weir about other New Zealand material held land came a letter, an invitation out of the blue to at Austin, Texas. deposit my own manuscripts in an American univer­ sity at Boston, to become the nucleus, as the invitation The state of mind read, of a James McNeish Collection. It seemed very few people in New Zealand knew. I happened to be going to New York a few months All this material had been slipping away out of the after this, so I wrote and subsequently called at Boston country quietly, often surreptitiously, for thirty years, University's library and met the Director of Special largely unnoticed. How had it happened? At this point Collections there, Dr Howard Gotlieb - who had issued I wrote to about twenty leading writers and librarians in the invitation. A word about Dr Gotlieb. He is I suppose New Zealand and asked for their views and experi­ a recognisable figure at American academic research ences. The replies were interesting. Unknown to me, institutions, part scholar, part curator, part impresario. twenty-five years earlier the poet Philip Larkin had He began the library in 1963, brought in from Harvard carried out a similar mini-survey in England and the especially to found a modem, 20th century, German replies we both got were, I later discovered, substan­ archive, primarily but by no means entirely literary. His tially the same. In both cases a level of indifference was attitude to collecting? We would say aggressive. "I've revealed to contemporary material. Indeed one answer been known to send authors empty boxes and say to I received from a New Zealand writer I canvassed them 'Don't use a wastepaper basket, use these and verbally was identical to a reply Larkin received in send them to me.'" England - "If almost any New Zealand library had What interested me about Boston was not so much approached me five years ago for my collection, which the number of individual collections - about 1,500, was unusually complete at the time, I would have said probably the biggest 20th century literary manuscript 'yes' without hesitation." repository in existence - but the range, which I found Very broadly, the replies I received covered two fascinating. Not only manuscripts of figures like Shaw, areas. Was the exodus to American libraries greater DH Lawrence, HG Wells, Robert Frost, the Sitwells. The yet? The answer was a qualified yes. An academic who range extended to figures in journalism, politics, thea­ wrote to me, and a senior civil servant to whom I spoke tre, the entertainment world. From Alistair Cooke to both made the point that American institutions such as Ella Fitzgerald, from Eugene O'Neil' to Martin Luther the Smithsonian were moving into the field of Pacific King, including a great deal of what might be called collecting, which meant the pressure on New Zealand non-canonical material such as the notes madeby Alistair artists generally to give up their material was increas­ Cooke taken at the side of Robert Kennedy as he lay shot ing. Thus the risk of more material leaving the country and dying. Fred Astaire's dancing shoes. Gotlieb ex­ was bound to increase. But the extent of loss nobody plained that Fred Astaire had made it a condition of quite seemed to know, deposit, that if Boston wanted his papers, the shoes had How had the exodus happened? I don't wish to to come too. imply that American institutions are awash with New While being shown around I noticed some manu­ Zealand literary treasures. They are not. Still, enough scripts of Janet Frame. Then I discovered that Boston valuable material was sitting in US archival institutions also held material from Joy Cowley, Ngaio Marsh, and for the question to be asked. How was it our libraries Sylvia Ashton-Wamer. It was not until I returned to had been scooped in this way?In the case of Boston New Zealand that .file possible significance of what I University, the short answer was that "Boston asked first". John Lehmann writing in a British newspaper on that American collecting institutions benefit from tax this question commented that 'British libraries were concessions. The law provides that gifts of valuable asleep until Texas woke them". He meant the Humani­ documents can be counted against income tax. There ties Center at Austin Texas. are similar concessions in other countries, for example In the same way. New Zealand libraries were asleep Canada, but we in New Zealand do not have these until Boston woke them. Of course the situation here advantages. has changed since then - 1 am aware of this. Research libraries such as Turnbull and Hocken, despite budget Archivists v Authors restrictions, have today a much more positive policy When my article appeared at the end of 19901 I towards contemporary material than in the past. But was taken to task by the head of one library for 'false this is quite recent. In the 1960s and 1970s New Zealand accusations', for over-simplifying in terms too black libraries, with very few exceptions, were simply not and too white. Well, fine. I wrote a provocative article, interested in acquiring modem manuscripts, even if wanting among other things to flush debate into the offered on donation. open. I felt things were overdue for an airing. But then Joy Cowley for example, whose first novel had just this curator went on to boast of technical advances, of appeared in the States, was approached by Howard recent acquisitions, suggesting that nothing in the past Gotlieb in 1968 for her papers, and she not knowing had ever been wrong. I have to say there were very few anythingaboutcollectionssoughtadvicefromher agent, reactions like this. The common response was: "What who very sensibly suggested she keep her manuscripts can we do about it?", demonstrating not just a level of closer to home. support but more importantly a will to act. "Naively," she writes, "I offered them to my nearest Apathy and indifference are by no means confined university which happened to be Massey and was told to this country. In Germany, librarians could not be to try some larger establishment, for example Victoria. bothered to collect the papers of Heinrich Boll. Boll's I wrote to the English Department at Victoria Univer­ papers, to give one example among many, went to sity and was referred to the Alexander Turnbull Li­ Boston. In Britain, the record is worse. brary. At Turnbull I was told there were no facilities for But having said that, that is no reason for sweeping storing manuscripts - a brief and unhelpful letter." The the sins of the past under the carpet. We have to accept following year, 1969, Gotlieb tried again from Boston, there has been a problem of neglect, an unwillingness to and Joy Cowley sent him a bundle of manuscripts. solicit and acquire. Even more, we have to accept this Joy Cowley's letter, quoted above, added a post­ has been a problem of attitude and not of money. One script. "A few years ago the Turnbull Librarian wrote archivist who wrote to me at length, spoke of the Great asking for manuscripts. When I replied mine were in New Zealand Meanness, and unless I misinterpret him Boston I got back a somewhat grumpy letter touching he was writing about meanness of spirit, about attitude, on my lack of patriotic spirit. I wrote back pointing out a way of thinking and acting, or rather of not acting. I do that the Turnbull Library had turned down my offer not believe that money, inadequate funding for staff, is some years before." the whole problem in New Zealand. It is instructive to What struck me with some force was the tone which go into the back rooms of prestigious American re­ several of my correspondents adopted when they spoke search libraries and discover just how few staff they of American universities. Phrases like 'thieves in the actually employ. night' and 'of course they have so much money they can One librarian said to me recently that New Zealand buy anything they like'. These same correspondents writers were unsympathetic to the problems faced by were, I hope, surprised to discover later that American libraries. This may be true. Writers talk to writers, institutions obtain most of their literary material as librarians talk to, librarians. This is also part of the gifts. Howard Gotlieb got all his New Zealand material problem. without paying a cer\t. I do know why one expatriot writer writer who died He wrote, in response to some questions from me: recently felt strongly about librarians. Some of you may "Over the past decades I have witnessed the loss through have read the section in Dan Davin's Closing Times, I physical carelessness, benign neglect, disinterest, of a think in the chapter about Louis MacNiece, where great deal of contemporary literary material in a number MacNiece comes upon a zealous archivist in the act of of countries. Beginning in the 1960s we have frankly raiding his wastepaper basket MacNiece had a phobia prevented further loss by filling a void in lack of archi­ about archivists and Davin is not kind to them either. val care. Rather than 'thieves in the night' I would say He speaks of 'academic ants'. Dan is quite savage. You 'surgeons on c a ll'... It is absurd to think this library or may wonder why. His papers it is agreed are coming any American library can afford to buy anything it back from Oxford to Turnbull, but the collection, that wants and that money flows into auction houses and vast and valuable treasure-house spanning sixty years, dealers' hands from here willy nilly. The reason we was once offered to another New Zealand library and have today such a large 20th century collection is be­ rejected. According to Winnie Davin, his widow, Dan cause we were unable to purchase these collections, wrote after the war to Dunedin and offered his papers instead we persuaded our authors and public figures to to the Hocken Library. Gratis, naturally. He didn't even place their materials here gratis". get a reply to his letter. The mistake in peoples' minds has to do with en­ dowment fluids. American institutions often have huge What is to be done? funds but these tend to be used to acquire historical What is to be done in the future? It is not a question collections or materials of dead, usually well dead, of money, entirely or even fundamentally, but let's literary figures at auctions. They are seldom used for consider money for a moment. acquisition of contemporary manuscripts. It is also true I made the suggestion in my newspaper article that a system of national funding was needed, a national tions, writers will hold libraries 'to ransom'. Why, an heritage fund with an independent panel which would author will even offer back at a price a letter the library take heed of literary archives and among other things has originally written to the author! Well, I suppose it is encourage institutions to look in the right direction, a risk. There are risks - there is always the midnight besides help providing a market value, a yardstick, for forger. But I think the risk small, and anyway worth a writer's work. While there is support for this idea, taking. there is also in the current climate a great deal of "Very often", one archivist writes, "the reward from pessimism about any idea involving government or the donor's point of view is the interest shown and in quasi-government funding - "now is not the moment". the honour bestowed on them in perpetuity by their But I would argue the opposite, and state that if papers being housed iaa prestigious and secure institu­ funding is considered pre-eminent now is precisely the tion". I know what this correspondent means. But he moment to begin lobbying. Even in a booming economy goes on, "I am sure that no-one would wish to compro­ no system of national or block funding for anything as mise this tradition by encouraging payment". ratified as literary treasures is going to come about This attitude - 'why should we pay you money when overnight, and if archivists, librarians, and interested we do you the honour of giving you house-room' - is not groups such as the literature committee of the Arts just wrong but counter-productive. For New Zealand Council and PEN care enough (as they say they do) then writers, it is completely out of touch. Most do not want the sooner a joint working party to draft proposals is money at all, maybe they want something, but certainly put together, the better. It took a long time to gain tax not American prices. I do not think the average writer concessions in the USA, Canada, and Australia. in this country regards his papers as his superannua­ Having said this, tion or pension fund. In there are other ways to the case of my own pa­ go, other levers and pers, what is important is strings