Eggs represent new life and rebirth, and that’s one of the reasons they’re so prolific at Easter time. While these days chocolate Easter eggs and plastic decorations are rife, the story of wooden eggs dates back hundreds of years. In the Auckland Anglican Diocese Archives, there are several wooden eggs… Read More »The Wooden Eggs in the Anglican Church in New Zealand
A brief history of Sir Kingi Ihaka and the Auckland Anglican Māori Club On Sunday 8th October 2017, the Auckland Anglican Māori Club celebrated its 50th anniversary at The Church of the Holy Sepulchre with a Thanksgiving Service. Sir Kingi Matutaera Ihaka dedicated himself to all aspects of Māoritanga and… Read More »Sir Kingi Matutaera Ihaka and the Auckland Anglican Māori Club
St John’s Collegiate School art lessons taught by Wilhelm Dittmer While working on a research request we came across this advertisement for drawing, painting, and sketching lessons at St John’s College to be taught by Wilhelm Dittmer. This piece of ephemera is held in our ‘St John’s School and King’s… Read More »“Entirely from Nature”: Art Lessons at St John’s Collegiate School
There is a new display in the library for the St John’s College classes of 1979 to 1981 who held a reunion here over the weekend (22nd-24th July). This display presents items from the archives held at the John Kinder Theological Library relating to the College of St John the… Read More »College Life at the John Kinder Theological Library Archives
What do Bishop Simkin and Zodiac Records have in common? In 2016, we were given items as a donation relating to the former Bishop of Auckland, William John Simkin, which included this acetate of the recording of his funeral service in 1967. The recording was likely to have been mastered… Read More »He’s a Mod? Bishop Simkin and Zodiac Records
The College Life Collection (St John’s College) at the Kinder Library Over the years 2014 and 2015, St John’s Theological College held several reunions for students who attended the college between the years of 1983 and 1985. To celebrate the occasions, a display was put up to showcase some of… Read More »St John’s College Archive – College Life Collection
The creation of the early Mission printing press was a significant moment For many Māori, learning to read was a powerful incentive in accepting the early missionaries’ religious message. As demand for printed material increased, the missionary-printer William Colenso was sent to New Zealand, arriving in 1834. The early mission… Read More »Early Mission Printing Press in New Zealand
Scrapbooks from a time gone by The practice of cutting out items of interest and putting them onto blank pages is characteristic of scrapbook makers throughout the world. While scrapbooking is sometimes seen as a contemporary phenomenon, the term scrap-book first appeared in the English language in 1825, and books… Read More »St John’s College Scrapbooks
One of the more quaint archival items we hold is this wee pamphlet from our stacks. It was first published in 1933, and is called the First New Zealand Christmases by A.H. & A. W. Reed: BV 3667.M3 REE. Here are few snippets from the pamphlet: 1642 ABEL JANSZOON TASMAN… Read More »First New Zealand Christmases
First New Zealand Christmas: a quaint pamphlet As Christmas approaches, we share extracts from this quaint pamphlet from our stacks, first published in 1933: First New Zealand Christmases by A.H. & A. W. Reed. 1642 Abel Janszoon Tasman ‘On Epiphany eve … he sighted a small groups of islets to… Read More »First New Zealand Christmas
