This guide focuses on whakapapa (Māori genealogy). Some basic steps to help you get started with researching your family history and whakapapa are also available on the researching family history page.
Search the National Library Catalogue
Search the National Library Catalogue for tribal histories and material relating to your particular iwi, hapū or whanau. You can ask us for help if you’re not sure how the Catalogue works.
Make a note of the call numbers and locations of items you want. We can help you find or request them.
Ask a librarian for research help
Visit the Māori Reference Collection
The Māori Reference Collection should be your first stop for whakapapa research and enquiries when you visit the Library in Wellington. It is housed on the ground floor inside the Reference Services area.
More about the Māori Reference Collection
Check the Index of Māori names
The Index of Māori names (c.1925) by H J Fletcher, is a key resource held in the Māori Reference Collection. It lists the names of individuals, hapū, iwi, pā and so on that appear primarily in these publications:
- Journals of the Polynesian Society
- Transactions and proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand
- Ancient history of the Māori
- The lore of the whare wānanga.
Other publications are also occasionally referred to as well.
You can look up names in the Index of Māori names and find out where they appear in the publications. It’s an easy resource to use and helps you establish a historical context for your research.
Index of Māori names by H J Fletcher – University of Waikato Te Whare Whananga o Waikato website
Transactions and proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand website
Check the Alexander Turnbull Library Biographies Index
In the Library, check the Alexander Turnbull Library Biographies Index for references to people you may be able to research in the Alexander Turnbull Library collections. Copies of the Index are available in the Family History Collection on the ground floor, or in the Research Centre on the first floor. Copies of the Index are also held in many libraries throughout New Zealand.
References to biographies and obituaries on microfiche and in newspapers, publications, shipping lists and unpublished collections are just some of the kinds of information you will find in this index. It can be a shortcut to finding information on individuals and saving you time.
More about the Alexander Turnbull Library collections
Visit the Family History Collection
The Family History Collection on the ground floor has key resources such as birth, death and marriage indexes and electoral rolls.
More about the Family History Collection