to pull. I would that they are kept together actually put lobbying for as a collection, and not tax relief at the top of the split up. That is more im­ list. Elliot Henderson portant to me than finan­ told me that the incen­ cial reward. Money is sec­ tive of tax relief was one ondary. element which finally Setting money aside, drove his mother, Sylvia what else can be done? Ashton-Wamer, to de­ Let me address a mythi­ posit the bulk of her ma­ cal panel, an archivally- terial at Boston. On the inspired working party same subject, it is almost let's say, charged in 1992 indecent to think that an with remedying the situ­ Archive as wealthy as at ation. Imagine a panel Austin inTexas,ata time comprising a librarian, an when it's bank account educator, an administra­ was almost bottomless tor from the Arts Coun­ with oil money, should cil, a PEN or writers' rep­ have obtained the resentative, someone manuscripts of authors from the business com­ such as Tennessee munity with financial ex­ Williams, Lilian perience. The brief is to Heilman, and Arthur produce a five-year plan Miller - for nothing. of action on an impossi­ There you are. Tax re­ bly meagre budget. What lief. would I say to them? It is sometimes use­ Involve PEN, the writ­ ful to rule out what should not be done. There is a ers' organisation. It not only has a vested interest, but is school, of thought which believes the way to stop quite big and has clout. Second, take a clue from Ger­ material leaving New Zealand is to pass a law forbid­ many and involve a political party. I have already ding its export. Experience overseas suggests this is not mentioned the Boll papers. Heinrich Boll originally sent the answer, that the more difficult you make it for his papers to Boston because no German library was papers to leave the country, with the aim of saving them interested. These papers have now been returned to for the nation, the more likely it is they will not be saved Germany where they are housed in a special building in for anybody. Hamburg - a projectand initiative funded by theGreens. What does an author want? I do not think an author So a Nobel-prizewinning writer's literary estate has is very different from anybody else in the community, been saved for the nation by the intervention of a If he knows his papers have a value, he will be careful political party. not to discard them. If he knows there is a prospect of Involve the business community. Some of you may recompense for himself or his heirs, he will be less likely be aware of the initiative of Anita Segerberg in Auck­ to send the papers abroad. land, towards a Centre for the Study of New Zealand There is a misconceived fear among curators that, if Literature, now supported by PEN. This is to include they make it known they are willing to pay for acquisi­ the conservation and collection of manuscripts in a centre funded by business. years' time, going to be seen in an entirely different An interesting proposal comes from a South Island light? We don't know. Think of the field of biography. university librarian, that university (or other) libraries In New Zealand biography has been a neglected field, could with more imagination offer something to writ­ and is only now beginning to take off. It will become a ers and thereby "earn the right to ask for literary papers much more important branch of our literature. Every as gifts". He talks of throwing open library facilities, of biographer knows that it is the work of a minor writer providing photocopying and other services, a study which can often illuminate the pages of a major figure. room, of treating the writer as a member of academic Returning to my mythical panel, I say to it: don't staff, of providing a sort of honorary fellowship. adopt a single approach, adopt several at once. Involve Archival institutions have to adopt a higher profile. everybody, especially the small regional and commu­ Once a library has a reputation for being interested in nity libraries. Encourage them to collect the papers of acquiring certain material, it no longer needs to solicit. local writers. So the local writer may seem uninterest­ This has already happened with the otherwise little- ing? But you could be wrong. Anyway, I don't see this known Penn State University - which has begun to be as a reason for not acquiring papers, any more than not ottered material for its Pacific Collection. You need to knowing if you've got a winning poker hand is any publicise what you have got, publicly, not just among reason for not making a bid. yourselves, and let it be known you are interested in Everybody is worried about budgets. An exercise-in acquiring material. -awareness campaign such as I am suggesting is some­ I use the word 'acquire' deliberately. I have used the thing that can be done without breaking anybody's word 'solicit' rather than 'collect'. There is also the bank. In any case the burden of collecting has now 'begging letter', by which I mean scouting for material. become far greater than one or two institutions can Let's be dear about this. Collecting, the whole business handle. Literary papers, to misquote Fairbum, are like of acquiring modem literary papers is I suspect a mys­ manure - they should be spread around. tery to most librarians in this country. Somehow in the To recapitulate: I am fo r a programme of education; context of adopting a higher profile yourselves, you fo r a variety of holding institutions; and fo r a more have to get it across that scouting for material, the businesslike approach to writers. much-maligned 'begging letter', is not something to be Most New Zealand writers, unless they are abso­ ashamed of. Think of yourselves as surgeons on call - lutely strapped for cash and are made an offer they Gotlieb's phrase. cannot refuse (which is highly unlikely) are not going to We have all heard horror stories, ask any dealer or sell anything abroad. They want their papers to stay auctioneer, of valuable material being sent to the dump, close to home, near institutions associated with their to the tip, to the indnerator, because some archivist or lives or careers, where they can be readily consulted librarian was too sleepy, too polite, too busy, too una­ and topped up, added to by friends and family after ware, too apathetic, too brash, too coy, too arrogant, too they are dead. Janet Frame not unnaturally prefers her modest, to write a begging letter. Contrary to popular papers to end up in Dunedin, overlooking the Leith not belief the so-called begging letter is not packed with the Charles River in Boston, Witi Ihimaera's preference honeyed phrases at all. It is a warm businesslike invita­ is Gisborne, Fleur Adcock's Wellington. tion to an author, It is tailored to a particular author, and The problem now for archivists and curators is less it is a request to donate. with the established writers than with the rest. What I have to thank Witi Ihimaera for reminding me how else is worth collecting? Who else? This brings up the much better the Australians are at this sort of thing than whole question of literary evaluation which is a subject we are. He writes of the by now established Australian for a separate seminar. tradition of soliciting, purchasing, and holding papers. "I get depressed thinking about the position of New "John Thompson of die Australian National Library Zealand research libraries," an archivist in Auckland regularly attends Australian literary festivals to talk to writes, "viz a viz our American counterparts when it up-and-coming authors". Of the maligned and misun­ comes to funding". He feared New Zealand libraries derstood begging letter, he adds with commendable were "impotent" and that "we cannot compete". I hope understatement "we in New Zealand are not good at some of the points I have made may help to reduce such this". pessimism. It is less a question of money, than of atti­ tude. Were I an archivist I should be depressed if there Interest is not enough were no writers. The 'problem' here in New Zealand is In the collecting game, interest alone is not enough. there are too many writers! But that seems a good rather I cannot stress too much, how important it is in New than a bad problem. Zealand to adopt a higher-profile approach, down to I quote this letter (and I don't think Peter Hughes and including the humblest branch and community will mind if I name him) is that it asks a valuable library in the country. It was Philip Larkin (himself a question. I had written a year ago about the importance university librarian) who said that "it is a poor author not just of saving papers but of caring for them, on the who is not worth a thesis at some time or other", and if premise that writers wanted above all their material to this fact alone were more widely known in the library be secure, and accessible. Secure is easy. Available? community we would all have a more fertile basis to Peter Hughes writes, "is a collection 'available' if build on. you present a researcher with a box of unsorted manu­ Think of the quantity of paper generated by New scripts and correspondence?" In other words, define Zealand authors in the last ten years. How many writers 'available'. Twelve months I would have answered, - ten? fifty? a hundred? How many of these are minor? "No, if it is not sorted it is not in my view accessible or Probably 80%. But how do you know that someone available, it is not what I call being cared for. Thank you considered minor or unimportant today is not, in fifty very much, if that is your approach, you can't have my papers." I have since shifted my ground. Today, know­ the Mason-Fairbum-Cumow-Glover-Baxter literary ing a little more about the problems archivists face, I school. The papers of the first are saved; those of the would not be so categorical. second largely destroyed; those of the third are being What about the researcher? How does a researcher solicited by an overseas archive. feel about a box of unsorted material? Some biographi­ What is still in private hands in this country, and still cal researchers, like Holroyd, regard the digging among at risk? I don't think anyone knows. It would be worth raw unsorted material as an adventure. Some even finding out and cataloguing, just as it would be worth prefer it, not wanting to be mollycoddled with a folder- cataloguing what has been lost to American libraries by-folder inventory, with cross references to date and (less than we suspect, I think). A register of this kind related correspondents by surname. They actually pre­ would not be difficult to draw up. In England, follow­ fer to discover some of this for themselves. Books grow ing an initial suggestion by Michael Holroyd and Paul in writers minds from a feeling of excitement. And Levy of the Strachey Trust ten years ago, a pilot project often, you can feel it in the writing, the quality of the was commissioned and is now up and running at result, what is finally published is related to that initial Reading University. There have been some surprising adventure or discovery among unsorted or discarded and heartening results. papers in a bulging suitcase or cluttered archive. One of the by-products of a location register of this A final plea to my mythical panel. I urge it to kind in New Zealand will be increased interest and consider a register of locations. We may not have made awareness from libraries. In England the original spon­ much progress in funding for the collection of literary sor has now been joined by several business firms. Who material, but there is a great deal of progress that can be would have thought you could tap a businessman to made in the recording of information about collections. help compile a literary register? My guess is that a pilot The National Register of Archives & Manuscripts doesn't project could be initiated quite easily, by a couple of quite cover what is needed. I mean a record of the senior students at PhD level, under the aegis of any whereabouts of New Zealand literary material both university English Department. domestic and expatriated, which covers material both in public and in private hands, including interview and 1 Paper Exodus Sends Our Literary Heritage Abroad, D om in­ oral material. I made an interesting discovery recently: ion Sunday Times 12 August 1990. 'Author James McNeish three roughly contemporary writers, each of whose reveals the background and consequences of one of New papers built up over the last twenty years bears on the Zealand's invisible exports - the loss to overseas universities social content of the Thirties with particular reference to of papers and research material of our best-known authors.'

