Friends of the Turnbull Library (FoTL)

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.

Our Next Speaker

Thursday 13 March at 5:30pm
Elizabeth Bowyer, A Matter of Property

Elizabeth Bowyer will discuss women’s appearances in court under the civil law in colonial Aotearoa New Zealand. Matters relating to property is what brought women into the courts most frequently during the colonial period. Women maintained a steady presence in court records involving cases concerning consumer contracts, labour, employment, and the buying and selling of land, goods, chattels and services. Civil legal records reveal the networks of commercial and economic relationships that occurred through such transactions. Casting the spotlight on the courts of law provides an opportunity to explore a rich archival environment to analyse how the law worked in practice alongside gender, settler colonialism, property ownership and marriage as a legal and economic institution.

Dr Elizabeth Bowyer completed her PhD at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington in 2024. Her PhD thesis ‘Women Contracting in Law c.1840-1920: Gender and settler colonialism in the courts of Aotearoa New Zealand’ is currently being written as a book manuscript with the help of the Judith Binney Writing Award. She serves on the editorial collective of Lilith: A Feminist History Journal and is a committee member of the Friends of Turnbull and the Professional Historians Association of New Zealand Aotearoa.