We hold published and unpublished material about Māori people, history, language and culture, written by both Māori and non-Māori.
Māori resources in the collections can be used to research the many aspects of te ao Māori (the Māori world) from whenua (land), whakapapa (genealogy), and te reo (the Māori language) to tikanga (culture).
Sir Donald McLean Papers
This website presents digitised copies of selected series from the papers of Donald McLean held at the Alexander Turnbull Library.
The largest component of the collection is the group of approximately 14,500 English-language letters McLean received from many hundreds of correspondents, both public and private. Just as significant are the almost 3000 letters from Māori correspondents, which are the largest surviving series of nineteenth-century Māori letters. There are sequences of outwards letters, a large body of working papers relating to McLean's various political positions, diaries, maps, family letters and other papers.
More about the Sir Donald McLean Papers
Te Ao Hou (The New World) online
The Māori magazine Te Ao Hou (The New World) was published from 1952 to 1975 by the Māori Affairs Department. All 76 issues of this journal are available free online.
Timeframes
Timeframes is an online database containing digital copies of heritage images from the Alexander Turnbull Library collections. These include portraits of Māori and representations of tikanga Māori.
More about the Alexander Turnbull Library collections
Te Puna Web Directory
Find links to Māori resources on other websites using the Te Puna Web Directory.
Māori links in English - Te Puna Web Directory website
Māori links in te reo Māori - Te Puna Web Directory website
Index New Zealand - find Māori resources in magazines and journals
Index New Zealand describes over half a million articles published in or about New Zealand over the past 20 years, including in magazines and journals like Te Ao Hou and Te Kaunihera Māori: the New Zealand Māori Council Journal.
Many indexed publications are also held in the General Serials Collection and the Turnbull Library’s New Zealand Serials Collection.
More about the General Serials Collection
More about the New Zealand Serials Collection
Māori Reference Collection
The Māori Reference Collection contains published Māori material across all subject areas, including the Journal of the Polynesian Society and the Index of Maori names compiled by H J Fletcher in 1925. You can use the collection in the Library. Search for items using the National Library Catalogue.
More about the Māori Reference Collection
Family History Collection
The Family History Collection holds Māori birth, death, and marriage indexes, and other resources relevant to whakapapa research such as the Māori Land Court Minute Books Index. You can use the collection in the Library. Search for items using the National Library Catalogue.
More about the Family History Collection
New Zealand and Pacific Book Collection
The New Zealand and Pacific Book Collection includes many rare books in te reo Māori (the Māori language), and the world’s most complete collection of printed Māori material. You can use the books in the Library.
Look at Books in Māori, by Phil Parkinson & Penny Griffith, 2004, to find out about around 1600 items in the collection dated pre-1900. Search for items using the National Library Catalogue.
More about the New Zealand and Pacific Book Collection
Manuscripts Collection
The Manuscripts Collection includes the papers and records of:
- Māori families, individuals and organisations
- early missionaries, and other European travellers who observed and described early Māori society
- Pākehā (non-Māori) politicians and administrators involved in Māori affairs (often containing letters from Māori)
- scholars and organisations interested in Māori history.
Notable collections come from:
- Māori Purposes Fund Board
- Sir Āpirana Ngata
- Alexander McDonnell
- Te Whāiti family
- Turakina Māori Girls’ College
- Donald McLean
- Walter Mantell
- the Polynesian Society
- Pei Te Hurinui Jones
- Elsdon Best
- the Māori Women’s Welfare League.
You can use manuscript items in the Library. Search for items using TAPUHI.
More about the Manuscripts Collection
National Newspaper Collection and Niupepa Māori
The National Newspaper Collection contains niupepa (Māori language newspapers) on microfiche from 1842 onwards. Search for items using the National Library Catalogue.
Digital copies of selected niupepa from the collection are also available online at the New Zealand Digital Library website.