Ideals and Realities J E Traue

I have been given an elastic title, generous enough to fit a wide ranging consideration of this conference's theme, the acquisition, preservation and use of the papers of public figures. I propose to stretch the title to its limits and to make this an occasion for a homily, a sermon, on some of our current ills, and an exhortation to the nation to mend its wicked ways.

The text I have chosen for my sermon this morning accountable. We are, like most new societies, basically is taken from the words of St John Beaglehole, who ahistorical in our attitudes: we live very much in the declared just thirty years ago that the enemies of the present with our eyes fixed on our glorious destiny in written records of our New Zealand past are "rats, fire the future. The people of some other new societies, the and female relations"1. Not, note you, the acquisitive Americans and the Australians, have begun to think instincts of off-shore imperial authorities or of Ameri­ historically: we have still a long way to go before we can can universities. The truth of the matter is that for every begin to think like the Europeans (or the Maori) with page of our primary documentation sold to an overseas that sense of a thousand years or more of history behind buyer or given to an overseas institution, we destroy, or (or in front) of them. It was a revelation to me when I by our neglect allow to be destroyed, right here in New first visited continental Europe in 1980. There, as I Zealand, smother ten thousand pages. The volume of talked to my equals in the research library community, writers' papers deposited outside New Zealand in the they would drop into our conversations quite casually United States or Britain or elsewhere is still only a tiny and without self-consciousness references to events fraction of what is preserved in our libraries or still in over a thousand years ago. Among them, and in the the hands of the writers or their relations. population at large it seemed to me, there was an The enemy is not the other out there, but lies within automatic and unquestioned acceptance of the need to us. We, and we alone, are responsible - or in the jargon collect and preserve the records of the past in the public of the new age, we the people of New Zealand are interest. All of you who are in the day-to-day business of researchers. acquiring archives and manuscripts for institutions in Because example was so potent in our negotiations New Zealand know the sad, heartbreaking stories off we made it our business to publicise as widely as by heart. "What a pity you left it until today. We sent possible the deposit of private papers in the Turnbull, them to the tip last week", or yesterday; or "we burnt not just in out acquisition lists published in the Turnbull them under the copper last weekend"; or they were so Library Record and seen by members of the Friends, or in badly damaged by water, or mould, or rats and mice, A rchifacts and seen by the interested professionals, but that we threw them out. "Anyway, they weren't that in news releases to newspapers, radio and television. important, surely? Just old papers, and they weren't The carefully crafted messages we were transmitting that old anyway; there weren't any books, you know, emphasised the normality of such deposits, the deposit just letters and things." Or even worse, the invitation to as a good thing in itself, and its potential for a further inspect Dad's or Grandad's or Grandma's surviving addition to public knowledge. Whenever a researcher papers only to find that the most important, for the made substantial use of a collection of private papers historian, have long since gone and the residue consists for a publication we made it known to as wide an of public certificates and suchlike; the photos (newspa­ audience as possible that these papers were not dead per posed or studio) of our hero or heroine with the things but capable of new life in the right hands. They Queen, Winston Churchill, a football or basketball team were not, as many people seemed to believe, 'hidden or a racehorse, or whatever; awards of honorary mem­ away7 or 'buried' in a library, but active, working away berships of the London Worshipful Company of Butch­ in a library. ers or Bakers or Candlestick Makers; the citation for the Mind you, we had to keep strictly to our side of the MBE or honorary degree. Landmarks for him or her, but agreement with our donors. The use of private papers all part of the existing public record; the confidences, had to be carefully controlled, and responsible. On ,ore the personal letters, the judgements on his or her con­ than one occasion I had to read what I used to call 'the temporaries, the unique personal knowledge of this riot act7 to researchers, to make it clear that in granting man or woman have gone for good and we will never free access to private papers we were placing our repu­ recover them and make them part of our public past. tation in the hands of the researcher, and not only our Or you will have encountered the suspicion of the reputation but that of other similar repositories. I stressed relatives that the records left by our hero or heroine will the acute sensitivity of donors of private papers in New be used to attack or belittle his or her reputation; and the Zealand and our need to maintain public confidence. I belief that a future biographer will repeat verbatim made it abundantly clear that if they should abuse the every loose phrase or inappropriate word to denounce trust placed in them retribution would be sure and and discredit. The urge to censor, or better to destroy vindictive and would reach down to their sons and their lest a blemish be uncovered, is still very strong in these son's sons, unto the tenth generation. If I had any tiny islands, where everyone knows everyone else, and doubts about a researcher's trustworthiness my parting most of us seem to be related in one way or another. In shot was to declare that if he or she transgressed, we older or larger countries they ha ve a much more relaxed would personally make sure that he or she became non grip on family papers. We are still rather shy, insecure persona grata in as many research libraries as we could people, troubled by doubts about our worthiness in the reach, and that the Tumbull had a very long arm. It was public arena. These are the enemies within: our atti­ so much easier putting the fear of God into the profes­ tudes to the past and to the written records of thatpast. sional researcher than having to read every word of a We have in recent years shown some signs of im­ thesis or a book. provement. I could detect, in my seventeen years at the I use the T umbull experience because it is something Turnbull, an evolving sense of history and a growing I know personally. I am sure that many of you have sense of the importance of private papers in establish­ similar experiences from other institutions that you ing public identities. There seemed to me to be a great could retail to us to our profit. The point that I am deal more trust of public institutions for private papers, making, and I offer no apology for labouring so long at and a growing trust in government departments in the it, is that although we start with a disadvantage com­ National Archives. I can recall in my early days many a pared with older, maturer, and larger, countries, we as conversation with very loyal and sincere public serv­ a profession have made, and can make a real difference. ants who could not bear to see their department's New Zealand is a small country, is very young, is precious records passing into the unsteady hands of the lacking in maturity in its attitude towards the public use National Archives, despite the very clear provisions of of private papers, but it is changing. Time is one of the the Archives Act. elements, and.I suppose that it is on our side, but my It seemed to me, from my personal observations, experience suggests that the most important factor is that the most potent influence in changing public atti­ our profession (and that means both archivists and tudes towards the deposit of private papers in public those in research libraries) and our application to the institutions was example. We were in the position at task of changing public attitudes. Turnbull to quote precedents, to quote the examples of I have just indicated that I supposed that time was private papers deposited and used by scholars, without on our side, suggesting that long-term trends are fa­ harmful effects and, in fact, were able to quote the vourable to the development of a more mature attitude positive benefits and to cite the published biographies towards the preservation and use of the papers of and histones. We were able to quote, and produce, public figures, and of the papers, such as they are, of carefully worded deposit agreements which safe­ ordinary people. But there are several short-term, or guarded the private interest without unduly restricting what I fervently pray are short-term trends which are thepublic interest. And we could cite a record of careful causing me more and more concern. As promised in my stewardship by the institution and principled use by opening remarks I am turning now to current ills and wicked ways which need to be mended. masters. You can be damn sure that if something goes First, I think that our standards of security and our wrong they won't be accepting the blame but dropping monitoring of the use of materials in our libraries and us into it, post haste. archives are slipping; or if they are still the same, then I have this feeling in my bones that a major scandal we are not increasing our surveillance levels suffi­ is in the making somewhere in the next few years unless ciently to meet the increased threats. Large thefts from we get a much firmer grip on some of our users. Frankly, our public institutions are not likely to lead to an some of them aren't to be trusted very far with primary increase in the public's confidence; and the answer is materials. Many would not respond to what I called the definitely not to cover up and suppress the evidence for 'riot act7 treatment I used to dish out at Turnbull be­ fear of deterring potential depositors or losing our cause they lack a long-term investment in the process of credibility in the eyes of our funding authorities. We scholarly research and communication. They are not, in have to face fairly and squarely the fact that the theft of the jargon, our stakeholders; their stakeholding is some­ valuable public and private documents from libraries where else. and archives, apparently endemic in the United States, Second, the new received wisdom in government, could well be part of our future unless we take very the 'more market7 approach to public administration, determined steps to deter potential thieves. Most of the the application of ideas drawn from a long-dead econo­ deterrence will have to come from in-house measures: mist's model of competitive private enterprise, is shift­ our experience at the Turnbull was that the law enforce­ ing emphases from the long term to the short. Returns, ment authorities were weak reeds when it came to the or outcomes, are being required to be more clearly theft of our kind of public property. related to investments, to inputs, and the easiest under­ As well, I suspect that under the avalanche of users stood and easiest measured relationships are temporal we are facing these days, many of them new users with - if business can operate for a profit on an annual basis, no stake in the process of scholarly communication and a one-year turnaround from investment of resources to no long-term obligations to us, we have lowered our a palpable outcome on the right side of a balance sheet, surveillance and die proper training of users. We are why can't public institutions? In such a climate, and it becoming more and more vulnerable to the unscrupu­ is becoming more pervasive as its promised benefits lous user with an eye to the main chance, whether it be recede even further into the future, we are under pres­ financial or ideological. As many of you will be aware sure to grasp the expedient, to drive for the short-term the trends overseas are to reward those who in writing and the easily computable - bums on seats, documents biography can uncover the biggest and deepest sleaze delivered to clients, collections processed per dollar pit. The level of competition for readers, the need for invested. The package of beliefs associated with this large publishers for a regular quota of best sellers, are ideology is not just ahistorical, it is profoundly anti­ placing pressures on authors which many are finding it historical: the model is not that of people embedded in hard to resist As well, university academics in this a past, influenced by history, beholden to a community country are facing greatly increased pressures to pub­ existing over time, with loyalties, obligations and be­ lish research, and temptations to adopt short cuts will liefs, but of the autonomous individual acting freely, increase. Libraries and archives are next in line and without anything except economic constraints, striving unless we are very careful some users will betray our to maximise short-term gratification. What price (not trust and use restricted material irresponsibly and do value) can be placed on the records of the past: what considerable damage to some institution's reputation, practical, tangible, measurable goods (not good) have and possibly sour the whole delicate reputation we we to show for these collecting and preserving activities have been establishing between private donors and of ours? public institutions. This shortening of perspectives and stress on the The financial rewards in New Zealand are not great rational, selfish, utility-maximiser is corrosive of the ’for such activities, fortunately, but the political and values needed to sustain our activities. It is corrupting ideological rewards for the unscrupulous and the amoral both our masters and our clients and we shall need to seem to be much higher. As the relativism currently apply strong professional prophylactics to shield our­ fashionable in academic circles in the United States selves from becoming infected. takes stronger hold here, and the ideologically commit­ Third is the lessening of our society's committment ted reject notions of obligations to the common good, or to print and the documents of the written word and the national interest, and nail their flags defiantly to the increasing value placed on the oral and the ephemeral. masts of class, gender, race, or even narrower interests; The tadt agreement of all dvilised people stood not on as we regress from commonwealth to state of nature; the actual shoulders of the preceding but on the piles of the chances of unscrupulous uses of private papers will written and printed documents inherited from the pre­ increase. vious generations to enable it to see further than its We are not running open access lending libraries of predecessors, this agreement seems to me to be weak­ secondary literature openly published for use in the ening. It is one consequence of our essentially modem public domain, but are the guardians of private docu­ ahistoridsm - the belief, that because of the stupendous ments intended substantially for the private or semi­ growth of information in the recent past compared with private domain, and we need to appreciate that our­ the earlier past, that anything of any consequence was selves first of all, and then to make our masters aware of created within one's own lifetime and that the distant the difference and the consequences of failure to treat past has little or nothing to offer. I don't propose to say such primary materials appropriately. Their care is anything more on this subject, a major one in its own more expensive, it requires a higher intensity of staff right and well worthy of a book or two, but to refer you involvement, they are sensitive, the usage rates are low: to a readily available antidote available at all good these are the facts and they must be made known to our booksellers, my recently published book Committed to Print: Selected Essays in Praise of the Common Culture of the harder, and employ a great deal more native cunning to Book. At $24.95 it is better value than what you will get maintain our position. at most chemists' shops these days. Here endeth the lesson. Let us now pray for those My judgement is that, short-term, and right now, who know what what they do, and plot to undo those there is a danger that the hard won gains of the past 20­ who know and don't care. 30 years could be severely undermined, even lost. Short­ term trends are against us, and the only recipe I can offer 1 J C Beaglehole, 'On the Duties of a Librarian', New Zealand is to increase our professional committment, work L ibraries, 25 (Jan-Feb 1962), 1-6.

