We are very fortunate to be working with Keri Hulme’s whānau on her archives coming to be cared for within the UC Library Archives. This material is in addition to the Keri Hulme archives we already hold. Tomorrow a group of us will be travelling down to Waimate to work with the whānau on sorting and uplifting a significant section of the collection. This is the culmination of many years of engagement with the whānau led by Erin, and supported by Jemma and myself.

Because of space limitations and current work to replace the shelving in Library Warehouse B, the initial tranche of archives will be temporarily stored in the Consultation Room in EPS for the next month, and we have contracted Catherine Bisley to work on further appraising, sorting and rehousing of the collection in EPS. This will further decrease the size of the collection for it to be moved to its final location in the Warehouse.

I have block booked the Consultation Room for the next month to accommodate the collection. Catherine will work in the Consultation Room and/or the Subject Librarian Office as necessary – I have also block booked a Discussion Room for work space for the final week of Catherine’s work. We will need to lock the Consultation room for the security of the collection, and the office if collections are being worked on.

Many thanks to Simon and Stuart and the EPS Subject Librarians for being so flexible and making this work possible!

Catherine will start work on the collections in EPS on Thursday 2 November. Erin will introduce her to people on Thursday – please make her feel welcome😊

There has been a lot of consultation and informal communications with stakeholder at UC. However, as we are still working with the Hulme family on deciding what material will come into the archives, we are not at a stage where it is appropriate for any formal communications regarding the Keri Hulme archives.