The mystery of the Petal Perfumery Company at St Stephen’s school In the St Stephen’s School archives, there is a collection of 20th-century letterbooks kept by the first headmaster, Albert Wilson. Back in the day, letterbooks were used like we use USB sticks, hard drives, and Cloud storage today. Anyone… Read More »Petal Perfumery Company – A 20th-Century Marketing Scam
When Cyclone Gabrielle hit New Zealand in February 2023, it caused widespread devastation. Eskdale, in Hawkes Bay, was hit particularly hard, with many homes and buildings severally damaged or destroyed. Eskdale War Memorial Church was one of the buildings damaged by the floods, but one of the things they were… Read More »Eskdale War Memorial Church – A Rescued Register
The John Kinder Theological Library Archive cares for the surviving records of St Stephen’s School. St Stephen’s was an Anglican Māori boarding school for boys. Initially located in Parnell and then in Bombay, Auckland, the school was one of the oldest and longest-running schools in New Zealand when it closed… Read More »St Stephen’s School Admissions Register – 1905 – 1928
In both the Kinder Library archives and the Archives of the Diocese of Auckland there are numerous stories, artefacts, and correspondence telling the tales of the reverends and chaplains in the world wars. Reverend Vickery was one such gentleman; he was a Hospital Ship Chaplain. This is a little of… Read More »The Life of a New Zealand Hospital Ship Chaplain in WWI and WWII
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
The summer of 2022-2023 was a wet one in New Zealand. There was unprecedented flooding through Auckland at the end of January, and then Cyclone Gabrielle whipped through the North Island, causing destruction and more flooding. Due to the weather, many archival collections were water damaged. But it’s not just… Read More »How to Look After Water-Damaged Archives
Church broadcasting in New Zealand has a history dating back to the arrival of television in the 1960s. If you’ve lived in New Zealand for some length of time, you may remember Praise Be. Recorded in locations around New Zealand, Praise Be was a mix of choral music and bible… Read More »A Look at Church Broadcasting in New Zealand
We recently received an enquiry from a researcher who wanted to confirm his relative’s admission at Te Aute College around 1907. Besides locating the admission record, we also found a wonderful image of the pupils of Te Kura o te Aute, Te Aute College taken in 1910 which included the… Read More »Not a Pet: The Small Dog at Te Aute College, 1910
A recent research enquiry had us looking through some of the Te Aute College class photographs, in the hopes that we could identify the researcher’s relative. We found the relative in this great photograph from 1910 featuring a dog in the front row, which, in turn, had us uncovering more… Read More »Paraire Hēnare Tomoana
A brief look at Bishop William Garden Cowie’s life Bishop William Garden Cowie was selected by G.A. Selwyn to become the first bishop of Auckland and was consecrated at Westminster Abbey in June 1869. He arrived in Auckland with his wife, Eliza Jane, in February 1870. Bishop Cowie was known… Read More »Bishop William Garden Cowie, 1831 – 1902