Recollections of a Voyeur arranging the papers of Sylvia Ashton-Warner (1908-1984)

Frank Rogers

Since my retirement from secondary teaching I have found a second career in archives as a publisher and by working as an arranger of private papers, principally for the University of Auckland Library, without pay. The public figures whose papers I arranged for the Library were Sir George Fowlds, a Minister in the Ward cabinet, A R D Fairbum the poet and publicist, and George Cowie Reid Professor of English at Auckland University. Also I received commissions, the first of which was from the Auckland City Art Gallery to arrange the papers of John Weeks the painter. This led to a recommendation to the Henderson estate lawyer who was handling Sylvia Ashton-Wamer's effects. In each case I sometimes felt I was invading the privacy of the subjects, somewhat like a voyeur but without the sex - as if I were peering through a keyhole observing their private lives, even in the case of Fowlds, whose papers were mainly concerned with his public life, but there were letters to and from his family and relatives, which ran the gamut of the emotions.

Examples (from the Weeks Papers, except the last): limbo. Their fate was yet to be decided. That situation From a woman friend: "I thought you would be sure remained until 1991.1 was even told that the family had to come on Wednesday for dinner n o ... no-one ... to stop the Turnbull Library from sending an officer to Another woman friend: "paua shell bedknobs to uplift them. Sylvia had been negotiating with Jim Traue you with Marcasite fittings." regarding giving the papers (or what was left of them) From Louise Henderson (no relation) on the death of to Turnbull but there appeared to be no formal agree­ her husband Hubert: "Thank you for your kind letter, ment to that effect, so far as I am aware. but I ha ve nothing to say and my life is over, the days are The solicitor handling the estate commissioned me long the house is empty and I am lonely." to do the arrangement and description of the papers. As On shipboard to London: "I feel that queer and well, he asked me to prepare a report on their impor­ disconcerting life inside my body which comes when I tance and possible future destination, so that he could am eager to work, much like a love pang, at the thought advise the three beneficiaries. I think it quite the excep­ that only two days separate me from what I am going to tion for a solicitor to take this kind of action. I suppose see and do." that the work on which I had embarked could be Written on an used envelope: "I will paint the great­ regarded as a classic example of what ought to be done est thing that has ever been painted bar nothing - it will with the private papers of public figures but never is. be absolutely original & distinctive & full of fine colour The papers can be described briefly: volume 2m, & design. To hell with everybody who has ever painted inclusive dates 1939-84, major content 1978-84. before." Correspondence with family and friends, publish­ Sylvia on her return to NZ from British Columbia in ers in NZ, USA, UK, associates at Simon Fraser Univer­ 1973:" I left New Zealand a broken-hearted widow and sity BC, fan mail. I returned a Professor of Education." Professional and business domestic affairs. The Sylyia job was different from the rest. In the Literary manuscripts of published and unpublished other cases the papers had been in the hands of the writings. recipient institution for some time. In this case, shortly Teaching and lecture materials including examples after her death Sylvia's papers had been freighted from of the reading books she made up for children's indi­ her home in Tauranga to the Auckland office of the vidual reading. solicitors of the Henderson estate. The papers were in Printed matter and clippings. Notebooks and diaries including five five-year dia­ speech at the opening of the Sylvia Ashton-Wamer ries 1966-84. Library at the Auckland College of Education; that he Photographs. had long since realised that he had no ordinary mother The work was completed in a little over a month, and it was no good trying to be possessive about her. He and I was paid about $2500 including allowances for wanted to have her papers in a public institution in New travel and parking. It was in parts quite tedious when it Zealand so that her image would be preserved. It is not involved removal of pins and iron staples, and the clear to me why it took so long before they got to extraction of most of the letters from their envelopes Turnbull, since Lynley Hood's biography was pub­ and then flattening them. I don't propose to say any lished in 1988.1 have an idea that Jasmine was not keen more about the working details. to have the family's private life as represented in the I prepared an inventory, illustrated with some of the papers made open to the public, but Lynley Hood's artwork from the children's books, and also a report on biography had already told all, if not more than all; she the possibilities of the final destination of the papers. I is more of a voyeur than I am! pointed out that the papers were incomplete and were Another feature that may have caused delay was complementary to the holdings of Boston University's Elliot's concern to see if the Mugar collection could be Mugar Library, whose Curator of Collections, Dr Gotlieb, repatriated. I understand that he had been pressing Dr had sent me a copy of their listing of the series of gifts Gotlieb to hand over the papers. This may have been Sylvia had made up to 1978. It is not an inventory. It is owing to a misunderstanding. Holding institutions ironic that Mugar, the overseas library, did not pay for obviously do not make a practice of handing back to these papers, while Turnbull, in Sylvia's own country relatives such gifts to which they have legal title. Other­ has paid for those they finally obtained. wise. especially with the rise in prices for manuscript papers and the growth of reputations, the situation These factors had to be borne in mind: 1. Sylvia was a literary figure with a reputation in would be disastrous. I think that Elliot quoted the return of Gunter Grass's papers to Germany by the three fields - a novelist of international stature; a femi­ Mugar Library. If I remember correctly Dr Gotlieb's nist cult figure; an innovative teacher in the field of explanation was that the Grass papers were only on reading. Hence the papers were of more than usual deposit at Mugar. importance and required an appropriate final location. 2. Sylvia had commenced negotiations with the At one stage I wrote to Elliot to say that the person Alexander Turnbull Library regarding the gift of the to negotiate with was Gotlieb. It was no good going papers still in her possession, which constituted an over his head and writing to the governing body of indication of her wishes about their future. Boston University who would only refer the matter to 3. A rather larger part of her papers had already the Curator - Gotlieb. If Gotlieb had no alternative but been given to Boston University. to stand firm against repatriation, I suggested that the My advice ran something like this. The possible alternative was to exchange copies. In that connection I alternatives appear to be: had recently established there was no overlap of con­ 1. Retention by her three children for their exami­ tent between the Mugar collection and the papers in New Zealand. I pointed out that a resolution of the nation and enjoyment - but this would mean that they would need storage with proper security. As well there impasse would not occur until the papers In New would be problems with providing proper facilities for Zealand were given or sold to an institution, since only researchers. Sylvia's daughter Jasmine (Mrs Beveridge) then could the exchange of copies, microfilm or what­ and her husband had a large family to look after. The ever, take place, for the benefit of scholars in both Henderson home (Whenua) at Otumoetai in Tauranga countries. had been sold. The two sons Ashton and Elliot did not The subsequent development has been that last year work in New Zealand. Therefore this solution as with the beneficiaries sold their portion of the papers to the most families was not a viable alternative. They had Turnbull Library for a considerable sum. opted out by sending the papers to the solicitor, and I suppose that ideally the following procedures later to the Hocken Library - of which more anon. should be followed: 2. Gift or sale to Boston University - perhaps the 1. Establish what were the wishes of the creator in archivally sound solution which would reunite the respect of the papers, which should be paramount (or papers, since the two parts overlap in dates but not in should they?). content. 2. Establish the wishes of the family / beneficiaries. 3. Gift or sale to a New Zealand repository would 3. Prepare a preliminary inventory of the papers to conform to Sylvia's apparent wishes before she died, determine the content. and to Elliot's wishes also, as well as to the desire on the 4. Evaluate the collection as to the importance of its part of many New Zealanders that the literary papers of contents in relation to the life of the creator. New Zealand writers should stay in New Zealand, and 5. Obtain a valuation of the papers. not become PhD 'Fidd' fodder for foreigners. I said that In the matter of valuation, before completing the if the papers were to stay in New Zealand the obvious report I consulted Peter Webb of Peter Webb Galleries place for them was the Turnbull Library, since it holds in Auckland, a specialist in art and manuscripts, about the largest collection of New Zealand literary papers the possibilities of his making an assessment of the and is empowered by statute to build a national collec­ market value of the papers. I believe that the archivist tion. Sylvia would then be represented in the Pantheon should acquaint the beneficiaries of the valuation of of NZ literature. private papers of public figures. They are, after all, 4. Sale on the open m arket pieces of property, even if not just a piece of property In the few interviews I had with Elliot Henderson he like a yacht or real estate. He told me that American made quite clear what he repeated later in a public universities were paying large sums for literary papers and instanced the oil-rich University of Texas which report on them to the instructing solicitor. I was not one had been known to pay $50,000 or some such sum for of the decision-makers, nor was I appointed to promote the papers of a well-known writer. my personal views on the destiny of the papers. As to In the event he was asked by the solicitor to examine the claim 'Teggy has had Sylvia's papers valued" (p84), the papers but did not get so far as putting a price on the truth is that I did no more than recommend that the them although he said that the fact that they were only papers should be valued. At no time did I propose that a part of her total papers was a disadvantage. The the papers "should be auctioned off". All this makes me solicitor told me that Inland Revenue was interested in doubt the accuracy of Lynley's methods of work. the value of the estate for death duties and that they I was upset by this misguided attack. My solicitor insisted on Jim Traue being asked to value the papers. told me that her publication of my letter was a breach of My recollection is that his valuation was $5,000.1 was copyright and her claims in this respect were defama­ not sure whether Jim was thinking of what Turnbull tory, although that would be difficult to prove. In the might have to pay rather than being kind to the benefi­ same work there are other examples of Lynley Hood's ciaries in helping them to avoid taxation. He might say publication of letters from other people, as well as of "I saved you $10,000 in death duties so you really got taped conversations, apparently without permission. $15,000." The interviews that she records were granted to her for The other matter that arose out of the papers was my a specific purpose - to gather data for the biography - involvement with Sylvia's biographer. Before Sylvia not for publishing a diary about her search for Sylvia. died she had accepted Lynley Hood of Dunedin as her This disregard for the conventions is notable in the case biographer, but the shift of the papers to Auckland on of Marie Clay, who declined to be interviewed or taped, Sylvia's death had interrupted Lynley's work. I learned but Lynley's telephone conversation with her is pub­ later that it was arranged that the papers went to the lished anyway (pp24-25), and of Clarence Beeby who Hocken Library temporarily, so that she could continue agreed to be interviewed but, I presume, not for the her research. Apparently the facilities offered at Hocken publication of his hilarious reaction to certain remarks. were far in advance of the somewhat primitive arrange­ Michael King had given her advice about possible ments for researchers at the Mugar Library. publishers, but without any expectation that his off-the- Before I had completed my work, I met Lynley Hood cuff remarks about them would be published. at the Stout Centre Biography Conference in Welling­ In his review of Who Is Sylvia in M etro, King makes ton in July 1984, and we exchanged information about the point that "Oddly, Hood quotes with apparent Sylvia on a friendly basis. However on 28 September of approval Voltaire's maxim about owing truth to the that year she wrote accusing me of proposing that the dead and respect to the living. She doesn't observe it." papers should be divided up and sold on the interna­ I made a point of defending my reputation to the tional market, claiming that Sylvia's reputation de­ various people that Hood had written to about my pended on her papers staying undivided. My only alleged duplicity, including Carl Stead, Jack Shallcrass, explanation for this allegation is that I must have told and Michael King. I also noted the anomaly that Hood Lynley of the remarks of Peter Webb regarding the wrote that she had attended an oral history seminar by sums that the University of Texas had been known to Judith Fyfe, at which the doyens of oral history empha­ pay for literary papers and that private papers were sised the code of ethics in this matter, about protecting sometimes sold off in batches in order to raise more the confidentiality and rights of the sources. money. I was not in a position to take Lynley Hood and/or Foolishly I wrote back indignantly pointing out that the publishers to court, even if I had wanted to. How­ no such action was recommended by me, and that her ever I think that what appears to me to be irresponsible claim was "a load of crap", since Sylvia's reputation behaviour unworthy of a recipient of State funds should was already established in her published writings and not pass unnoticed. We might consider this case as an that the fate of her private papers was irrelevant to her example of the misuse and misapplication of informa­ international standing. Theestate solicitor reproved me tion gathered without the necessary safeguards, and of for my intemperate language, but wrote to her on two the publication without authorisation of material that is occasions to confirm that my behaviour in this assign­ copyright, in order to warn writers of what the law and ment was impartial and beyond reproach. ethics in such matters are. Do other researchers realise There was no immediate response from Lynley to that anything written, created since 1900 might be any of these letters. However I was surprised to find subject to the law of copyright, depending upon the that in James McNeish's article in the Evening Post (12 dates of creation and of the death of the creator. For August 1990) on the exodus of literary papers, he re­ example a letter written in 1905, by a person who died ferred to Lynley Hood's new book about her experi­ in 1965, is copyright until 1995, thirty years after death. ences in writing the Ashton-Wamer biography, a book One problem I struck in arranging the papers was to entitled Who Is Sylvia. He quoted what was obviously decide which was the original manuscript, where there my rude letter to her. She dtes me as an example of the were several versions or copies. Sylvia had obviously villains who would divide up and sell New Zealand's learned the lesson of the burning of her manuscript by national literary treasures for filthy profit. Apparently Dr Beeby personally! (Do you know the story?) my letter and the lawyers refuting this claim in 1984 had Other questions that could profitably be discussed made no injpression. In the book I appear disguised as arising out of this case study include: Teggy Cuthbert' but there can be no doubt as to whom Should the papers have gone to the Mugar Library? she is referring, since I was the only person authorised If so, as a gift or by sale? to work on the papers at that time. How would you have responded to Lynley Hood's The solicitor and I had made it clear that my commis­ initial claim, and to her later unauthorised publication sion was to arrange and describe the papers and to of private letters and conversations? Rescuing A Life: sources for the biography of Edward Tregear, 1846-1931