Niupepa Māori online – New Zealand Digital Library website
More about the National Newspaper Collection
Oral History Centre collection
The Oral History Centre holds collections of Māori oral history recordings, and is often involved with projects carried out by Māori groups New Zealand-wide.
Projects of interest include:
- The Koro Dewes Collection of Sound Recordings
- The Maniapoto Archive
- Te Wānanga o Raukawa Collection
- The Māori Women's Welfare League Collection
- Kahungunu Kaumātua of the 1990s, and the
Access is by appointment only.
More about the Oral History Centre collection
Turnbull Library Pictures
You can browse copies of many images from the Alexander Turnbull Library collections in Turnbull Library Pictures on the ground floor of the Library, or make an appointment to see the originals. These include portraits of Māori and representations of matauranga and tikanga Māori; images of art, events and places relevant to Māori.
More about Turnbull Library Pictures
Cartographic Collection
This map collection contains information such as:
- Māori place names and pā (fortified village) sites on early maps and charts from traders, sailors, explorers and surveyors
- Māori land block names on published boundary maps from the 1880s
- land ownership and boundaries on private survey maps, and
- Māori tracks and waterways in the New Zealand Historical Atlas collection, corrected by Sir Āpirana Ngata and Pei Te Hurinui Jones.
You can use the maps in the Library by appointment. Search for items using TAPUHI and the National Library Catalogue.
More about the Cartographic Collection
Drawings, Paintings and Prints collection
The Drawings, Paintings and Prints collection includes many portraits of Māori, and representations of Te Ao Māori, mainly in drawings and paintings by 19th century Europeans. Highlights include:
- sketchbooks and drawings from Walter Mantell and Richard Taylor
- drawings from George Angas and Joseph Merrett
- engravings and drawings by artists who came to New Zealand with Captain James Cook in the 18th century
- moko (facial tattoo) drawings by Māori.
You can view items in the collection by appointment. Search for items using TAPUHI.
More about the Drawings, Paintings and Prints collection
Photographic Archive
The Photographic Archive holds original photographs of New Zealand and the Pacific from the 1850s onwards, including many relating to Māori. You can view the photographs in the Library by appointment. Search for items using TAPUHI.
More about the Photographic Archive
Printed Ephemera Collection
The Printed Ephemera Collection includes items such as Māori concert programmes from the late 19th century to the present; posters and pamphlets on the Treaty of Waitangi, Māori protest posters; and selected programmes for hui (gatherings) and marae events. You can use the collection in the Library. Search for items using TAPUHI.
More about the Printed Ephemera Collection
Special Printed Collections
The Special Printed Collections include printed portraits of New Zealand and Māori society as seen by Europeans in the 18th and 19th centuries; and early accounts by explorers like Captain James Cook, William Bligh, Dumont D’Urville and others. Some accounts include Māori vocabulary lists as heard by Europeans.
More about the Special Printed Collections
National Children’s Collection
The National Children's Collection contains many books for children and young people that are written in te reo Māori. Selected Māori language books are also available online in the International Children’s Digital Library. You can borrow the books through interloan or use them in the Library. Search for items using the National Library Catalogue.
More about the National Children's Collection
More about New Zealand books in the International Children’s Digital Library
Rangiātea online exhibition
Rangiātea was the oldest Anglican Māori Church in New Zealand until it was tragically destroyed by fire in 1995. It was recently rebuilt. This website celebrates the unique history of Rangiātea.
Ranfurly Collection online
Digital copies of photos and papers relating to Lord Ranfurly's 1904 expedition into the Urewera area to meet Tūhoe representatives are online in the Ranfurly Collection. Lord Ranfurly, Governor of New Zealand 1897 - 1904, was often involved in government discussions with Māori about land policy or other matters, usually in a ceremonial role.
Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand
The Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand (1868 to 1961) contain articles on the history, ethnology and mythology of Māori from the mid to late 19th century onwards. The journals are available free online.
Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand website
