Pasifika newspapers now online

The digi-boffins at National Library of New Zealand have been hard at work adding even more great historical newspapers to their Papers Past resource, and just in time for Samoan Language Week they’ve made some historical Pasifika newspapers available.

The recently added Samoan material is from the following newspapers and years –

Advertisement, Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 2, Issue 65, 28 December 1878, Page 1

• Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette (1877-1881)
• Samoa Times and South Sea Advertiser (1888-1896)
• Samoa Weekly Herald (1892-1900)
• Samoanische Zeitung (1903-1920) (a part English, part German publication)

They’ve also added a bunch of other new material including a few more years’ worth of Canterbury’s Sun newspaper which now covers 1914-1920.

Read more about what appears in the Samoan papers (including Robert Louis Stevenson’s birthday party and the Samoan equivalent of “Game of Thrones”) in this fascinating blog post from the National Library website.

More of The Press on Papers Past

Papers Past contains more than three million pages of digitised New Zealand newspapers and periodicals. The collection covers the years 1839 to 1945 and includes 93 publications from all regions of New Zealand.

The latest additions are good for your Christchurch historical explorations. Copies of The Press from 1929 to 1935 have been added. Critical years of The First World War – 1915 to 1917 – have been added to the run of The Star.

See The Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21652, 10 December 1935, Page 2

 

Time travel with Picture Post Archive

Picture Post was an iconic British newspaper published from 1938-1957. At its peak 80% of the British public were reading it. Why? Well, a large part of this was its pioneering use of photojournalism. No longer were pictures just portraits of the great and good,  but they reflected the stories of those on the street in all their joys and worries. There was a lot to worry about with this newspaper covering the stormy years leading up to World War II to the first decade of the Cold War.

It is positively fascinating to see the prevailing attitudes and the discussions of everyday Britain in this time period. The Picture Post  Archive contains fully searchable reproductions of every issue of this newspaper for you to explore.

This archive is a goldmine for historians or anyone with an inch of curiosity in their bones. You can access this from home or at any community library with your  library card and password / PIN. I encourage you to have a read and fall into a world preparing for and enduring war and facing the nuclear age with bravery and humour. 

Rescued from the rubble: Read the first 50 years of The Press on Papers Past

Christchurch Press Co. Ltd

We are happy to bring you news of a fantastic resource. The first 50 years of The Press newspaper are now available online on Papers Past. This covers 1861 to 1915.

Material previously only available at our Central Library on microfilm will now be online and accessible to everyone. The project is a collaborative effort between Christchurch City Libraries and the National Library of New Zealand. The Press has also been part of this project, and this allows them to provide access to their archives.

Carolyn Robertson, the Libraries and Information Manager of Christchurch City Libraries says:

Bringing the record of the early years of Christchurch and Canterbury settlement into a fully searchable online collection is such a worthwhile collaboration between The Press, the National Library and ourselves. The Press is an invaluable resource for local history, including commentary and public comment on the events of the day, as well as the detail beloved by social and family historians. The newspaper contains notices of births, deaths and marriages, shipping notices, court reports, and the record of day to day events in the establishment of the Canterbury province. The newly digitised collection covers the early war years, and adds the Canterbury perspective to national events, such as the women’s suffrage campaign led by Kate Sheppard.

Go to The Press on Papers Past