Pictorial

What do we have?

The Library has a huge variety of images, held across various collections.

The Library's collections are selected to support the research needs of our users, and so encompass New Zealand and Pacific, as well as New Zealanders’ experiences overseas.

Images are selected for their research value and include amateur and professional collections.

The best place to begin searching the collections is the main search box on the National Library website.

National Library search

If you want to narrow your search you can query the individual formats held by the Library. Below are the primary Library collections with pictorial content:

• Photographic Archive

• Drawings, Painting & Prints collection

• New Zealand Cartoon and Comics Archive

• Ephemera and the

• Manuscripts collection.

You can learn more about each of these collections below, along with tips for searching, browsing, purchasing and using the Library's pictorial materials.

Pictorial collections in the Library

This is an overview of the different collections in the Library which contain the greatest number of pictorial items.

What's been digitised?

Almost 300,000 images have been digitised and can be viewed on our website. However, the vast majority of photographs and other pictorial collections have not yet been digitised.

These items are still searchable in the catalogue but you will need to come in to the Library to view them.

Photographic Archive

The Photographic Archive is one of New Zealand’s foremost collections of photographs. It contains around 1,600,000 items from the 1840s to the present, including prints, negatives, albums, transparencies, digital photographs, and other photographic formats.

The Photographic Archive continues to grow as a visual record of the land and peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific.

The Photographic Archive holds photographs taken by professional photographers as well as the work of ordinary New Zealanders who have documented their lives, families and communities. The emphasis is on collecting the most original format possible.

More about the Photographic Archive

Drawings, Paintings & Prints Collection

The Drawings, Paintings and Prints collection holds drawings, prints, paintings, cartoons, architectural plans, and objects relating to New Zealand and the Pacific from 1642 to the present.

More than 100,000 watercolours, drawings, sketchbooks, oil paintings and prints are in the collection. Most feature New Zealand scenes, people and events.

Many early pictures relate to Māori or their way of life, and the earliest days of European contact and settlement. Images also cover the development of early towns and cities, exploration, natural history and science, shipping, and wars.

More about the Drawing, Paintings and Prints collection

Ephemera Collection

The Ephemera Collection forms part of the Alexander Turnbull Library collections. The Collection has over 200,000 ephemera items dating from the 1840s to the present. Subject strengths include theatre and entertainment, politics and activism, horticulture, war, Māori, tourism, alcohol, environmental issues, everyday life and popular culture.

More about the Ephemera Collection

New Zealand Cartoon and Comics Archive

The New Zealand Cartoon and Comics Archive contains cartoons and caricatures from the 19th century to the present and a growing collection of comic art. We also collect material relating to artists’ lives, such as their personal papers or photographs.

The New Zealand Cartoon and Comics Archive is contained within the Alexander Turnbull Library Drawings, Paintings and Prints collection. The Archive supplements the Library’s collections of published cartoons and comics, acquired through Legal Deposit.

More about the New Zealand Cartoon Archive

Turnbull Library Pictures — available on-site at the Library

Turnbull Library Pictures (also called the File Prints in the General Reading Room) holds photographic copies of original images from the Alexander Turnbull Library collections. It includes copies of photographs, paintings, drawings and prints, cartoons, maps, posters, and illustrations.

These are divided into a geographic sequence, subject (such as war, gold mining, ships, Māori), and portraits (of identified people – although sometimes the name may be only ‘Mrs Brown’). It also includes the Pacific and Antarctic exploration.

There is no need to request these or make an appointment. Staff can show you where they are and how they are organised.

More about Turnbull Library Pictures

Images on Papers Past

Images from the Papers Past database that are included in National Library's catalogue will have a ‘See original record on Papers Past website’ button. From there you can download a high-resolution copy of the entire page and then crop the image as required. First select the page view, then in the upper right corner click the 'Save copy' dropdown, and then select "high-resolution image".

These images are often of poor quality (the newspapers are digitised from microfilm rather than the original paper). The Library may be able to supply you with an even higher-resolution copy taken from the original newspaper if you require the highest-quality image available.

Papers Past

Free downloads

Almost 70,000 images are available as ‘Free downloads’. These are indicated on the image thumbnail by a red label in the bottom right corner with the word 'Free'. This means you can request a high-resolution copy at no charge. It also means you can use these images without seeking any further consent from the Library as they have been checked and cleared of copyright and/or donor restrictions.

View our images available as free downloads

The pool of Free downloads includes over 8,000 Whites Aviation aerial images showing aerial views of many parts of New Zealand.

There are also more than 1,000 images from World War One in the ‘H series’ of photographs taken by Henry Armytage Sanders while working as the official war photographer in Europe 1917-1919.

The remainder are images featuring a selection of early scenic postcards and posters.

