I’ve curated an exhibition at Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House. ‘Ursula Bethell A Fine and Private Place’ features paintings and archival materials from the library’s collection. Ursula (1874-1945) was a pivotal figure in New Zealand literature. Bethell, who initially published under the pseudonym Evelyn Hayes, settled in New Zealand in 1924 with her lifelong companion Effie Pollen. Their house Rise Cottage in Cashmere was the focus of her first collection, From a garden in the Antipodes, published in 1929.  The exhibition is a  collaboration between Te Puna Rakahau o Macmillan Brown Library and Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.

I’ve also put together a programme of speakers, starting this Sunday

‘Our small fond human enclosures’ – Ursula Bethell  Sun, November 20, 2022, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM

Christine Whybrew,  Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, will share some heritage places associated with Ursula Bethell. During the talk, Christine will also discuss the Rainbow List Project which aims to improve the diversity of Rārangi Kōrero, the New Zealand Heritage List, by recognising places of significance to Aotearoa New Zealand’s LGBTTFQI+ communities.

Poetry readings Friday, November 25^th 3PM – 4PM

University of Canterbury lecturer Dr. Nicholas Wright and current Masters of Writing students who will read some of Ursula’s poetry and then share their own written responses. This is an opportunity to support emerging writers. Nicholas Wright is lecturer in English and coordinator of the Masters of Writing programme.

Floor talk Sat Dec 3rd 2PM

I’ll discuss Ursula Bethell and my approach to  curating archival materials.

If you haven’t visited Te Whare Waiutuutu, it is absolutely gorgeous in the spring. The exhibition is free however usual admission charges apply for Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House.

Thanks to the MBL team, Zina, and Ryan for their help 🙂

Ngā mihi,
Erin

There are some newly catalogued archive collections that Linda, Nicole, and Alison have been working on. They aren’t all live on Kā Kohika yet, but those that are,  I have linked to below.

Disarmament and Security Centre records

The records of the internationally recognised organisation established in Christchurch in 1998 by Kate Dewes and Robert Green.  The records cover the activities of the Centre, including the World Court Project, the recognition of Christchurch as a Peace City, and nuclear events around the world including the Chernobyl disaster.

Harold Evans papers, 1934-2003

District court judge and peace campaigner, who was also involved in the Tokyo War Crimes Trial.

Frederick Anson letters, 1874-1886

Frederick Anson emigrated to New Zealand in 1874. The letters, including a few by his wife Agnes, were written from Peraki or Akaroa to his Aunt Anne Anson in England.

Restorative justice papers 1974-2007

Includes material from Restorative Justice groups across New Zealand, correspondence, newspaper clippings, journal articles, campaigns for political reforms in N.Z., Māori and criminal justice, and newsletters.

Ivan Sutherland papers

Former UC Philosophy professor, known for his work with Āpirana Ngata.

Nancy Sutherland papers

Founder of the Parents Centre, and the Family Life Education Council. Labour city councillor in Christchurch 1971-1977.

Plus, we are always doing bits of catalogue enhancement and data tidying. This is usual prioritised in response to a customer enquiry, or donor visit.

Kia ora

The  Ursula Bethell Memory of the World announcement went live on UC news today. If  receive any enquiries, just direct them to me (Erin)

The registration is now on the MoW site with the full nomination info here

Erin

I’m happy  to announce that the Ursula Bethell papers have been inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World New Zealand documentary heritage register. The register highlights significant documentary heritage as a way of demonstrating the importance of preserving and providing access to all documentary heritage.  Ursula Bethell was a Canterbury poet and painter, and her letters, manuscripts, and paintings are held in the Macmillan Brown Library.  Her papers are well used, and have contributed to many published works.

We were the only successful inscription on the register this year, and the ceremony was to be in Ōtautahi but it was decided to postpone it due to Covid uncertainty.  However, there will be some kind of official announcement and media in October.

