The Friends of the Turnbull Library (FoTL) is a national organisation, supporting the work and activities of the Alexander Turnbull Library since 1939.
Titiro ki muri kia whakatika ā mua. Preserving the past to enlighten the future.
The Alexander Turnbull Library is a guardian of our heritage, a great research institution serving the general public and scholars in the fields of historical research, literary, cultural and genealogical studies. The Friends of the Turnbull Library promotes public interest in the Library’s collections and supports research and use of its collections.
See Bulletin Board to read the latest newsletter about the Friends’ activities.
Go to the What’s on page to see details of what is coming up in our monthly programme of public talks. Wellington events are held at Taiwhanga Kauhau — the National Library Wellington Auditorium -entrance from Aitken Street, Thorndon.
In Auckland, talks are held at the Takapuna Library, 9 The Strand. Our last event was held on 18 September, a talk by Ryan Bodman, author of Rugby League in New Zealand
Later in the year we plan to have an address by Dame Claudia Orange, previously advertised for September but then unavoidably postponed. We will advise you of the new date for Dame Claudia when re-scheduled.
tuesday 19 november, at 5.30 pm
Professor Jacqueline Leckie: Imagining Indian People, Places and Connections in Whanganui-a-Tara
When we think about Wellington’s Indian heritage, what comes to mind? Perhaps fruit shops, dairies, curry, hockey, or Diwali? The story behind these stereotypes is of course more complex than this — a rich and long history of Indian people that reaches back to the 19th century. This presentation will outline my research at the Turnbull Library and at other archives in Wellington, to document aspects of the history of Indian people in the capital. This history is embedded in certain streets and places of the city. Equally important are how Indian people also built their community — building their belonging to Wellington that was much more than physical structures. The images I have found also speak to economic, cultural, and other connections between Indian people and the wider public. Little known are also the connections of Indian-Wellington to India, that can be also glimpsed through the visual record.
Jacqueline Leckie is a researcher and writer based in Ōtepoti Dunedin. She was a former J D Stout Research Fellow and is now an adjunct research fellow with the Stout Centre for New Zealand Studies at Victoria University of Wellington Te Herenga Waka, and conjoint associate professor in the School of Creative Industries and Social Science at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She is an honorary member of the NZ Indian Central Association, fellow of the NZ Indian Research Institute, an affiliate of the Centre for Global Migrations (Otago), and co-editor of the Journal of Pacific History. She has taught at the University of the South Pacific, Kenyatta University and University of Otago. Her books include Land of the Old Black Cloud: A Cultural History of Mental Depression in Aotearoa (2024), Invisible. New Zealand’s History of Excluding Kiwi-Indians (2021), Colonizing Madness: Asylum and Community in Fiji (2020), Indian Settlers: The Story of a New Zealand South Asian Community (2007), and editing Development in an Insecure and Gendered World (2009), and co-editing Migrant Cross-Cultural Encounters in Asia and the Pacific, Asians and the New Multiculturalism in Aotearoa New Zealand; Localizing Asia in Aotearoa; Recentring Asia: Histories, Encounters, Identities and Labour in the South Pacific.
Can’t make it in person?
Can’t make it in person? This event will also be delivered using Zoom. You do not need to install the software to attend, you can opt to run Zoom from your browser.
Register if you’d like to join this talk and we’ll send you the link to use on the day.
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…are now overdue. Please see the Join Us link above.
NOTE: If you have joined the Friends of Turnbull Library online in the past few months, and have paid your membership subscription via internet banking, PLEASE NOTE that we need your contact details. Copies of the annual journal Turnbull Library Record will be mailed to members in October. We need your postal address. Please contact us at turnbullfriends@gmail.com to supply your contact details.
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