K R Howe

It is fashionable for historians to bemoan the fact that 'ordinary' people and especially women are left out of our history. But so too are prominent males. Edward Tregear was bom in Southampton in 1846. He came to New Zealand in 1863. By the turn of the century, Tregear was one of New Zealand's most notable citizens and intellectuals. He was an international authority in Maori and Polynesian studies. He was also the controversial 'socialist' who, as Secretary for Labour during the twenty years of Liberal rule, was responsible for planning and administering the world's most ' advanced' labour laws. Tregear was a household name in New Zealand particularly through his very high-profile administration of factories, offices and shops reforms, and the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, all of which affected the lives of every New Zealander. He was also probably one of the most articulate theoreticians and publicists ever in New Zealand in favour of a socially active role for the state. Overseas, Tregear, together with Seddon and Reeves, were perhaps the best known New Zealanders at the time. Social reformers came from all over the world to be shown around by Tregear. As well, he was a social critic, novelist and poet.1

It says something about the nation's collective his­ project. torical consciousness that in spite of this prominence, Even when Tregear became Secretary for Labour a Tregear has become a forgotten figure in New Zealand major archival source was missing - the Department of history. Labour files for the pjeriod were largely destroyed in the Having decided in 1984 to write his biography I Hop>e Gibbons Building fire in Wellington in 1952. naively thought that it would be relatively easy to find This early sense of despair was compounded by the material on such a public figure. Certainly I could get fact that Tregear was too self-effacing ever to write his fairly ready access to Tregear7s own voluminous publi­ memoirs, or even keep a diary. He was not usually in cations, particularly his Polynesian studies. But then the habit of keeping correspondence sent to him. He did followed a period of some despair. amass voluminous study notes during his life, though For a start, there was scarcely any secondary mate­ these were destroyed by his widow. His library was rial on Tregear. Major secondary sources on New Zea­ offered to the Turnbull Library after his death but land history ignore or make the briefest of passing apparently that institution was not very interested. The references to him. Two unpublished masters theses had family ended up gettinga 'pittance7 for it from Bethunes. examined some aspacts of his work - Peter Gibbons At the time there were several occasions when I analysed Tregear7s handling of unemployment as Sec­ considered giving up the project since I thought that I retary of Labour, and Michael Belerave looked in part could never find out just where he was and what he was at Tregear7 s Aryan Maori theories/These works, along doing, let alone analysing his thoughts and actions. But with yearbooks, encyclopaedias, and biographical col­ I continued the research, and after six years I actually lections, both old and new, gave only the sketchiest idea ended up with far more material than I could handle. of what he did, particularly in his first 40 years in New Zealand. Indeed it seemed as if Tregear lived in almost Early life: complete obscurity until the 1890s. As far as Tregear's early life in England was con­ What was even more disturbing was the fact that cerned, I got some scrappy information from the usual when I went to check what little was stated about his sources - birth and baptismal registers, street directo­ early life, more often than not I found it fictitious. And ries. Before his early death, Tregear's father was a it soon became apparent that Tregear, when he became skippjer with P&O and that organisation provided some a public figure, told a few lies about his earlier days. I material. Tregear came to New Zealand in 1863 as a lad can remember spending a long time frantically and of 17 with a mother and two sisters to support. For more fruitlessly chasing all kindsof false trailsin theNational than 20 years he was, I eventually found out, in various Archives. In retrospject this research was in fact very places throughout the North Island as a soldier, gold useful. Historians tend to overlook the extent to which digger, government and private surveyor. Useful not finding things that they expject helps to shap>e their sources here were Army Department and Lands and Survey records in the National Archives. I found street career that almost anything and everything relating to directories, electoral rolls, almanacs, gazettes, bank­ it had relevance. Extant collections of labour figures ruptcy records all helpful. The Intention to Marry records invariably contain material by or on Tregear - for exam­ and then Divorce files provided invaluable material ple, the papers of Harry Holland,8 J.A. McCullough,9 about Tregear's marriage to a divorcee. I spent some A.P. McCarthy, J.T. Paul, and Mark Silverstone.™ A time examining specific local sources, especially places range of Labour Party material, much of it in the Turnbull like New Plymouth, Hawera and Patea, reading local Library, was obviously of value. I must also mention the newspapers, along with town board records.3 The re­ very valuable trade union history records in the private gional Lands and Survey offices in Auckland, Hamil­ collection of Bert Roth, who very kindly gave me access. ton, and New Plymouth were also used. And then there is the mass of newspapers, and trade From such sources I eventually managed to piece union publications for the period. together a picture of what Tregear did before he finally One of the, to me, surprising dimensions of Tregear's moved to Wellington and prominence in the mid-1880s. labour activities was the extent of his links with leading US labour reformers. As Peter Coleman has shown in Polynesian studies: his much overlooked book,11 there were many in the Coping with Tregear's Polynesian studies was less United States who looked to New Zealand, with its of a problem, in so far as sources were concerned, emphasis on the social role of the state, to provide the mainly because of his own books and his very extensive model for the decent society in the twentieth century. publications in the Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand's most active publicist in this regard was New Zealand Institute, Journal of the Polynesian Society, Tregear. There were two major sources for such activ­ and in various British anthropological journals. An­ ity. First, there is Tregear's extensive correspondence other major source was the Polynesian Sodety papers.4 with prominent US journalist and reformer Henry Tregear was a co-founder of this Society as well as co­ Demarest Lloyd.12 Second, Tregear wrote many arti­ editor (with Percy Smith) of its Journal for many years. cles for US reforming periodicals, like Arena and Inde­ These papers proved a wonderful resource, containing pendent, explaining and justifying the role of the state in as they do correspondence between Tregear and most New Zealand. of the Polynesian scholars throughout New Zealand, the Pacific, and Europe. Tregear was a great corre­ Literature: spondent and while he did not keep copies of his letters, Tregear regarded himself as a poet. Poetry and many of them survive in this and other collections. literature generally were Tregear's constant compan­ Tregear often wrote letters as others might write a daily ions through life. Apart from his creative writing - diary. He was never afraid to express his views and which consisted of a book of fables, a book of Polynesian feelings and, to his confidants like Percy Smith, fre­ tales, a novel, and poetry - he had a remarkably reveal­ quently revealed his innermost soul. Another useful ing correspondence with A.G. Stephens, the Australian source for Tregear's Polynesian studies is the John critic and writer for the Bulletin. White papers.5 ! found valuable scraps of material in libraries and archives throughout New Zealand and Family life: also overseas, especially in Canberra, Sydney and Hono­ One of the attractions of biography is to be able to lulu. focus on the smallest unit of historical research - a single person. Behind all the mighty issues and events that Secretary for Labour: concern historians, there are always individuals with As I have mentioned, most of the Department of particular habits and personalities. In my biography I Labour files for Tregear's period have been destroyed, place great emphasis on juxtaposing the private Tregear though some useful files survived. Fortunately, how­ with tire public man. But how can you uncover this ever, there still exists a huge primary record, especially private Tregear? Apart from the more revealing aspects in voluminous parliamentary papers and Labour De­ of the sources I have already mentioned, there are some partment publications. Of extreme value were letters additional key ones. Tregear wrote to William Pember Reeves on Reeves' There are some glimpses of the private man in some departure to London.6 Through these I could trace papers in the Turnbull Library, in particular some rec­ Tregear's tortuous route through the Liberal's labour ollections of his daughter.14 But what really brought legislation and especially the Industrial Conciliation Tregear to life for me, and hopefully for my readers, was and Arbitration Act. Reeves was Tregear's confessor my tracking down of two of Tregear's grandchildren and there is much that is revealing in this correspond­ (Mrs Vera Maclean and Mr Herbert Robinson), and his ence. Another key archival source, and one that awaits great-nephew (Air-Vice Marshal Ian Morrison). a thorough investigation, is the John A. Millar papers.2 They all enthusiastically supported my project and Millar was Minister of Labour after Seddon. The Tregear- I ha ve spent dozens of hours interviewing them. In brief Millar relationship is fascinating, and I certainly got a they supplied me with two categories of material. First, very different picture of Millar from the rather deroga­ between them they had a wonderful collection of pho­ tory one that appears in most of the histoiy books, tographs, some of Tregear's schoolboy notes on Cor­ crossing the floor in his pyjamas to vote the Liberals out nish history and Tregear family genealogy, some cher­ of power. ished family letters and papers that escaped the wid­ There was not an issue or development within the ow's fire, including a most moving farewell letter he labour movement generally that Tregear was not asso­ wrote to his wife just before he died in his eighty-sixth ciated with from the 1890s through to 1913 when he year. There was also a large collection of T regear' sown became the president of the Social Democratic Party. So newsdippings. The great-nephew also had a collection central is the history of the labour movement to Tregear's of Tregear's early and unpublished poetry which I have found extremely revealing of Tregear's innermost volved in thinking about collection strategies. My par­ thoughts. I published this together with Tregear7 s other ticular research experience would seem to cut across verse some years ago.15 neat collection categories. In part this is because of the But second, Tregear's two grandchildren shared nature of the beast. Tregear was involved in so many with me their very vivid recollections of the man in his activities and his life encompasses so many fundamen­ later life. These are not childhood memories, but adult tal themes and issues in New Zealand history. In part ones, since the grandchildren were in their 20s by the too it is because neither he nor anyone else attempted to time Tregear died and they had lived close to him, in make a substantive collection around him as a public Picton, where Tregear retired. I cannot emphasisenough figure. Personally I do not now find this a problem, how important this has been to my understanding of though obviously I did ini daily. The point is that Tregear the style and personality of the man. I got wonderful has emerged from the record despite its nature. Collec­ snippets about things like his daily habits, his sayings, tors of material can never anticipate the research needs and his perpetual motion machine. of future researchers. Indeed it may even be dangerous But what proved if they attempt too con­ even more illuminating sciously to do so, for it than these memories is in the very uncon­ were aspects of Tregear sciousness and fortui­ family oral tradition tousness of collecting that has come only that others may later through the female line. find their gems. A dominant feature of Researchforthisbi- the family tradition was ography brought sev­ the intensely loving re­ eral other things home lationship between to me. For example, I Tregear and his wife realised just ho w small Bessie. At one point I New Zealand society tentatively asked the is and how very close granddaughter if she we still are to what we knew about Bessie's di­ call history. It took no vorce. 'Ah', she said more than a couple of quietly, 1 wondered if days to track down the you would find out.' Tregear grandchildren And she then pro­ and to discover that he ceeded to reveal to me was still very much a some most intimate in­ living part of their fam­ formation about ily tradition. I con­ Bessie's first marriage tacted scores of people and about Tregear's all over New Zealand. and Bessie's married Every single one was sex life. The grandson "It i excellent. I'd like to buy the rights to put it out on parchment. ” unfailingly generous had been unaware of it in their support. But in until then and was quite 'shocked', not by the details spite of the smallness, the intimacy, and the closeness of but because he had not been privy to a family secret. New Zealand society and its history, the past is still very This information has been crucial in helping me to largely virgin territory for historians. At the beginning analyse aspects of Tregear's character, his literature, of this project I had naively assumed that much of New and his public works. As a biographer I feel very privi­ Zealand's history, especially during the later nine­ leged to have been given quite unprecedented personal teenth/ early twentieth century, had pretty much been access to someone who was prominent so long ago. 'done'. In other words, I thought that Tregear's life could readily be set against the 'times' as recorded by Implications and conclusions. historians. But this was not the case. With the major I'm not sure what lessons if any for archivists can be exception of the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration drawn from this rather crude survey of my sources for Act, and the origins of the Labour movement, most this biography of a public figure. topics/areas where I followed Tregear are largely In thinking now about where they all came from, the unresearched. While there are several important recent overriding conclusion is that I grubbed bits from every­ works that helped to illuminate the general socio-politi­ where and from a very wide variety of sources most of cal context in which Tregear operated,16 the limits of which ostensibly had nothing to do with Tregear. That such knowledge were much closer than I expected. My is, the existence of these sources was for reasons other view now is that in spite of the excellent New Zealand than providing material for some future biographer of history that has appeared in recent times, it still barely Tregear. I never did discover a great single, all-enlight­ scratches the surface. In this regard I am reminded of ening Tregear archival source, the sort of material, for one of Tregear's favourite quotations from Tennyson: example, that Keith Sinclair had for Walter Nash, or the Tor we are Ancients of the earth, and in the morning of sort of collections public figures now like to deposit in the times.' National Archives, presumably in eager anticipation of I have a much better appreciation of how extensive their future biographers. and rich is archival material in the regions. And I am Perhaps this has some implications for those in­ more conscious of how much of our historical record still lies in private hands either in documents or in of those to whom forgetfulness of national welfare memories. in the individual pursuit of wealth will not appear to Finally, my research led me directly to the two, and be the end and aim of human existence.17 the only two substantive socio-intellectual traditions In this regard, the archives of New Zealand have this country has given the world. These traditions are indeed served Tregear and his biographer extremely the pakeha interpreting of Maori/Polynesian culture well. and history, and the conceptualising and administering of the moderate, paternal state. Tregear played a semi­ 1 K R Howe, Singer in a songless land. A life of Edward Tregear, nal role in both these developments. Auckland University Press, 1991. Books are creatures of their times. Indeed even the 2 Michael Belgrave, 'Archipelago of exiles: a study in the imperialism of ideas: Edward T regear and John Macmillan archival record itself ultimately has no voice other than Brown', MPhil thesis. University of Auckland, 1979; Peter through the publicly expressed priorities/values of Gibbons, "Turning tramps into taxpayers" - the Depart­ those who interpret it. I began my research on this m ent of Labour and the casual labourer in the 1880s', MA biography in 1984, the same time as New Zealand was thesis, Massey University, 1970. set on a course of dramatic change. Had I written this 3 For example. New Plymouth Library, Taranaki Museum, book in the 1970s, many of the issues would have been Hawera District County Offices, Patea Museum, Patea quite unproblematic. But in the 1980s they have devel­ County Council Offices. oped a keen, sometimes painful poignancy. History for 4 MS 1187, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington (WTu). me, as never before, became a mirror of the present. 5 MS 75, WTu. 6 W P Reeves, 'Letters written ... by Men of Mark in New For example, Tregear's Maori/Polynesian scholar­ Zealand', MS Micro 182, WTu. ship highlights serious questions central to modem 7 MS Group 21, WTu. racial issues, such as 'who owns New Zealand's past?' 8 MS 1815, WTu. And with regard to Tregear's moderate 'socialism' there 9 Canterbury Museum Library. is a most disturbing sense of deja vu. State intervention 10 Respectively MS 963, MS 982, MS 1016, Hocken Library, in Tregear's day was seen as necessary to prevent the Dunedin. excesses of the free market, to prevent, in the language 11 Peter J Colem an, Progressivism and the world of reform. New of the time, the social and industrial evils of the Old Zealand and the origins of the American welfare state, Law ­ World taking root in the New. But now we are told that rence, Kansas, 1987. such solutions are in fact the cause of our problems. It is 12 H D Lloyd, Papers, MS Micro 473, WTu. 13 Tregear Papers, MS 554,777, WTu. ironic that New Zealand by 1900 was hailed by political 14 Vera Robinson, Thases of my father's life', Tregear Pa­ reformers in England, the US and elsewhere, as the pers, MS 554. birthplace of the twentieth century because of its pater­ 15 K R H ow e (ed). T he v erse o f E dw ard T reg ea r, N agare Press, nal state and its rejection of untrammeled libertarian­ Palmerston North, 1989. ism. Now, in the 1990s New Zealand is being hailed in 16 Among the most useful were: David Hamer, T h e N ew some quarters as the birthplace of the twenty-first cen­ Zealand Liberals: the years of power, 1891-1912, Auckland, tury thanks to exemplary deregulation and privatisa­ 1988; Erik Olssen, The Red Feds: revolutionary industrial tion. unionism and the New Zealand Federation of Labour 1908­ In 1890 Tregear wrote a paper urging the creation of 1 9 1 4 , Auckland, 1988; Miles Fairbum, The ideal society and a New Zealand archives. He concluded: - its enemies: the foundations of modem New Zealand society 1 8 5 0 -1 9 0 0 , Auckland, 1989. the literary collection is a national duty, concerning 17 Tregear, The archives of New Zealand', Monthly Review, which there can be no doubt, and which, if we 2(1890), 625. neglect, we shall earn the well-deserved approbrium

