Above: Chemistry Department Students, c. 1957, M. D. King. Image Services collection, Tapuaka Heritage & Archive Collections
Victoria University of Wellington Library, Te Pātaka Kōrero, recently launched its Recollect site Tapuaka Heritage and Archive Collections. ‘The site was developed to bring the library’s digitised and born-digital heritage collections online for teaching and research, and contains a diverse archive holding rare books, manuscripts, photographs, maps, and many other unique items.
“The site enables us to share our amazing collections more widely, tell our stories as a university, celebrate our people (staff, students and alumni), and show what we have achieved and contributed, to Aotearoa and internationally. Making our collections more discoverable online supports engagement and use—users no longer need to know what they are looking for as they can browse and become inspired by the images and connections that Recollect allows us to create.”
– Aisha Le Frantz, Librarian, Tapuaka Heritage & Archive Collections
One notable collection that can be found online through Tapuaka Heritage and Archives is the Therese O’Connell poster collection. Therese O’Connell is a well-known New Zealand political activist and trade unionist who was engaged with feminist and socialist movements during her time at Victoria University of Wellington in the early 1970s.
Right: Nuclear-Free Pacific: Year of Decision, 1980s, Therese O’Connell Poster Collection, Tapuaka Heritage & Archive Collections.
Between 1975 and 1989, O’Connell worked for the Clerical Workers’ Union and held several official positions within the Wellington Trades Council, New Zealand Federation of Labour, and New Zealand Council of Trade Unions. Her contributions to the trade union movement led to her being made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2004.
In 2010, O’Connell donated 62 posters to Victoria University of Wellington Library that had been produced by various New Zealand activist organisations, trade unions, and other groups during the 1970s – 2000s. It has become an incredibly valuable resource for researchers studying Aotearoa’s history and social movements, particularly those related to political or trade union activity.
Tapuaka Heritage and Archive Collections not only provides online access to the library’s digital archives, but also helps to guide researchers into the larger physical archives by highlighting significant aspects of individual collections. The items that are available on the site will also soon be linked to other research collections across Aotearoa through organisations like Digital NZ – further enhancing the discoverability of related research material.