National Library on Flickr

Apart from the Whites Aviation images, the free download images, some other images can also be viewed and downloaded from the National Library Flickr Commons site.

National Library on Flickr Commons

Non-digitised images

Only a small percentage of our images have been digitised. The vast majority are not yet digitised and can only be viewed on-site at the Library.

If you haven’t found what you need online, or you have found a record with no image thumbnail attached, or you want to uncover new and fresh images, you can request items to be viewed at the National Library in Wellington.

Learn more about registering and requesting to view items at the Library

Searching for images

You can start your search by simply using keywords in the Library website's search box. This is a combined search that will cover all databases, catalogues and collections, including those identified above.

Search across all catalogues

From the results page, you can narrow results down by using filters on the left-hand side of the screen. The filters include ‘Date’, ‘Type’ and ‘Subject’, ‘online’ or ‘physical’ items. Online items are either born-digital or have been digitised, and most can be viewed on the website.

Applying filters to refine search results

Filter by type — artworks are all under the filter ‘other’. Photographs may be under ‘images’ or ‘other’. If you use this filter, you will need to do two searches, one using the filter ‘images’, and then one using the filter ‘other’.

For purchase — use to find images from the Alexander Turnbull Library that have been digitised and that can be purchased through the website as high-resolution copies.

Filter by date — use to narrow down to a century, decade, or year (note that not all of our images have been given an exact date, so narrowing down to a decade will generally be sufficient).

Note also, not all digitised images have been given subject, place or name headings, so you may eliminate some relevant images from your results if you use these filters.

Advanced searching

This is useful if you want to search just one collection, for instance, photographs, or artworks (drawings and prints collection), cartoons (cartoons collection) or posters (ephemera collection), or if you want to pre-set a date range rather than using the filters to refine your results after running a search.

Advanced search

More advice and tips for searching on the Library's website

Example search for Gallipoli

Here is an example of a search for ‘Gallipoli’ that has then been filtered by ‘Turnbull archival collections’ (to remove images from Papers Past), and then by ‘For purchase’ (to find images that have been digitised and where high-resolution digital copies can be purchased online).

Search results for Gallipoli with the above filters applied

Searching for non-digitised images

Enter your keywords, then filter the search results by ‘image’ (and then ‘other’), then select the filter ‘Physical items’.

Some of these search results will be for a single image and some will be for an entire collection. Some records only give very brief detail and others will give very detailed information.

To request items to view on-site at the Library, you need to click on ‘See original record’. This will take you to Turnbull Archival Catalogue (Tiaki), our catalogue for unpublished material.

Search directly on the Turnbull Archival Catalogue (Tiaki) database

For tips on searching Turnbull Archival Catalogue (Tiaki), see ‘Search Tips’ at the bottom of the left-hand search column on Turnbull Archival Catalogue (Tiaki).

If you are not logged in, the request button displays ‘Log in to request item’. Once you have logged in, the button text changes to ‘request item’.

If there is no ‘request item’ tab, scroll to the bottom of the screen and check for ‘child records’. If there are child records then you are looking at a collection record, and you will need to request each of the ‘child records’ individually. Click on the words ‘child records’. This will bring up all the records that sit under the collection record. You should now be able to request the relevant child records individually.

For some formats, such as drawings, paintings and prints, photographic negatives and transparencies, and some very large or fragile items you will need to make an appointment with the curator to view these. The curator will get in touch with you about viewing these after you have made your request.

See the links below for more information about requesting items.

Registering and requesting items

Accessing restricted collections

Can’t see the image thumbnail?

This may be because it has not yet been digitised or, if it says ‘See this item online – digital content available only in Katherine Mansfield Reading Room’, the image is restricted and the Library doesn’t have the agreement from the copyright holder to show the image.

You will need to come to the Library to view it. Alternatively, we can send you a PDF of the image, for your reference only. Click on ‘send an enquiry’ or ‘Ask a Librarian’ — make sure you include the reference number of the image you would like to see.

How to purchase images for publication or other uses

You can purchase a high-resolution copy of an image by clicking on ‘Add to cart’ (or the cart icon) next to the image.

Sign in (top right-hand side of the web page) before you begin your search. You don’t need to do this to search for images, but if you decide to save or order images part of the way through and sign in at that point, you may find that you need to start your search again.

Sign in to our website

More details about purchasing images

Using Library images

The Alexander Turnbull Library collection of images has been built to preserve our documentary heritage and to sustain and encourage research.

Some of this material is still in copyright, and some of it has been accepted under special conditions. For items still under copyright where the Library does not hold, or administer, the copyright, users should obtain written permission from the copyright owner.

Using images from the Library

Publication, film or television

If the image is to be used for publication, film or television, or public display, you will generally need to order a high-resolution copy of the image. Staff will check for copyright or other issues and either release the images to you or notify you if you or the Library need to do anything further. There is no need to request permission before ordering the images. 

