This major digitisation project described, digitised and made available online the papers of Sir Donald McLean (1820-1877).
The digitisation project included:
- scanning 150 reels of microfilm, which contain approximately 90,000 pages of handwritten manuscript items, over half of which are letters to and from McLean
- double keyboarding 50 volumes of transcripts of the English-language letters and journals to enhance searching within the collection
- integrating the scans of roughly 3,000 letters written in te reo Māori by Māori to McLean with new transcripts and translations of these letters, through a partnership with E Mā: Ngā Tuhituhinga ki a Makarini
- creating a new keyword-searchable web interface to host the digitised material.
The McLean Papers can now be viewed on the new Manuscripts & Pictorial website, http://mp.natlib.govt.nz
About the McLean Papers
Sir Donald McLean was an administrator, runholder, and politician. At various times his positions included being Sub-Protector of Aborigines, Chief Land Purchase Commissioner, Native Secretary, Superintendant of Hawke's Bay, and Native Minister.
Sir Donald McLean biography – Dictionary of New Zealand Biography website
McLean's papers are held in the Alexander Turnbull Library's Manuscript Collection. The McLean Papers are a large and frequently used manuscript collection, and are arguably the most important single group of papers relating to 19th-century race relations in New Zealand.
