Christchurch City Libraries Blog

Have you seen  The Picture Post Historical Archive? It’s a full digital reproduction of  an iconic British newspaper published between 1938 and 1957.  It’s a valuable record of those years in all sorts of areas:

• History and culture: the everyday lives of all levels of society in the mid-20th century;
• Politics: The paper was liberal and staunchly anti-fascist, revealing much about  attitudes of the times;
• Media/journalism: A pioneer of photojournalism;
• Art & photography: Famous photographers worked for the publication including Bill Brandt.

The Picture Post Historical Archive will appeal to anyone studying, teaching or with an interest in twentieth century history. It’s also visually stunning – I challenge you not to fall in love with it!

You can access  many other useful premium websites from home with your library card number and PIN, or at our open community libraries.

Be forever remembered for your awesome results in NCEA History by using these super helpful resources!

• We have brought whole lot of fantastic New Zealand history resources together in one place, to make it easy for you.
• Search the Biography in Context and Opposing Viewpoints databases;
• Find full-text articles online;
• The History Classroom has activities and materials dedicated to NCEA levels 1, 2 and 3;
• Make sure you know what you need to do to achieve with NCEA;
• Travel back in time with this collection of the best history websites available online today.

The Christ Church Cathedral under construction, looking at the east arch from Worcester Street, Christchurch (circa 1880)

At your library, we’ve taken great care and time to capture our province’s past. Browse our fine collection of online photographs – they show just how far we have come – and might serve as inspiration for the future.

Our website contains a vast collection of material on Caterbury’s history – did you know the Christ Church Cathedral lost its spire three times in separate earthquakes between 1881 and 1901?

• Explore heritage information at will online or at any of our open community libraries.
• Try Ti Kōuka Whenua for pre-European history
• View more images of the cathedral and Cathedral Square

In times of stress I stop reading.  I have the concentration span of a gnat.  Books I have reserved and coveted for a long time are languishing by my bed.  I will return them to be read by someone more deserving.

What I can manage however are magazines – nothing too serious, mind you.  I fill my head with tittle tattle and meaningless fluff that satisfies my desire to read but not think.  The library of course has a huge variety of magazines to satisfy all tastes, including mine, thank goodness.

Another past-time  guaranteed to sooth my unquiet mind and to stop all those jobs being done around the house is crosswords.  When I have the urge to cheat (which of course is not often…)  our library webpages  thankfully have an invaluable  link to various crossword solving resources.

Our games pages and hobbies page list other suggestions for tired brains and for a times when books feel a bit overtaxing.

All sorts of people are popping up with ideas about the “new” Christchurch. Some are local, some are national and some are international commentators. As a resident and citizen of Christchurch you might  still be in the stunned mullet stage of coming to grips with the new normal. But if you are already thinking about what you want to see happen in your city there are a number of places where you can  share ideas.

One of the casualties of the quake was the Before After lecture series and display at the Christchurch Art Gallery but still has some interesting  ideas and comments.

• Rebuild Christchurch One Brick at a Time facilitates discussion on ideas for the rebuild. They also have a facebook site.
• Greening the Rubble got underway after the September quake and are also on facebook.
• In 2009, Danish urban designer Jan Gehl undertook a Public Space Public Life Study of Central Christchurch for the Christchurch City Council.
• Well known New Zealand architect Ian Athfield has been involved in planning ideas for central city revitalisation since before the quakes and post quake has caused some controversy.

If you want to do some reading check out our Urban Design resources. If you are thinking about what kind of houses we might build then I think Kevin McCloud’s 43 principles of home is a great place to start.

We may have lost access to some of our family history resources at Central Library but we still have many great online resources if you are interested in “breeding”. Who knows, maybe you should have been invited to Will and Kate’s wedding?

Findmypast.co.uk is a family history and genealogy website which focuses on the United Kingdom. It contains among other resources:

• The only 1841-1911 census collection online;
• An online index of births, deaths and marriages (1837-2006);
• Parish records for baptisms, marriages and burials dating from 1538;
• Passenger lists for all long-haul voyages leaving the UK between 1890 and 1960.

This fantastic resource is  available at all our open  community libraries but is not available outside libraries. Come in and have a play an explore our other electronic family history resources.

Yesterday I read that a film that has just been made based on Rosemary Sutcliff’s novel The Eagle of the Ninth. This has always been a favourite book of mine and it made me think about how much I enjoyed historical novels when I was kid. Geoffrey Trease, Henry Treece, Ronald Welch and of course Sutcliff herself – how I devoured those books! They fired my imagination by taking me to places and events  far removed from my everyday existence.

I was a keen reader of adult historical novels for a while, but seem to have fallen away from reading many lately. Wolf Hall has been a highlight, but not much else. A quick check of my bookshelves showed some old favourites I’ve been hanging on to – Mary Stewart, Cecelia Holland, Alfred Duggan, Graeme Shelby. These could provide some great escapist re-reading over the coming months but I think I need some new suggestions.

Any historical fiction fans out there with some good suggestions? In the meantime I’ll take advantage of our wonderful library storehouse – many of those old favourites are available.

On 4 May 1691, Alice Bayley,  “widow, crazy and sickly” of  St Saviour Southwark, left instructions in her will:

To my grandsons Thomas Bayley and Henry Bayley my four engine looms; to my granddaughter Elizabeth Bayley all my household goods; to my cousin Mary Wysam my black crepe gown and petticoat and a pair of stays.

How do I know this? I found this out  on the National Wills index which is contained in Origins – a family history website that offers access to British, Scottish and  Irish genealogy records.

Much of our family history collection is within the walls of the Central Library, which is closed, but there are family history electronic resources available from all our open community libraries. Origins is only available in libraries between 10am and 7pm due to license restrictions, but it is still a treasure for family history hunters!

Check out our other online family history resources – you never know what you might find!

Do you work on cars  for a living or  hobby? At the moment our car manuals are safe, but behind cordons in Central Library. In the meantime have you seen  Chilton Library.com?
Chilton Library.com is available online all the time, and is updated monthly. It uses step-by-step processes with photos and illustrations to simplify tasks.  You can :

• Select a vehicle by year, make and model;
• See wiring and vacuum diagrams to help explain system operations;
• Access individual tabs for repair, maintenance or recall/technical service bulletin information;
• Print what information you need ;
• Examine ‘trouble codes’ to help identify the problem with your vehicle (many computerised systems provide trouble codes but no explanation of what that code is).

You can access  many other useful premium websites from home with your library card number and PIN, or at our open community libraries.

• Read more about our motor manuals collection online

Neil Gaiman is one of the great lineup of authors contributing to Tales for Canterbury, an earthquake fundraiser.

The short story anthology from Random Static Press is edited by Anna Caro and J.C. Hart. All funds raised through the sale of ebook and print copies will go to the New Zealand Red Cross 2011 Earthquake Appeal.

Contributors include:  Neil Gaiman, Karen Healey, Gwyneth Jones, Jay Lake, Cat Connor, Helen Lowe, Sean Williams, Grant Stone, Simon Petrie, Jeff Vandermeer.