Websites, educational purposes, presentations etc.

If the intended use of the image is for purposes outlined below then you may be allowed to use the low-resolution image available on our website. You will need to ask permission first via Ask-a-Librarian to ensure there are no copyright or other issues with using the specified image.

Contact us via the Ask a librarian service

Examples of uses which may be permitted:

• website

• educational purposes (students or teachers for one-off use)

• unpublished thesis

• newspaper

• PowerPoint presentation

• in-house report

• family history limited to family members only

• leaflet or brochure

• invitations e.g., to openings, and

• newsletters or short-term display boards

Social media

Because of the licensing requirements of social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, the Library does not allow its images to be uploaded.  You are welcome to share a link to the image however, such as adding an image's URL to your post, for example. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/23008813.

If you want to use images on other social media platforms, please consult the Library.

Commercial use

If the image is to be used commercially, you will need to ask for permission first.  There may also be additional reproduction fees to pay.

Reproduction fees for commercial use including a definition of commercial use

Altering images

The Library’s images are historical documents. To ensure that they will continue to be trusted as primary sources of information, we do not allow them to be manipulated or altered in any way that might mislead viewers or misrepresent subjects.

Please consult the Library if you wish to alter the image. Examples of alteration include:

• outlining

• overlapping

• distortion (alteration of the proportions of an image)

• colourisation

• cropping, or the

• overlay of text.

Citing and acknowledging Library images

Acknowledgement to the Library, and a detailed citation for each item, must accompany any reproduction of Library material.

See the caption of the image above as an example of a suitable citation or acknowledgement.

The citation must give details of the actual item, including, where applicable, the photographer or artist, the title given by the creator, the name of the collection, and the Library’s reference number. The citation must also include the words ‘Alexander Turnbull Library’.

The Library prefers acknowledgement to appear adjacent to the reproduction. Where this is not possible, acknowledgement must appear in a manner that allows clear identification of the item. 

For television, films, DVDs, and audio-visual materials, acknowledgement in the end credits is acceptable. 

Read our terms of use for images

Reusing objects from this site

More places to find images

Other sources of images that may be useful in your research can be found below.

• Digital NZ — Digitised collections from many different institutions in New Zealand

• Digital Pasifik — Digitised cultural heritage from the Pacific region held in collections around the world, including over 100,000 images

• Hocken collections — Pictorial collections of the University of Otago, including the Hākena database

• Auckland Libraries Heritage Images — Over 100,000 historical photographs, illustrations and works of art from the 1800s to the present day

• Canterbury Stories — Focus on early Christchurch and Canterbury regions

• Wellington City Recollect — Database of heritage photos, books, maps and related ephemera reflecting the capital's past, administered by Wellington City Libraries

• Collections Online — Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa — From dinosaur teeth to contemporary art. Browse 800,000 artworks, taonga, photographs, collection objects, and botanical and zoological specimens from Te Papa’s collections

• Te Papa top 20 — List of 20 different GLAM websites with free, high-resolution images available to download

• Trove (National Library of Australia) — Access to the digitised collections of the National Library of Australia and other libraries and institutions in Australia

• Provincial museums directory — Museums in New Zealand which may hold pictorial collections

• Libraries directory — Libraries in New Zealand that may also hold pictorial collections

Location of historic newspaper photographic collections

• The former Auckland Star photographs are held at Auckland War Memorial Museum

• Daily Telegraph photographs from 1960-1996 are housed at MTG Hawkes Bay

• The former Dominion negatives and the Evening Post photographs are held in the Alexander Turnbull Library.

• The Hocken Library holds some Evening Star photographs

• Free Lance photographs are held at in the Alexander Turnbull Library

• 40 years of Hāwera Star photographs are held at Aotea Utanganui

• Manawatu Evening Standard photographs from 1956-1999 are held at the Ian Matheson City Archive, Palmerston North

• Many historic New Zealand Herald photographs are held at Auckland War Memorial Museum

• Otago Daily Times and Otago Witness photographs may be held at the Hocken Library or available from the ODT Store

• Early Press negatives (c1880s-1920s) are held in the Alexander Turnbull Library

• Star (Christchurch) photographs are held in Christchurch Libraries

• The Waikato Independent archive and photographs are now at the Cambridge Museum

• Hamilton Libraries cares for the Waikato Times negatives

• Waimate Advertiser photographs are held in the Waimate Archives and Museum

• Wairarapa Times-Age photographic archive is held by the Wairarapa Archive

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Feature image at top of page: Detail of photo of fishermen returned to Palmerston Islet with their catch from a day’s fishing outside the reef. Burland, John Colles, 1926-, Colour transparencies of Rarotonga, Aitutaki, Mangaia and Palmerston Island, 1960. Ref: PA12-0546-4. Alexander Turnbull Library.