Libraries are fundamental pillars of a working democracy, as vital to its health and wellbeing as a free press, said the Governor-General, Sir Anand Satyanand, in his 2010 Founder Address to the Friends of the Turnbull at a special function marking the Turnbull Library’s 90th anniversary. The birthday celebration was held in the Grand Hall of Parliament Buildings on Wednesday 16 June.
Continue reading “Governor-General marks Library’s 90th birthday”
The Friends of the Turnbull Library successfully applied for funding from the National Library of New Zealand’s Macklin Bequest, augmented by individual donations, to achieve an exciting restoration project. Several oil paintings from the Drawings, Paintings and Prints Collection, including portraits and landscapes, were repaired and restored over two years. Conservator Caroline Izzo (pictured studying a Coromandel scene painted by Charles Blomfield) completed most of the work in 2009.
Bequests and donations are very effective ways of supporting the Alexander Turnbull Library. The Library always welcomes bequests that may be of historical value, including books, documents, paintings, drawings, family papers and photographs. Financial bequests – made direct to the Alexander Turnbull Library Endowment Trust or to the Friends of the Turnbull Library – are used to support the Library’s work of collecting, preserving, and improving the dissemination of knowledge of New Zealand’s heritage.
The Friends have been successful in obtaining a grant of $10,000 from the National Library’s Macklin Bequest to be used towards the restoration of several oil paintings in the Turnbull Library’s collections.
The first painting to be restored is a portrait of Walter Turnbull — father of Alexander Turnbull — which was part of Alexander’s own collection. Some 40 years after Alexander’s death, the painting suffered water damage while stored in the attic of the old Turnbull House.
The Alexander Turnbull Library’s chief librarian, Chris Szekely, delivered the annual Friends of the Turnbull Library Founder Lecture to the Friends on 18 June 2009, discussing the challenges ahead for the Library and the giant steps already being taken to meet them.
We have pleasure in presenting the full text of his lecture which poses and answers vital questions about how the Library will look in ten years time and beyond.
You can read the 2009 Friends of the Turnbull Library Founder Lecture here.
The Turnbull Library Record is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal in the humanities, published annually by the Alexander Turnbull Library in association with the Friends of the Turnbull Library. Contributions that have not been previously published are welcomed and, before acceptance, will be evaluated by independent referees.
For details of forthcoming issues and submission requirements, contact:
The Editorial Board
Turnbull Library Record
PO Box 12 349
Wellington, New Zealand
A major project to record interviews with Cambodian women about their lives in Cambodia and their harrowing experiences under the ‘killing fields’ regime of Pol Pot was conducted over several years by Mrs Niborom Young, and completed in 2009. The project was assisted by a grant from the Friends of the Turnbull Library.
Special issue of Off the Record for John Milton anniversary in 2008.
In 2008, the Turnbull Library’s acclaimed collection of work by and about the poet John Milton (1608-1674) was featured in a year-long celebration of 400 years since Milton’s birth. A special extra issue of Off the Record was produced by the Friends of the Turnbull Library to mark the occasion.
Sculptor Anthony Stones FRBS was commissioned by the Friends of the Turnbull Library to ‘make a portrait in three dimensions’ of writer and historian Michael King who died in 2004. On 30 March 2006, two years after his death, the finished bronze sculpture was presented to the Chief Librarian of the Turnbull Library by then Prime Minister Helen Clark.