A Rediscovery of the Past

Buddy Mikaere

In the February 1992 issue of M etro magazine, histo­ ... The fundamental impulse driving the rediscov­ rian Jock Phillips suggested that New Zealanders are ery of New Zealand history isnotanniversariesbut beginning to wake up to the past around them and asks the simple fact that the subject has reformed itself. the question "Why is this?" He thinks that it is: It has begun asking big questions about our way of ... simply one indication of the country's decline as life, and so New Zealanders are interested in turning people look back nostalgically and invent a glorious to the past for answers.1 past when the present becomes too awful to contem­ I think this is a terrific development in New Zealand plate. but I don't think the rediscovery of a national history is But more seriously he goes on to suggest that with the unique to our country, in fact it's something that's . . . new assertion of Maori rights, Pakeha New happening all over the world. Zealanders have suffered a loss of confidence and What I want to talk about are some of the trends clarity of vision in the past fifteen years. History emerging overseas. I believe we can take a lesson from becomes one way of helping to re-establish direc­ the overseas experience and draw some parallels with tion and get to know our own society for better or what's happening here. Then I'd like to talk about worse. where I think archivists fit in these developments. I admire Robert Hughes, an Australian writer living rivals. Just on dawn, one of our chiefs crept over the hill in New York. You might know him for his definitive to where the enemy were camped and saw that we were work on the transportation of convicts to Australia, The badly outnumbered. Well, what could a prudent peo­ Fatal Shore (London 1987). Writing in Time magazine ple do but scram, leaving behind only the steaming recently, Hughes talked about 'political correctness' piles of our morning toilet to do our fighting. That's and gave an example of it from the literary world. He how we got that name. To the politically correct, this is says that in the newly published Columbia History of probably not a nice story but it's stories like this that the American Novel, Harriet Beecher Stowe is said to be keep my people human and therefore make us real. a better novelist than Herman Melville because she was There have been big changes in the history now 'socially constructive' and because Uncle Tom's Cabin being taught in New Zealand. Maori history especially helped rouse Americans against slavery, whereas the is treated with a much greater sensitivity, a reflection of captain of the Pequod was a symbol of laissez-faire the Maori assertiveness that Jock Phillips noted. But capitalism with a bad attitude toward whales.2 perhaps there is some caution needed here. We can probably think of our own recent examples A changed sensitivity to the textbook treatment of in this field as well; Noddy and Big Ears, branded as minorities has also been part of the American experi­ racist and banished from libraries because of those ence. But for some this is apparently not enough. For naughty golly-wogs. But according to Hughes it's in the example there is a view that only blacks can write the area of history, not literature, that political correctness history of slavery, only Indians that of pre-European has scored its largest successes. America, and so forth. The reading of history is never static. There is no In America this has led to the emergence of such such thing as the last word. And who could doubt movements as Afrocentrism which argues that the his­ that there is still much to revise in the story of the tory of the cultural relations between Africa and Europe European conquest of North and South America is rubbish - a prop for the fiction of white European that historians inherited? Its basic scheme was impe­ supremacy. Although paleohistorians agree that intel­ rial: the epic advance of civilisation against barba­ ligent human life began in the rift valley of Africa, the rism; the conquistador bringing the cross and the Afrocentrists go further in insisting that Africa is the sword; the red man shrinking back before the cav­ cultural father of us all. European culture derives from alry and the railroad . . . So now in reaction to it, Egypt, Egypt is part of Africa, ergo. Hughes says that to comes the manufacture of its opposite myth. Euro­ plow through the literature of Afrocentrism is: pean man, once the hero of die conquest of the . . . to enter a world of claims about technological Americas, now becomes its demon; and the victims, innovation so absurd that they lie beyond satire. who cannot be brought back to life, are sanctified. Afrocentrists have at one time or another claimed On either side of the divide between Euro and that Egyptians alias Africans: invented the wet-cell native, historians stand ready with tarbrush and battery by observing electric eels in the Nile; and gold leaf, and instead of the wicked old stereotypes, that late in the first millenium BC they took to flying there is a whole outfit of equally misleading new around in gliders. Fifteen hundred years ago Tanza­ ones. nians were smelting steel with semiconductor tech­ We have our own local examples of this kind of nology. There is nothing to prove these tales, but thinking and the one that springs to mind was the nothing to disprove them either - a common condi­ beheading of a statue of Sir George Grey in Albert Park, tion of things that didn't happen. Auckland, several years ago. We probably do regret In America this invention of a sort of remedial some of the things that George Grey did but we should history is allied with situations where the utterances of also remember that much of what we know about any oppressed person or group deserves instant cre­ nineteenth-century Maori life comes from the priceless dence, even if they're the merest assertion. There is a manuscript material he collected. The decapitation was strong parallel in this country. We all know for example an act of ignorance, of intellectual vandalism. I am not that there is a body of opinion which says that Maori an apologist for him, but men like Grey should be history and tradition are taonga and therefore 'prop­ judged in a balanced way, remembered for their good erty' to be dispensed or withheld at the whim of the works and forgiven their human frailty. Hughes again: guardians. The need for absolute goodies and absolute baddies Of course there are some valid reasons for that. runs deep in us, but it drags history into propa­ Maori do feel that their history has been ripped off by ganda and denies the humanity of the dead: their people furthering their own, usually academic, careers, sins, their virtues, their failures. To preserve com­ with no tangible return. In dealing with Maori history plexity, and not flatten it under the weight of anach­ you deal with a people who were defeated militarily ronistic moralising, is part of the historian's task. and culturally oppressed. Because so much has been You cannot remake the past in the name of affirma­ lost, Maori are defensive about what little remains. tive action. But you can find narratives that havn't Some Maori give the spiritual significance of the mate­ been written, histories of people and groups that rial as a reason for their stance, but I think that's mostly have been distorted or ignored and refresh history front - it's again protecting the little that's left with a by bringing them in. spiritual smokescreen. I like Hughes' reference to denying the dead their But that's not really what I'm talking about. An humanity; their sins virtues and failures. It reminds me article appeared recently in Terra Nova magazine which about one of the stories of my own people, Ngati purported to review an old Maori tradition concerning Pukenga, who are also known as Hamuti Wera. Loosely the tussock high country of the South Island. The tradi­ translated it means Trot shit'. The name comes from a tion - so the article went - told of three types of tussock time when our people had agreed to a fight with some personified as three sisters, that these three sisters were carried in round packs by groups of up to three thou­ its claims. It is a desire for self esteem but that desire sand people, split and planted.-* should not justify every lie and exaggeration and . . . each quarter was replanted twenty paces out therapeutic slanting of evidence that can be claimed north, south, east or west of the original plant. . . to alleviate it. The separatism it fosters turns what seedlings were also grown in garden nurseries for ought to be a recognition of cultural diversity, or real planting out in depleted areas . . . between the multiculturalism, tolerant to both sides, into a perni­ tussocks various plants were gardened. Food spe­ cious symbolic program. cies included kumara, taro, ti kouka and other intro­ Maori people will achieve rangatiratanga, will duced species . . . medicinal plants were also gar­ achieve self-esteem, but if that is to endure it should dened in the tussocklands... have as its foundation not the self-seeking posturing of I am astounded that no-one has come forward to the politically correct, but true knowledge. Self-esteem dispute the nonsense of this article. Is everyone so comes from doing things well, from discovering how to cowed by the need to be politically correct that normal tell a truth from a lie and from finding out what unites critical analysis is suspended? as as well as what separates us. It is in the search for The point about political correctness is that in the truth that archivists have an important role to play. end it helps no one. Maori are held up to ridicule I think one of the reasons I have been asked to speak because while in this instance the experts in the field here today is because some Pakeha genuinely seek to have been slow to reply, not so the wags: let me read you understand the historical Maori point of view. But I feel some extracts from one response:4 frustrated about it In the last ten months I've spoken to Recounting some old knowledge of the Waitaha three archivist or archivist-related groups. I keep telling nation, tangata whenua of the high country provide Pakeha - because generally you have the ability to do a particular perspective on the degradation, reha­ something about it, what is wrong from our, the Maori, bilitation and andent use of the ski-fields. "We were point of view - and keep being ignored. brought up by three snowmen of the pukenga, the These are some of the things that are wrong: high country. Hukapapa, the huge tall billowy one There are large Maori language manuscript collec­ who roamed the highest peaks. He was the tallest of tions in many archives and if we are to have a shared all. Taller than me. The middle one was Hukamama, history then those collections need to be accessible. and the short one, prevalent today, Hukapepe. Comprehensive indexing is required and that index The snowmen were carefully looked after by the needs to be available on a national basis, if not held at caring Waitaha of old. Their every need was met. It major provincial libraries and university libraries, then was found they had micro-ecologies of their own. at least accessible by computer modem. Eels and whales depended on that ecosystem. But while indexing of these collections is laudable it Where the snow cover was totally devastated, they is not sufficient because indexes are unable to give trekked miles to get some fresh snow... The old ones content could tell the weather by the snow [and] what the Because the language has changed so much since the weather patterns had been in the past. . . 1830s when Maori first began to write, specialists are In An Illustrated History of New Zealand one author required to do index synopses of the archival material writing on Maori histoiy manages to get through the and to begin the massive task of providing proper 1820s and 1830s with no mention of the tribal warfare translations of the material. I rely on a specialist for my whose complex consequences we deal with daily in the primary source nineteenth-century Maori material. So Waitangi Tribunal.5 Why? Because we have been re­ too should Archives. Why? Archivists sometimes allow invented as a mirror image of the Pakeha: they are incompetent translations to exist in their collections. greedy and aggressive, we are peaceable and spiritual The example I can think of is in the Atkinson Papers - and unreal. We don't exist in our own terms but are where the translation of a code of Maori laws refers obliged to exist as a product of a Pakeha imagination. constantly to Tcnees'. It is the mistaking of the word turi Another recent work about first contact between (knee), for ture (law). This kind of work creates the Maori and Pakeha gives a further example. In this book impression that the translator was not a specialist and European accounts of first contact are rigorously exam­ was possibly hired because they were Maori, or because ined but there is no similar analysis of the Maori ac­ they'd 'done' some Maori, and it reinforces Maori feel­ counts and my ancestors remain neolithic noble sav­ ing that our material is misunderstood, undervalued, ages, just as remote from me as they have always been and might therefore explain why it is being constantly and just as unreal.^ ignored. As the work of the Waitangi Tribunal has shown, the Archivists working in this area need to have the claims of the victim do have to be heard because that necessary language skills - as a minimum they should cast a new light on history. But they have to pass exactly be able to read nineteenth-century Maori. the same tests as anyone else's or debate fails and truth I'd like to talk briefly about another users problem suffers. Hughes says that: which I call the 'Ehara to matou maunga i te maunga ... the PC [politically correct] cover for this is that all haere' (our mountain does not travel) syndrome. It statements about history are expressions of power seems unreasonable to me that despite living in the age history is written only by the winners and truth is of the technological miracle, making photocopies of the politicaland unknowable... It is not hard to see why major manuscript collections available at main centre these claims for purely remedial history are intensi­ libraries throughout the country seems to be a task fying today. They are symbolic. Nationalism (or in beyond us. One notable exception is the placing of our case the Maori search for rangatiratanga, au­ copies of the Grey collection from the Auckland Public tonomy) always wants to have myths to prop itself Library in the University of Canterbury Library, but up; and the newer the nationalism the more ancient note that it was a user initiative, not an archivists's. Even working photocopies or microfiche seem be­ to the body of human knowledge? What kind of com­ yond some Archives who refuse the copying of material ment is it on race relations and the principles of partner­ on the grounds that they are too fragile. I draw a parallel ship we all espouse, if the literary heritage of one of with an episode of Yes M inister, where a hospital func­ those partners languishes in darkness. Kia ora. tioned perfectly because its didn't have the inconven­ ience of having to look after patients.7 One Archive I 1 Jock Phillips, 'A Past Worth Exploring?', M etro ,. Feb 1992 know os allows absolutely no photocopying at all of 7 Robert Hughes, The Fraying Of America', T im e, 3 Feb 1992. manuscript material and the suggestion that the Ar­ 3 Diane Lucas, Tussock Planting Time Again', T erra Nova chive itself make a master photocopy is rejected on the Resource Science, Issue 9, Sept 1991. pp 53-54. grounds of lack of space. Of course there should be 4 Ruka Rakaihautu, 'Snow Tending Time Again', (private proper care of the originals, no one complains about communication). that, but it's an abuse of power to withhold copies and 5 Judith Binney et al.. The People and the Land: an Illustrated it is kind of appropriate that I should have begun this History of New Zealand 1820-1920, Wellington (Allen & Unwin) section with a proverb which talks about immovibility. 1990. I'm sure there are a range of reasons which could be 6 Anne Salmond, Two Worlds: First M eetings between Maori and trotted out to defend what seems to me to be the Europeans, 1642-1772, Honolulu (University of Hawaii Press) indefensible: costs, risk of damage etc., but isn't the 1992. kaupapa more than just being simply collectors, conser­ 7 The Compassionate Society', chapter/episode 8 in T he vators and gatekeepers? Isn't there an obligation to add Complete Yes M inister, London (BBC Books) 1981.

Presidential Address or, 'To Solicit Or Not To Solicit: Some Thoughts Of A Professional Woman'

