The Friends of the Turnbull Library (FoTL) supports the work of the Alexander Turnbull Library, and promotes public interest in the Library’s collections.
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.
Last year, we celebrated the centenary of Alexander Turnbull’s gift of his library to the nation in 1918. This year we have reached our own 80th anniversary since the establishment of the Friends in 1939. One of our centenary events is a creative writing competition for school students, in two categories, years 9-10 and years 11-13. We have been very pleased with the response from schools in 2018 and 2019, and look forward to continuing the competition for another year in 2020. We want to encourage young people to investigate the amazing range and depth of digital items that can now be accessed online from the vast collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library.