Local history is integral in shaping our communities, and the preservation of these stories and records for the future is vital. The goal of our Your Stories project is to digitise, and make available, all historical newspapers (from 1840 to 2000) that are at risk of loss or decay.
This will ensure that the stories and histories from diverse communities right across urban and rural New Zealand are preserved for current and future generations. Hear stories about the papers already digitised and how to access them, about the papers in dire need of preservation and the papers whose whereabouts require your help to find! bio for speaker: Felicity Barnes is a senior lecturer in History at the University of Auckland, where she teaches the history of Aotearoa/New Zealand.
As cultural historian with particular interest in settler colonialism and imperialism, she has spent a lot of time working with newspapers. They formed essential archives for her books, New Zealand’s London, which examined the impact of cultural links between New Zealand and London and Selling Britishness: The Dominions, Commodity Culture, and Empire, 1926-1939, was awarded the 2023 Wadsworth Prize For Outstanding Achievement in British business history. She is looking forward to working with the trust in preserving more of our printed pasts!