Rosemary Collier

These two and a half days have seen almost half the A national collection policy total membership of the New Zealand Society of Archi­ With the costs of storage of archives, we should be vists meeting together in conference for the first time, to getting to a stage where we not only apply appraisal consider aspects of a topic which impinges on the work techniques to private papers, but also consider a na­ of almost every archivist. tional collection policy for such papers, and that is what One of the core problems behind our discussions I would like to propose. This Society could be the forum over this time is that almost every Archives, even in­ for such a policy to be formulated. Of course, consider­ cluding those with statutory responsibilities like Na­ able informal, and even occasionally formal co-opera­ tional Archives, has to have a collections policy or tion goes on now, but perhaps we need to be more acquisitions policy. Certainly we should prevent the formal about this. export of literary and other papers if we can, but it Such a proposal, of course, smacks of centralism and would be wasteful of effort and resources if we were all control by other than market forces, and is therefore to decide actively to collect such materials. If a market against the tenor of the times. But for argument's sake value should be established more and more often for let us consider it a little further. such papers, then fewer and fewer institutions could If we were to establish principles for a national afford to purchase them without State assistance. We policy, these might include the basis for laying down also need to consider whether the archivist has a re­ which one is the logical institution for a given set of sponsibility to assist in establishing such values, and papers, and both the papers and the monetary assist­ has the ability to do it. ance could be directed there. Or would it be too much Frank and I met in Vancouver last year an antiquar­ like 'Big Brother' to publicly fund only those institu­ ian book dealer who represented the trade on a regional tions whose accessions were in accordance with the committee set up by the National Archives of Canada to policy? review appraisal decisions on federal records in British One of the principles might be 'where were these Columbia. He asserted that archivists had no idea of papers generated?' This was the principle Stuart market value, and that their appraisal decisions were Strachan postulated under the title 'Genius Loci' at the unrealistic and were filling up the Archives with use­ archives seminar held by ARANZ in conjunction with less paper. How would we face up to such outside the NZLA conference in Hamilton, February 1978. The involvement in what we consider to be professional theme was 'Co-operation or Competition in Preserving decisions? Archives in New Zealand'. Archives should remain in the place in which they were generated, he said, or as the records creator lived and worked, or the region to near as possible if there was no local repository. This, he which the papers themselves related. continued, was important for the full preservation of evidential values. This thinking may appear to run counter to the idea Strategies for co-operation of any one, or more than one, institution holding a Quite apart from any policy for directing papers to 'national collection'. It perhaps assumes that those local an appropriate institution, with increasing use of com­ to the scene where papers were generated are those puters it should not be impossible to see a day in the most likely to be interested in them. This may be true of future when repositories and individuals can find out administrative archives, but personal papers can be on-line what is held in other repositories. Much of this more readily categorised as of national significance or sharing of lists and finding-aids could be carried on of purely local significance. now, by means of the photocopier and the postage Of course, if one writer or politician's papers were stamp, as well as by microfilming, and hopefully soon generated in several different locations, this would not by means of the Internal Affairs centres to which Kathryn mean that they should be divided up between those Patterson alluded. Buddy Mikaere has put in a strong places, as has happened all too often in Britain, but that word for the spread of finding-aids and of copies of the a rational decision would need to be made as to which archives themselves. was the most significant of the various locations. Papers Through greater knowledge of each other's hold­ left in a will to a specific institution would be unaffected ings we can then be in a better position to identify by such a policy, of course. But potential donors could strengths and weaknesses, one institution relative to be given copies of the policy in order to assist them in another, and formulate both individual collecting poli­ making a decision about the resting place for their cies and, as I have suggested, a national policy. papers. While the Society could take a lead in this, the The policy would not be binding on anyone, but if number of Archives repositories in the country may generated by a group of professional archivists would well have reached the stage where a forum for their carry such weight as the profession has, especially if heads is needed, such as is provided in other fields by archivists in the larger institutions acceded to it. bodies such as the Museum Directors' Federation, the Some of the people whose papers may come under university Vice-Chancellors' Committee, and the Sec­ our consideration have generated portions of their pa­ ondary School Principals' Association. Such a group­ pers overseas, but if they are New Zealanders we would ing, whether formal or informal, could discuss the most surely all advocate that if possible their papers should suitable disposition of papers that may have no desig­ be kept in New Zealand. But if there are national nated resting place, or that may come up for sale in the collections, are there perhaps also international collec­ market. A group of this kind would also, by its very tions? The Katherine Mansefield manuscripts at the existence, enhance the status of the archivist profession Turnbull Library would surely fall into this category. It and open a new era of co-operation in all aspects of is conceivable that there is more interest in her papers in archival work. Like the Museum Directors, they could other countries than there is in New Zealand - should sponsor touring exhibitions, encourage and facilitate they then be held in another country? She spent more of training, be a vehicle for channelling lottery funds spent her life in England than in New Zealand. The same is on conservation by identifying priorities, and a host of true of Dan Davin, whom James McNeish mentioned other co-operative activities. yesterday. Will the British Fund be appealed to, to James McNeish talked about the aggressive solicit­ prevent the export of Davin's papers from the UK to ing done by the Mugar Library at Boston University. New Zealand? Last May, Frank and I visited another American ar­ Other principles in the policy could include recom­ chives institution which had in the past adopted very mending that donors place papers only in repositories aggressive collecting practices, even to the point of with full-time professional archivists on the staff, hav­ being deceitful. This was the American Heritage Center ing proper accommodation, shelving etc., facilities for at the University of Wyoming, whose presiding archi­ researchers, and meeting other criteria for a profes­ vist is none other than Tom Wilsted, founding Presi­ sional archives service. A sample donor agreement dent of ARANZ and former Curator of Manuscripts at could form part of the policy. The policy would be an the Turnbull Library. His predecessor in Wyoming had important document of this Society, along with the raised many hackles in the archives business as he went Code of Ethics. about purchasing medieval manuscripts and other docu­ In Britain, the British Records Association, which is ments, and sending begging letters on several different somewhat akin to ARANZ in being an interest group specially-printed letterheads to owners of records con­ but including professional archivists, acts as a central cerned with geology (principally in the oil industry), clearing house for papers which are worth preserving entertainment (principally Hollywood), journalism,and but have no designated destination. Very frequently cattle-ranching. Virtually nothing of the two ware­ they come from solicitors (!) who consider papers, from houses filled with the results was arranged or de­ estates they are winding up, to be worth preserving. scribed. He presumably banked on the extreme unlike­ The BRA examines the papers and then directs them to lihood that any of the donors - except perhaps the the institutions it considers should have them. This ranchers and cowboys for whom there were special could be on a subject basis - for example the papers of a rooms akin to shrines with their memorabilia, saddles doctor might be sent to the Wellcome Institute for the and photographs - would ever come to the wilds of History of Medicine. But in my observation it has Wyoming to see their deposits in situ. usually been on a geographic basis that they are distrib­ When is it necessary to stop soliciting, and set about uted, in answer to questions about the locations where making the papers accessible? Where's the money coming from? spend almost their entire careers overseas. Yet Kiri Te James McNeish addressed the question of how to Kanawa, now a household name, did receive public fund the acquisition of more literary manuscripts. I funds. The International Festival of the Arts in Welling­ would like to add a few points to his. In times of ton is subsidised by the City Council, but I have not read economic depression use of libraries goes up, as the of an outcry about this. Remember that the Festival Librarian of Wellington's brand new public library told includes a Readers' and Writers' Week. me the other day. So perhaps now is the time to at least Of course sport and opera are more glamorous than make a commitment to tax concessions, and to the historical research, but somebody is buying and (pre­ creation of a special fund for the deposit of such papers, sumably) reading all those New Zealand books. So the when readership statistics are high both in libraries and public taste for the results of the research is there. Archives. McNeish also referred in passing to the risk of for­ New Zealanders do not appear to begrudge taxes gery, when monetary values for documents became and lottery money being spent on sportspeople. Nor do important. I recently met a Dutchman who has spent they, as far as I am aware, resent money spent on much time in the Pacific, and currently lives in Auck­ bursaries for overseasstudy in the arts. With die plethora land. He recounted a tale of forged artifacts being put of New Zealand books now being published, sufficient on sale recently at an Auckland art auction. If you wish to justify the publication of a quarterly review journal to read a fascinating account of the same thing happen­ solely devoted to New Zealand books, and also the ing with documents, I recommend The Mormon Mur­ quantity of lottery funds available because of the runa­ ders. Museum staff and archivists are not exempt from way successes of Lotto and Instant Kiwi, surely the being hoodwinked by such forgeries. extension of the NZ Literary Fund to a special fund as advocated by James McNeish is not too difficult a concept. In conclusion This could be seen as a fulfilment of out recent Are archivists then, to spend their time soliciting literary and historical nationalism. In earlier days, our funds in order that they may then solicit documents? scholars expected to travel overseas to do their re­ James McNeish referred to business sponsorship of the search, so few indigenous New Zealand books, pub­ fund established in Britain for the purpose of saving lished here, existed. In that context it is not surprising literary manuscripts. Does this mean the appearance of that literary papers should go overseas, especially in the MacDonald's McNeish Collection looms, or the cases like those of Sylvia Ashton-Wamer and Janet Kentucky Fried Frame Papers? I hear that at least three Frame, both of whom were first published overseas and former DIC department stores are to be used to house whose subject matter and following are not confined to public libraries and archives in various parts of New these islands. Zealand, and so I suggest that the new expansion of the This remark is not intended to condone the loss of old name could be 'Depositories of Information and original papers to New Zealand, but is an explanation Culture'. for some of the losses. And as John O'Sullivan has But seriously, I put to you that greater co-operation explained, new legislation governing the export of in using our scant resources would be prudent, and that manuscripts will not affect those of contemporary writ­ it could be by way of formulating a national collecting ers unless the papers are more than thirty years old. policy, enhanced by the exchange of individual collect­ Perhaps the problem is one of attitude. But attitudes ing policies and finding-aids. I am sure neither deposi­ can and do change. I think we can contemplate a change tors nor researchers will be worried by any loss of of attitude to saving the papers of writers and of other autonomy we may feel. This Society could become a public figures in our society. At one time it would have catalyst for such a development, and for lobbying gov­ been inconceivable for taxpayers' money to be spent on ernment on the matters of funding which were raised training New Zealanders as opera singers, who then by our keynote speaker.

Archives in the Balance Sheet In mid April the NZ Government produced its Balance Sheet (statement of assets, liabilities and equity) for 31 July 1991. This was the first such accounting report since 1943. In preparing the Balance Sheet, where there were no accounting principles or market mechanisms valuations were made by those controlling the assets. This factor, coupled with some assets never having been valued before, is considered likely to have resulted in some significant undervaluations. The holdings of National Archives were valued at $826 million, compared with $315 million for all the national and forest parks, covering 6.7 million hectares or 26% of the land area of the country. The National Library has valued its current-use and research collections together at $502 million. The value of the National Park land was determined using Valuation New Zealand's latest valuations, which are based on sales evidence of land in the same general locations, valued down to reflect the restrictions on alienation and exploitation of heritage land imposed by legislation [and thus appears to have regarded factors such as national amenity, conservation and catchment values as negatives]. The National Archives figure was based on the application of indicative benchmark values (based on recent sales of similar types of material where possible) to relevant categories of archives, plus individual valuation of exceptional items. The figures were reviewed by staff from the Hocken and Turnbull Libraries. AJHR1991 B1 HY. Evening Post 4 April, Dominion 6 April 1992 Speeches by the Prime Minister & Minister of Internal Affairs, at the opening of the new National Archives HQ, 4 December 1991.

The following text has been edited from copies of the speeches supplied by the Ministerial offices.

The Prime Minister, Rt Hon J B Bolger

The great historian Santoyana said that those who resource tapped by the whole community - in histories, forget the past are condemned to repeat it. genealogies, economic sociological and demographic The National Archives contains the memory of the studies, and novels. People and the Government of New Zealand, and it is Keeping every record of Government would turn the view of the Government that such records must National Archives into a bonanza for property owners survive. With that goes maximum accessibility consist­ and a funding nightmare for Government, and finding ent with preserving the physical fabric of the record, information would be like the old gold-prospecting and the responsible administration of sensitivities. days. It is a key role of National Archives to authorise We often hear of the difficulties today's New Zea­ destruction of records, after considering the usefulness landers face living in a time of change, but as the of the information they contain, to Government and the archives show that is not new, it is a part of life. As the community. Soviet Union has shown, it is delaying necessary change, That role is entirely neutral of any political consid­ postponing the inevitable, that creates real problems. erations. It is open to scrutiny, and is a core ingredient Understanding what has gone before is essential for of our democracy. During this year there has been real understanding and progress. Finding that knowl­ intense public interest in the issue of information pri­ edge sometimes means looking back a long time. The vacy, a debate which highlights the value of informa­ memory of Government is crucial to our sense of na­ tion to all sections of the community. tional identity, and vital for the long term accountabil­ The information contained in this buildingis a price­ ity of Government. less asset of the nation. It reveals our history and tells us At the same time, the archives are the memory of all much about ourselves and our country, 'warts and New Zealanders. The records tell of relationships be­ all'As an extended family we New Zealanders have tween Maori and Pakeha. They record transactions by travelled an interesting road together. the prominent and the ordinary citizen, they show It gives me great pleasure to declare this new head­ reactions to prosperity and depression. They are a quarters of National Archives officially open.

