Kia ora,

I’m thrilled to announce that the Armson Collins Architectural Drawing collection has 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.

Yesterday, Anne, Jo and I attended the inscription ceremony at the National Library Wellington. We had to keep the news confidential until the announcement yesterday.

It is really wonderful to have this well-used and important collection on the register.

There is more info on the UC website,   Stuff , or read the nomination I wrote about the collection here.

Erin

Kia ora,

MBL and ELS have been collaborating on a exhibition for FESTA 2018,  the festival of architecture, design  and  food.  Over Labour Weekend,  images from the MB architectural drawings and published collections will be projected through a shop window in Kettlewell Lane, The Crossing.

It has been great to work with ELS on this. A huge thanks to Andrew Fletcher and Brian H.

There is tons on for FESTA, which is put together by Art History lecturer Jessica Halliday.  Please do check it out 🙂

Erin

Kia ora,

Just a reminder that PACE student intern Meredith Sim and Assoc. Professor  Art History will be giving a talk about the exhibition Snapshots: exploring a turning point in Japan’s history on Friday at 12. The talk will take place in the exhibition space on level 2. Meredith will discuss her process for curating the exhibition and what we have (and haven’t ! ) found out about John Macmillan Brown and his travels in Japan.  Would be great to see some library staff there 🙂

Ngā mihi,
Erin

Kia ora,

Please come along to the opening of an exhibition in PJH curated by MB student intern Meredith Sim, who has been researching John Macmillan Brown’s personal photograph collection.

Snapshots: exploring a turning point in Japan’s history:

John Macmillan Brown (1846-1935) was the foundation professor of Classics and English at Canterbury College (now UC).  He visited Japan at a transitional time in history.  Using his photographs and archives from the Macmillan Brown Library, this exhibition explores the customs and manners of Japan and its people during this fascinating time.

The exhibition has been curated by College of Arts student intern Meredith Sim, with supervision by Richard Bullen (Associate Professor Art History) and Erin Kimber (Library Archivist).

Opening event: Friday 3 August, 4.30 p.m

Floor Talk by Meredith Sim and Richard Bullen, 17 August, 12pm

Ngā mihi,

Erin

Kia ora

We are seeking two Library Assistants to join the Macmillan Brown Library team to assist with a fixed term project to transfer items from our architectural drawings collection into new storage,. The roles are full time for 11 weeks.  The ad is up on the UC jobs site and Student Jobs.  If you have any questions,  please contact Jo Condon.

Ngā mihi,

Erin

Kia ora,

Is there anyone out there who can read Pitman’s shorthand? I have a student using John Macmillan Brown’s manuscripts, and a lot of them are written in shorthand.  Unfortunately my 5th form Teeline isn’t cutting it.  There are dictionaries online, but it would be good to get someone knowledgeable to cast an eye over it.  Thanks! Erin

Kia ora,

This semester I am supervising a CoA  intern, Meredith Sim. She is researching  photographs of Japan taken and collected by John Macmillan Brown. Her academic supervisor is  Richard Bullen in Art History.  Her tasks include doing a basic inventory of the photographs (they are largely uncatalogued),   researching their custodial history and context of creation. The end result will feed in to a publication Richard is working on, and possibly a small display in the library.

Meredith will be in MB for 10 hours a week.  Here is a little intro she wrote about herself:

My name is Meredith Sim. I am the new intern working with Erin this semester. My focus will be on the photos taken by Macmillan Brown in Japan. I am in my second year and majoring in Japanese and Art History. During this internship I am hoping to explore the nature of working in an institution such as this and developing my research skills. I am also looking forward to broadening my knowledge of Japan and exploring one of the ways that my two majors can be applied.

I came to University having left high school and worked for nine years. I have worked in hospitality, sales and management but have always wanted to explore the arts on an academic level. I am on the committee for J-Soc here at UC and I also on occasion volunteer at The Physics Room. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to work with you all and be part of the team here.

I will keep you updated on her progress.

Thanks
Erin

Kia ora,  Just a reminder about the Discovery and Delight floortalk on Friday 10 November, 1 pm in the Matariki Gallery. I will be talking with Joanna Cobley.  More info here.

Erin

Kia ora,

You are all warmly invited to attend a floor talk of the exhibition  Discovery and Delight: Picnicking in Canterbury  next week, Friday 10 November, at 1pm, in the Matariki Gallery (lower concourse of the Matariki Building).

I will give a brief overview of the exhibition, then I will hand over to our guest speaker  Dr Joanna Cobley, Adjunct Senior Fellow, History.  Joanna’s talk is titled Food, gender, leisure & pleasure:  Sampling New Zealand picnics, c.1870s-1930s.  Here is some info:

This talk surveys the evolution of the New Zealand picnic by examining a composite picnic menu based on everyday recipes from the 1870s to 1930s. The time period reflects a rapid shift in cooking technologies—from the coal range to gas and electric stoves. A variety of transportation methods—horse and cart, traction engine, train, boat, bicycle, motorcar, or walking—moved a predominantly urban population to scenic picnic settings. New Zealand picnic culinary traditions were imported from the Old World by white settlers and adapted to the New World context. Eventually the New Zealand picnic season reflected the public holiday calendar—starting in spring with the Labour Day picnic in October, then Christmas and Boxing Day, New Year’s Day, and ending in Easter during autumn. Regional anniversaries and Waitangi Day provided another chance to picnic.

Portability and abundance are key picnic food characteristics. Women prepared picnic food, and men organised (or drank). Confectionary featured in child-centred picnics. Suspicion of water quality influenced the amount of tea and/or beer consumed at picnics generally, with more booze than food consumed at men-only picnic spaces. Picnics were a chance to meet people, create communities, network, and enjoy oneself. Young single men and women who attended picnics continued the tradition with their spouses and offspring. Gender boundaries also blurred in the colonial-settler picnic space—men managed the tea making and other picnic beverages, and women raised their skirts and competed for useful prizes such as cooking utensils and foodstuffs.

I look forward to seeing you there 🙂

Erin

Connon Girls is a new publication written by former UC history lecturer Marie Peters.  The book features over 70 photos, most  from the Macmillan Brown Library archives.  The book has been 20 years in the making , so we are very happy to see it finally published.  I just want to say a big thanks to all the MB staff who have retrieved archives and found images for the authors over the last few years. Especially to Swee Hoon who has undertaken a huge amount of scanning for the project.

Cheers, Erin