Photographs in the collections may be negatives, prints, transparencies, slides, or digital files. Images can be made on paper, film, or glass; and are sometimes found on other materials like metal or leather.
Photographic Archive
Original photographs of New Zealand and the Pacific from the 1850s to the present day are in the Turnbull Library’s Photographic Archive. Search for descriptions of photographs, including negatives and photo albums, on TAPUHI.
More about the Photographic Archive collection
Turnbull Library Pictures
Copy prints of original photographs (including negatives) from the collections are in Turnbull Library Pictures. You can browse images on the ground floor of the Library in Wellington.
More about Turnbull Library Pictures
Digital copies of photographs on Timeframes
Digital copies of selected photographs from the Turnbull Library collections can be found on our online database of heritage images, Timeframes.
Photographs in diaries, scrapbooks, and sketchbooks
You may find photographs in diaries and scrapbooks in the Manuscripts Collection, or in sketchbooks in the Drawings, Paintings and Prints collection. Search for descriptions of manuscripts and pictorial items on TAPUHI.
More about the Manuscripts Collection
More about the Drawings, Paintings and Prints collection
Photographic ephemera in the Printed Ephemera Collection
The Printed Ephemera Collection contains photographic postcards, posters and calendars. Search for descriptions of ephemera items on TAPUHI.
More about the Printed Ephemera Collection
Photographic illustrations in the New Zealand and Pacific Book Collection
Some published books held in the New Zealand and Pacific Book Collection have original photographs as illustrations. Search for descriptions of books in this collection on the National Library Catalogue.
More about the New Zealand and Pacific Book Collection
Reproductions of photographs in newspapers and serials
You can find many reproductions of photographs in newspapers and illustrated magazines from the Library’s collections. Search for descriptions of newspapers and serials on the National Library Catalogue.
More about the National Newspaper Collection
More about the New Zealand Serials Collection
More about the General Serials Collection
Photographs in other institutions
The Matapihi website lets you search for photographs from the online collections of several New Zealand cultural organisations, including images from Timeframes.
These organisations and websites also provide access to photograph collections:
Photographs at Auckland City Libraries – Auckland City Libraries website
Auckland Museum Pictorial Collection – Auckland Museum website
Te Papa Picture Library – Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa website
Nelson Provincial Museum website
Hocken Library Photographs Collection – University of Otago Library website