The Minister of Internal Affairs, Hon G E Lee Today marks a new era in the history of this area of provides tourists with a valuable focal point. our cultural heritage as, with the opening of this build­ This building also meets the other crucial test, by ing, the Government will for the first time ever share providing ready accessibility for citizens, and pleasant with the nation the treasures bequeathed to it by the reading rooms and other spaces for people to visit and nation. work in. In the past, no-one ever saw what Archives held in The building is a strong statement of the Govern­ the vaults. Access was limited7, and display facilities ment's concern for the preservation of its archives. In circumscribed, by inadequate accommodation. December last year I had the pleasure of opening new Those days have now gone forever. This new home building to house the Christchurch office of National for National Archives has its own gallery, for exhibi­ Archives. That building has led to an upsurge in the use tions which are an important means of bringing our of archives in the region, and I am sure the same will cultural heritage to public attention. The exhibition happen here. gallery will permit National Archives to fulfill an im­ The availability of this building provided the oppor­ portant role in a manner not previously possible. tunity for solving a situation that had become both The opening exhibition is called 'Archives: The Evi­ uneconomical and inconvenient, so that a former print­ dence' . It highlights the value of using information and ing factory has undergone a remarkable transforma­ the risks of ignoring it. It illustrates the practical impor­ tion. It must be theirony of the day that from producing tance of the information preserved at National Ar­ so many documents for Government, this building now chives. lives on, storing them! The clamour of the presses may Another 'first' is the Constitution Room, the very have died, but duty to the civil service lives on! heart of the building, in which the Treaty of Waitangi With this building, National Archives takes up a and other important founding documents are now on home at last, and in doing so, its place alongside the permanent display for the first time. This is an exciting nation's other major cultural assets. asset as it extends the international dimension and work, and for getting each issue out promptly. The election of officers resulted in returning NZSA News Rosemary Collier, Hank Driessen, Ian Matheson, Kevin Bourke and Cheryl Simes. John Lozowsky did not stand again; he was thanked for this work as Treasurer. New Members During 1991 Heather Buchanan had resigned from Welcome to the following new members: Chris Council and was replaced by Pow Lin James, who Johnson (consultant, Hawkes Bay District Council); however did not wish to stand again. Council is Priscilla Hill (Bank of New Zealand); Sally Patterson considering co-opting members for specific tasks. (Queen Elizabeth II Army Memorial Museum); Verna Under general business, the main topic of discussion Mossong (Methodist Church Archives), Kay Noble was the status of Associate of the Society. Since the By­ (Wanganui Regional Museum). The Treasury has be­ law on this subject was found to be null and void, the come an Institutional member. New subscribers are the Associates Committee had considered further how Wanganui District Library, and the Archives Office of Associate status should be attained. After considerable New South Wales. discussion, it was agreed that this would be by application from members wishing to be Associates. These applications would be recommended by the Associates Committee on the basis of candidates' demonstrated professional skills and knowledge. Council would make the final decision on granting New Zealand Archives Bill Associateship. It was proposed that clause 27b of the The Department of Internal Affairs has produced a Constitution be deleted. The Associates Committee discussion draft of the planned new archives law. This was charged with the task of drafting a new By-law. is an updated revised edition of the Bill introduced in Another item under general business was agreed: to July 1984, but killed off by the snap election. A copy of change the financial year to 1 April-31 March, and it was the Bill has been sent to the NZSA and the Council has emphasised that the AGM should be held earlier in the prepared a response on behalf of the Society. year in future. The practice of paying travelling expenses for Council members to come to meetings in Wellington was warmly endorsed. The Society needs a distinctive logo and letterhead design, it was suggested members ideas are sought. Annual General Meeting, 3 Perhaps a prize could be offered for the best design. June 1992, at Turnbull House, Wellington A disappointingly small attendance of members participated in the AGM, preceded by refreshments. Significant items discussed included: From the President 1. Reporting on our first conference in February, which This is an important year in the archives world in evoked a motion of thanks from members 'for New Zealand—the opening of National Archives' new organising a splendid conference'. The President premises; the completion of the first year of New Zea­ noted how fortunate we were to hold it at National land's first-ever professional archivists' training course Archives' new premises, and to receive a generous at the Wairarapa Community Polytechnic; foe first sponsorship from U-Bix; conference of NZSA; the prospect of a new Archives 2. Our approach to the Minister of Internal Affairs in Bill, with much wider implications than foe 1957 Act, support of urgent progress required on National being introduced in Parliament soon; commencement Archives' accommodation in Auckland and of a new, first. National Archives building in Dunedin; Dunedin; it was reported that registration of interest anticipation of vastly improved archives accommoda­ to tender had been called for, in respect of the tion in Auckland. Dunedin building; Your Council intends to be part of foe ongoing 3. We had been invited to make a submission to development and promotion of archives-awareness in National Archives on the draft of a new Archives New Zealand, on behalf of all professional archivists. Bill. Council made a lengthy and detailed submission, Therefore we urge all members and readers of New within tight time restraints; Zealand A rchivist to support foe Society. If you have not 4. The Code of Ethics Committee, based in Auckland, renewed your membership for 1992 yet, please do so was proceeding with the development of this promptly; if you know archivists who are not members, important document for the Society; do urge them to join. We have membership brochures 5. The survey questionnaire The A rchivist: a profile had and forms available—write to Hank Driessen, National elicited a good response: over sixty forms had been Archives, P.O. Box 12-050, Wellington for copies. returned. Council will soon undertake analysing Is there anything going on in your archival neck-of- these, and publishing the results. foe-files? The Editor of this journal wants exactly that There followed reports from the Treasurer (audited sought of news to pass on to other interested archivists, accounts to be circulated shortly) and Editor. In response through these pages. Please send him anything of pos­ to the latter, the meeting carried with acclamation a vote sible interest. of thanks to Mark Stevens for his excellent editorial Rosemary Collier Life In Australia The Australian National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra is complaining that it does not have the resources of staff to properly preserve the film heritage of Australia. Evidently, only 5% of the film Professional Archivist produced in Australia 1900-1930 has survived, and lack of resources is claimed Professional Archivist is a versatile HyperCard® interface to mean even more will no w be lost through information retrieval system designed for managing small archives the inability of the NFSA to save it. or library special collections comprising archives or manuscripts in Ray Edmonson, Deputy Director of the various physical formats. Professional Archivist also finds application Archive, says that in 1985 a study showed in record centres where subject or keyword access is required to that 260 staff were needed, but at present collections of documents. Features include keyword and boolean only 150 staff could be supported at the searching, pop-up indexes, pull down menus, windowing and intuitive present level of funding. design. Through AppleScan™, Ofoto™ or HyperScan™, Weekend Australian, 16-17 May 1992 Professional Archivist supports entry level imaging functionality, (Yes, that was indeed 260 and 150, not a which can be used to protect precious originals from reference misprint. The addressof the NFSA, to which damage or to create presentations. Based on the data set and suggestions can be posted, is GPO Box2002, descriptive practice of the popular Australian Society of Archivists Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia - Ed.) Inc. publication Keeping Archives. The Australian Securities Commission has demanded that the biographer of Requires an Apple Macintosh computer with minimum 2 Mb of BudgetCorporation'shigh-profile founder, RAM and a hard disk. Apple Onescanner or equivalent required for Mr Bob Ansett, hand over all research imaging applications. material on the now-bankrupt Melbourne For further information call or fax M acresource businessman. ASC investigators called on Robert Pullman and issued a notice tel: AUS (09) 3681985 demanding 'production of books', which fax: AUS (09) 474 1694 carries a non-compliance penalty of $10,000 or two years jail, or both. The notice demands "computer disks, tape recordings, annotated transcripts, draft manuscripts, printers drafts (sic) and research material", relating to the biography, which was published in 1988. Mr Pullan said the demand had serious implications for writers, especially biographers. "If we are going to be turned into police informers, what are we going to do as biographers?", he said. Sydney Morning Herald, 20 March 1992 Gaddafi Bums Land Records The Libyan leader. Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, has burned all land-ownership records in Libya, complaining he was fed up with reconciling tribal Increasing Security at PRO disputes. 'All records and documents in the old land Concerned at recent major thefts of documents relat­ register, which showed land belonged to this or that ing to air operations in the two world wars (police have tribe, have been burned. A new socialist land register already recovered more than 14,500 pages), security at has been opened instead, he told a meeting of Libya's the English PRO at Kew has been upgraded. Justice Ministry. Thenumber of security officers has been increased at Sydney Morning Herald, 7 May 1992 the expense of the internal messenger service. All read­ ers' bags and possessions brought into the building are already searched [for IRA bombs], and now random searches are to be made of items taken into and out of the reading rooms. Training sessions in security proce­ Forestry Records Recovered dures, for Search Department staff are to be provided. Records taken by a former employee of the old All photocopies supplied by the PRO will be on yellow Forest Service when it disbanded in 1987 have beat p apa, and readers will be [severely] encouraged to use recovered by West Coast Timberlands (the successor yellow p ap a for their own note-taking. Closed circuit agency) after a lengthy legal battle. Mr Gemot Uhrlig, TV to monitor readers is being actively considered. now the Director of Angel Sustained Forest Management The new measures have been selected as being real­ Ltd, has had to return records valued at about $300,000. istic on security grounds and sustainable within exist­ They include reports critical of the management of ing staff limits. Some others were rejected as likely to be forest reserves on the West Coast perceived b y readers as purely cosmetic. The Press, 15 April 1992 PRORAD (35) January 1992 Keeper of Public Records, with the position of Director Reflex Archival Photocopy of Library Services. The new position. Director of Paper Archives and Libraries, was advertised and open only to applicants within the Victorian Public Service. It This paper, made to Australian Archives specifica­ effectively amalgamates the PROV and the Office of tions, is specially formulated for long term storage Library Services, which is responsible for overseeing under archival conditions. Reflex Archival is 80gsm A4 the public library system in the State. At this time, it is size copying paper. It is suitable for double-sided high­ not known if the position has been filled, or by whom. speed copying, and can be used with standard and Opposition to the merger plan was loud and high-volume photocopiers, and office laser printers. widespread. Among the more prominent protests was Industrial waste fibre (cotton linters) is used instead of an open letter to the Minister in the Melbourne Age (8 wood pulp. April 1992), in the form of a large advertisement It was The paper is available in Australia from; The Paper signed by the Presidents of the Australian Society of House (Fax (3) 562-8686), and Edwards Dunlop & B ] Archivists and the Australian Library & Information Ball (Fax (2) 708-5191). If you are interested, get in touch Association. with them or their NZ agents and say so, for enquiries The letter took the line that the merger of the two by the Editor have revealed there are presently no plans posts was constitutionally inappropriate, and compared to stock the product in New Zealand. it to merging the Head of the Treasury with the Auditor- General. There would be a conflict of interest if the person charged with the Keeper's regulatory role in records disposal, has also a policy implementation role New Archives Trainees Setup in respect of libraries. It is feared that the merger, which was introduced on Consultancy the grounds of saving salary money and the explicit Five Maori women, recent graduates of the Archives claim of a nexus between the archival authority and the Studies certificate course at the Wairarapa Polytechnic, library network, will also return the PROV to a purely have joined forces to offer their services to the archives passive curatorial role. and library communities. Their aim is to allow their new expertise to benefit institutions, organisations, and collections throughout the country, while individually News from the NZ Film they continue to further their experience in the management of archives. Archive Ma mau ka kite a muri: Ma muri ka ora a mua. Those The New Zealand Film Archive has undertaken a who lead give sight to those who follow: those behind pilot 'Last Film Search', in Masterton during April. The give life to those ahead. main aim was to acquire, for preservation and copying, For further information, please contact Charmaine any nitrate based films that remain in the community. Manaena, 151 Colombo St, Masterton. Tel (06) 378-9413. It is also hoped that a longer term result of the film search will be to heighten public awareness of early films, so that the NZFA will be contacted if and when they are discovered. Apart from nitrate film, the NZFA PROV Update also wants to assess for acquisition early 35mm acetate There have been further developments in the film, and other gauges particularly 16mm films of local Australian State of Victoria, since the report published or national events. in the Summer/December 1991 issue of NZA ('A The Last Film Search pilot project was sponsored by Question of Accountability7). the Bank of New Zealand. We hope to be able to report In March the Government announced it would merge on the results in a later issue. The main project is the vacant position of Director Archival Heritage/ planned to be undertaken region by region.

Directory of Archivists in New Zealand 1990-1991

The Directory is a 'who's who' of the archivist profession in New Zealand, containing over eighty individual entries. Information in entries includes present position, qualifications, career synopsis, professional and other affiliations, principal publications, special archives interests, address. 36pp, A4, printed on the same high quality paper as the New Zealand Archivist. ISSN 1170-313X Reduced to clear: $18.00

Cheque or institutional order form to NZ Society of Archivists Inc PO Box 27-057 Wellington. GST not payable. Price includes postage About the Contributors The Papers of Public Figures James McNeish is a novelist playwright and broad­ caster who has worked extensively in both NZ and This issue of NZA is devoted to the publication of Europe. Among his NZ books are M ackenzie (1970), and papers presented at the Society's Conference, held Lovelock (1986). JE(Jim) Traue retired as Chief Librarian at Wellington, 13-15 February 1992. of the Alexander Tumbull Library in 1990, a post he had held since 1973. Since then he has been a Teaching Keynote Address Fellow in the Department of Librarianship, VUW. Frank Interest is Not Enough Rogers is an archives consultant specialising in ar­ James McNeish rangement and description of personal papers. He is also the publisher of Archives Press. KR (Kerry) Howe Ideals and Realities is Associate Professor in the Department of History at J E Traue Massey University. Buddy Mikaere is Director of the Waitangi Tribunal. He is the author of Te M aiharoa and Recollections of a Voyeur: the Promised Land (1988). Rosemary Collier is an ar­ Arranging the Papers of Sylvia Ashton-Wamer chives and records management consultant, and is Frank Rogers President of the NZ Society of Archivists. Rescuing a Life: Sources for the Biography of Edward Tregear K R Howe

Letter to the Editor A Rediscovery of the Past Dear Sir, Buddy Mikaere There was - and may still be - a sequel to your reference to Walter Nash's "acid drops" in the cover P resid en tia l A ddress story to the Autumn/March 1992 issue of NZA. T o Solicit or Not to Solicit .„' My family lived close to, and were friends with, the Rosemary Collier Nashs in Lower Hutt. In early 1967 Sir Walter asked me if I could make any suggestions about the arrangement NZSA News of his vast collection of books and pamphlets which New Members; New Zealand Archives Bill; Annual filled several rooms of the house. (I had just finished General Meeting Report. working as an assistant in the General Assembly Li­ brary and was about to start the Library Diploma course. News Items With such minimal experience, it's still a wonder why Archives in die Balance Sheet; Increasing Security at he asked for my advice). PRO; NZ Film Archive News; Reflex Archival Pho­ The passion for collecting everything, well-known tocopy Paper; Gaddafi Bums Land Records; Life in to the archivist, extended to these book collections. Australia; Forestry Records Recovered; New Ar­ Included on the shelves was a rusty-looking tin which chives Trainees Set Up Consultancy; PROV Update; he opened to show me the contents - a dark sticky fluid. Transitions. It was, he said in all solemnity, a tin of acid drops which some citizen had sent to him in response to his budget Speeches by the PM and Minister of Internal Af­ comments on the tobacco taxes. fairs, at Opening of New National Archives HQ, 4 Incidently, another elderly-looking parcel was Dec 1991 opened from its original string to reveal a mottled steel plaque about (from memory) 6x9 inches. Wording was About the Contributors engraved on it to the effect that the plaque had been made by an English steel-making firm in 1938 from a Letter to the Editor: bag of New Zealand west coast ironsand which Nash Walter Nash as a packrat (Alan Smith) had taken with him on one of his trips to England as Minister of finance. For all I know, both items - and no doubt many recall the papers being wheeled into the garage. The others of the same ilk - could still exist, among the Nash garden tools were kept in the back of the garage, in the Papers at National Archives, 25 years on. only small space of the structure not filled with docu­ At the time of Labour's election defeat in 1960, I ments. earned pocket money doing the Nash's gardening, and Alan Smith

New Zealand Archivist (ISSN 0114-7676) is the quarterly journal of the New Zealand Society of Archivists Incorporated. It is published each year in: Autumn/March; Win ter/June; Spring/September; and Summer/ December. The editor is Mark HS Stevens, whose authorship may be assumed for all items not otherwise credited. Copyright NZSA & contributors 1992. Views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the NZSA. The editorial address is PO Box 136 Beaconsfield NSW 2014 Australia (Fax {2} 313-6680). All other correspond­ ence to the Secretaiy NZSA, PO Box 27-057Wellington New Zealand. Contributions for publication are invited. Deadlines'for next issues are: 7 August and 6 November 1992. The journal is available through membership of the Society ($40.00 in NZ, $50.00 overseas) or separately b y subscription ($40.00 in NZ, $50.00 overseas). Overseas airmail, add $10.00.