If you want to know more about the collection, below is an excerpt from the 30 page nomination form I submitted. The full form will be online in October:

The Ursula Bethell papers contain over 1200 letters, manuscript poetry and photographs, and is notable in that it shows the development of literature in Christchurch in the first half of the 20^th century.  Bethell was fifty before she began to write the poetry that marks her as an innovator in New Zealand literature. She was a pivotal figure in the Christchurch arts community, and among her friends were many of the major artistic and literary figures of the day. Born in England in 1874, Bethell spent most of her early childhood in North Canterbury. She spent the next two decades involved in faith-based social work in both England and New Zealand, settling back in Christchurch after the first World War, with her lifelong companion Effie Pollen.  The relationship between Ursula Bethell and Effie Pollen has been given much attention by scholars. They were together for 30 years and Bethell was devastated when Pollen died. She stopped writing poetry, except for the next six years she wrote one poem on the anniversary of Pollen’s death. Bethell destroyed many letters when she moved from Rise Cottage in 1935. Notably, the collection includes the only surviving letter from Pollen. While Bethell described their relationship as “maternal”, some academics have argued the need to read Bethell as a lesbian poet, and therefore the papers serve as a vital source for early 20^th century lesbian visibility in Aotearoa. There is ongoing interest in this collection from scholars researching aspects of cultural history in New Zealand. The collection continues to actively contribute to our understanding of New Zealand literature, cultural and gender history.

Thanks to Sarah, Cherilyn and Lydia for the help with proofing the nomination form.

It was really pleasing to see one of our regular archive users take 3rd place in the 3MT competition.  Marcus Coll is doing his PhD in Political Science, exploring the  formation and development of the Disarmament and Security Centre in Christchurch.  We received the archives of the DSC in 2019.  Since that time, we have had 3 PG researchers use the collection.  In an email to me, Marcus said, “doing the archiving work was definitely the springboard for me getting into the project in the first place”.   Watch Marcus talk about his research here.

Big thanks to Linda, who has been doing the arrangement and description on this collection. It should go live on Kā Kohika in the next couple of weeks.

It’s fantastic to see our unique collections being used in PG research at UC.  If you have any questions about accessing the archives, don’t hesitate to contact me.
Erin

Kia ora,

Just alerting you to some newly digitised Springbok tour material on Kā Kohika. See Library news for more details. There is still a bit more tweaking to do, but huge thanks  to the MB team for scanning, Digital Services for the site development, and the MDLs for the metadata enhancement.

These collections are regularly used by researchers in many disciplines, so it is great to be able to put them out there to reach a wider audience.

Erin

Kia ora,

I’m  happy to announce that we have hired 2  people in the fixed term A.D. cataloguing role.  Matt Oram and Laura Dunham will be starting on Monday 12 July.  Matt currently works as a full time LA in MB, and will be  seconded to this role for 18.5 hours a week.  Laura has had a few different roles in the Library, including working with Lydia on the ceramics object move. She also completed her MA on the Armson Collins architectural collection. Matt’s knowledge of Minisis, and Laura’s knowledge of architectural history are perfect complements to each other. The project runs until mid-October, and is funded by the John Hendry architectural fund, administered by UC Foundation.
Details of Matt’s backfill are still being worked out.
Congratulations, Matt and Laura!

Erin

To coincide with Open Christchurch  we have pulled together some photographs and other resources relating to Puaka James Hight. Take a browse through the collection (you never know who you might find in there!).

Thanks to Digital Services and the MB LAs for helping put this together.

Erin

A quick round up of some of the collections Linda, Nicole, and Alison have recently catalogued. Most of these were small collections that had been awaiting cataloguing for a while. The Gay Rights Coalition records have already been used in teaching this year. Follow the links through to Kā Kohika, and click on  browse the collection to get the full list of the contents. If you want to know more about any of these, let me know. Big thanks to the MDLs!

