The best place to start your family history and genealogy research at the National Library is the Family History Collection. You can do further in-depth research using material from the Alexander Turnbull Library collections.
Our collections could help you find:
- when someone was born, married or died
- when someone arrived in New Zealand
- occupations of your ancestors and where they lived
- birth or death notices in a newspaper
- a history of your town, school, church or club
- an old photograph of your street
- ship images
- diaries written on board ships.
Family History Collection
This reference-only collection holds New Zealand birth, death, and marriage indexes, shipping indexes, cemetery and probate indexes and electoral rolls. It contains both printed and electronic resources. It also has resources from other countries including Australia, Great Britain and Ireland.
Search for items using the National Library Catalogue.
More about the Family History Collection
Papers Past
The digital collection Papers Past contains over one million digitised pages from selected newspapers from all regions in New Zealand, published from 1840 to 1932. Many of the newspapers are full-text searchable. Shipping news, obituaries, reports of local events and notices of births, deaths and marriages are all of interest when researching your family history or whakapapa.
Timeframes
The online database Timeframes contains digital copies of heritage images from the Alexander Turnbull Library collections. It includes pictures of many ships and places, portraits, and other images of relevance to family history and whakapapa research.
Index New Zealand - find articles in magazines and journals
Index New Zealand describes over half a million articles published in or about New Zealand over the past 20 years, and is an important source for biographical information. The titles indexed range from popular magazines to more specialised journals.
The website does not provide full text versions of the articles but will help you locate material relevant to your research.
New Zealand and Pacific Collection
The New Zealand and Pacific Collection includes atlases, gazetteers, government publications such as the New Zealand gazette, biographies and local histories. The Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives also contains many names. Search for items using the National Library Catalogue.
More about the New Zealand and Pacific Collection
Māori Reference Collection
The Māori Reference Collection includes sources for whakapapa (genealogy) research like the Journal of the Polynesian Society, the Index of Maori names compiled by H J Fletcher in 1925, and the Māori Land Court minute books index. Search for items using the National Library Catalogue.
More about the Māori Reference Collection
General Reference Collection
The General Reference Collection has useful resources for family history like biographical dictionaries. Search for items using the National Library Catalogue.
More about the General Reference Collection
New Zealand and Pacific Book Collection
Historical and current books relating to New Zealand and the Pacific are in this Turnbull Library collection. The collection also includes finding aids to shipping lists and biographical information, and a portraits index.
More about the New Zealand and Pacific Book Collection
National Newspaper Collection
The National Newspaper Collection contains newspapers from New Zealand, Australia, and the Pacific. It is the most comprehensive collection of historical New Zealand newspapers in the country and a great source for family history research. Search for items using the National Library Catalogue.
More about the National Newspaper Collection
Turnbull Library Pictures
Turnbull Library Pictures holds photographic copies of original images from the Turnbull Library collections, including pictures of people, ships and places. It has a broader selection than Timeframes. You can browse the collection at the Library's reading room at 77 Thorndon Quay, Wellington.
More about Turnbull Library Pictures
Manuscripts Collection
The Turnbull Library's Manuscripts Collection contains the papers and records of individuals and organisations, including diaries, soldiers’ letters, immigrant journals, church and funeral directors’ records and whakapapa (genealogical chart) books.
More about the Manuscripts Collection
General Serials Collection
The General Serials Collection has a wide variety of magazines from New Zealand and overseas. These can provide useful biographical and background material for family history. Search for items using the National Library Catalogue.
More about the General Serials Collection
New Zealand Serials Collection
The Turnbull Library's New Zealand Serials Collection includes a broad range of magazines from genealogical and historical societies. All contain biographical and family-related information.
More about the New Zealand Serials Collection
Cartographic Collection
The Cartographic Collection has historical maps of New Zealand showing property boundaries and land owners from the 1840s onwards.
More about the Cartographic Collection
Oral History Centre collection
The Oral History Centre holds recordings of oral history interviews with people from throughout New Zealand and the Pacific. Most of the collection has been recorded since the 1960s.
More about the Oral History Centre collection
Photographic Archive
Original photographs of New Zealand and the Pacific from the 1850s onwards, including many portraits, are in the Photographic Archive.
More about the Photographic Archive
Drawings, Paintings and Prints collection
The Drawings, Paintings and Prints collection contains images of New Zealand and the Pacific from the 1760s onwards, including many portraits, and pictures of immigrant ships.
More about the Drawings, Paintings and Prints collection
Printed Ephemera Collection
The Printed Ephemera Collection holds items that are useful for research on individuals, such as political campaign pamphlets, theatre and music programmes, church and club celebration programmes, and marriage and funeral services.
