The Society of Mary and the Archdiocese of Wellington Collection of nearly 700 rare books (514 titles) was deposited on permanent loan into the Alexander Turnbull Library in December 2001. It includes the collections of Jeremiah Purcell O'Reily (1805-1880) and James Ambrose Story (1844-1901).
The collection contains imprints from the 15th to the 18th century (including eight incunabula), in addition to pamphlets and a small number of post-1800 imprints. A high proportion of these imprints are foreign-language publications.
Items in the collection were originally gathered from libraries at St Patrick's College Wellington, the Marist Archives Wellington, and convents in Hastings and Wanganui. The collection was held at the seminary library at Greenmeadows, Napier, before moving to the Colin Library in Auckland in 1998.
Archival material connected to this collection is held at the Marist Archives in Wellington.
Further information about the collection can be found in 'Jeremiah Purcell O'Reily and James Ambrose Story: Two Nineteenth-Century Collectors and their New Zealand Connection' by Ruth Lightbourne, Turnbull Library Record 40 (2007), pp 33-60.
Access items in this collection
This collection is fully catalogued and may be searched on the National Library Catalogue.
Contact details, and information about accessing, borrowing, and making copies from this Collection