FD 1212 National Gay Rights Coalition of New Zealand records

This archive consists predominantly of photocopied articles from Canterbury newspapers, about the Homosexual Law Reform Bill, and articles on the disease A.I.D.S. (Acquired immune deficiency syndrome) from 1985 and 1986. There is one copy of the Pink Triangle magazine from 1980 and a few articles about gay people in education from 1979-80. There is also a copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The National Gay Rights Coalition of New Zealand was formerly established in July 1977.  It was short-lived and disbanded in 1983.  In September 1985 The New Zealand AIDS Foundation was formed (New Zealand). The Foundation grew out of the AIDS Support Network, after receiving a Government grant in April 1985.

FD1616.0022 Glass plates in the Cecil Wood papers

Six glass plate photographs of Bishopscourt and St Barnabas church, part of our sizeable collection of material by the architect Cecil Wood (1878-1947). Bishopscourt replaced the earlier Anglican Bishops’ residence which had been destroyed by fire in 1924. The Anglican Bishop Campbell West-Watson occupied this house from 1927. St Barnabas’ Church in Fendalton was consecrated by Bishop Campbell West-Watson in 1926.

FD586.0004 Photographs in the Muriel Bradshaw papers

Muriel Bradshaw was born in Wellington in 1899. She graduated with a MA with Honours in English and French and became a teacher in Auckland. Later she studied for a Diploma in Journalism from Auckland University College graduating in 1931. She travelled overseas with her mother and brother on a number of occasions and contributed articles and letters to various publications. Muriel married UC Professor of Music John Christopher Bradshaw in 1946, however their life together was short when he died in 1950. Muriel was a strong supporter of the arts and mixed in university circles of the 1940s and 1950s. She died in 1992.

This series contains predominantly family photographs from early 1900s to 1960s, covering Muriel’s early years in Blenheim (when her father was principal of Marlborough College); her time at Canterbury College and her involvement with the Student Christian Movement; photos of Dr. John Bradshaw and his music connections, wedding photos and photos from overseas travel.

FD860 John Schroder papers

This collection contains 18 manuscript letters – mostly from Robert Bridges to various correspondents. A few letters are to Schroder regarding the establishment of a branch of the Society for Pure English in New Zealand. There is also a large framed sketch of C.H.O. Daniel and an autographed framed photo of Robert Bridges in old age.

Born in Hokitika, Schroder was an essayist, poet, educator, broadcaster and former editor of the Christchurch Press literary pages. Appointed assistant director-general of the then New Zealand Broadcasting Service in 1949. He wrote light verse for The Press and NZ Listener and some collections were published. He was awarded an honorary DLitt by the University of Canterbury in 1975.

Other photographic collections recently added include:

Within FD 2210.0001.0002,  a collection of Carte de visite, mostly of early graduates connected to Dr. John Innes.

FD 1788.0001.0001  Canterbury College Biolog. Lab. 1920 – Photo album / compiled by Alison Burns.  A photograph album compiled by Alice Burns c1920 that contains photographs of the Canterbury College Department of Biology, including photographs of women students, including Elizabeth Herriott, the first woman appointed to the permanent teaching staff at Canterbury College.

Erin

Last year LAC staff scanned over 500 photographs from the James Hight papers in the archives. These photographs have now been uploaded to Kā Kohika. James Hight was appointed lecturer in politics and history at Canterbury College in 1901. He never left the college or Christchurch, apart from in 1927 when he traveled to Fiji, Hawaii, USA, Canada, and Europe on an exchange with Professor Grant  (chair of history at Leeds). These photographs are mostly from his travels, and include images of land, people, buildings, and animals. The library also has Hight’s correspondence from this period, which gives context to the photographs.

To view the collection, go to Kā Kohika, type 1069 in the search box, then use the filter on the left to refine your results to digital images.

This is one of my favourites

A huge thank you to Chris, Glenna, and Simon from LAC for doing the scanning, E-Services for uploading, and the MB Library Assistants for their help with getting this collection online.