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
The Vast Sarah Selwyn Music Collection One of the projects that the John Kinder Theological Library has embarked upon is cataloguing the Sarah Selwyn Music Collection. Sarah Selwyn, nee Richardson, was the wife of the first Anglican bishop of New Zealand, Bishop George August Selwyn, and she left a prolific… Read More »The Sarah Selwyn Music Collection
In commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the Rev. Samuel Leigh’s visit to New Zealand the John Kinder Theological Library displayed a selection of some of the oldest and most significant historical items held in our collection of Methodist archives. The exhibition ended Friday 31st of May 2019. John Hobbs… Read More »The Journals of John Hobbs, 1823-1856
Handwritten pages in te reo Māori These two small pages, handwritten in Te Reo Māori, are part of the Trinity Methodist Theological College Library archive collection held here at the John Kinder Theological Library. These records include an eclectic assortment of items relating to early Methodism in New Zealand and… Read More »Handwritten pages in te reo Māori – Te Reo Māori and Methodist Miscellanea
Consecration Deed for Bishop Frederick Augustus Bennett, first Bishop of Aotearoa Papers recently received from a diocesan archive, where they had been placed for safekeeping in the 1940s, reveal the Consecration Deed for Bishop Frederick Augustus Bennett, first Bishop of Aotearoa, as well as the various declarations he had to… Read More »A Consecration Deed and Pectoral Cross for Bishop Frederick Augustus Bennett
The Cornelius Jansen Paraphrases Among the early printed books in the Kinder Library is a copy of Cornelius Jansen Paraphrases in omnes Psalmos Davidicos, printed by Peter Zangrius Tiletanus of Louvain in 1574 (call number: R0456). This work of scriptural exegesis is not by the famous Roman Catholic theologian Cornelius… Read More »Uncovering Manuscript Waste in the Rare Books Collection
Papers from St Paul’s Cathedral in Dunedin – General Synod 1895 We have recently received three bundles of papers found by the archivist at St Paul’s Cathedral in Dunedin on a shelf in the church safe. One bundle is labeled “Documents laid on the table, Synod 1895” and another “Archbishop’s… Read More »‘Documents Laid on the Table’ : General Synod 1895
This beautiful New Zealand Book of Hours is held at the Kinder Library The John Kinder Theological Library rare books collection holds a New Zealand Book of Hours, on behalf of the Methodist Trinity College. This was originally donated to the college by the New Zealand publisher, A. H. Reed.… Read More »Book of Hours in New Zealand
