A Legacy of Cultural Impact

Since 1939, the Friends of the Turnbull Library have been active champions of New Zealand’s documentary heritage. Through member support and donations, we’ve funded significant acquisitions, conservation projects, research initiatives, and cultural programmes that have enriched the Alexander Turnbull Library and made its treasures more accessible to researchers and the public.

Major Acquisitions and Conservation

• Castle Collection of Printed Music – $17,000 purchase from the Centennial Fund, 1998
• Conservation of Turnbull paintings, 2009-10 – Project funded by the Macklin Bequest Fund plus donation by Robert Leigh-Wood (A H Turnbull descendant), 2009-2010
• Conservation of Turnbull paintings, 2024 – Major conservation work was successfully carried out in 2024 to repair, clean and re-frame the portrait of Alexander Turnbull’s sister, Isabella Turnbull (later Mrs Hopkins), whose 1880 portrait, painted by J A Horsburgh, had been badly damaged while in storage several years ago. (ATL Ref. G-668.) The fundraising appeal to our members achieved a wonderful response (over $15,000) towards the total cost of conservation and framing of $16,700. This image – taken in 2021 – shows the damaged portrait.

Research Support

• FoTL Research Grant – Awarded annually to scholars
• Oral History Projects
  • Political Diaries – financial support during 1990s
  • Cambodian Oral History – support 2004-2009

Smart Alex Competition

Creative writing competition for secondary students (2018-2020, 2022) that encouraged exploration of the Alexander Turnbull Library collections. Over 400 students participated, creating stories and poems inspired by the Library’s images and documents. Read more

Cultural Recognition

• Sculptures in bronze – Janet Frame by Antony Stones (1999), Michael King by Antony Stones (2006)
• Photo Portrait – Margaret Calder, Chief Librarian, first woman in that position; by Jane Ussher, 2007
• Turnbull family headstone – Conservation treatment and relocation to prominent site in Bolton Street Cemetery, 2007

Events and Publications

• Founder Lecture – Annual event since 1990
• Publications – The Turnbull: A Library and its world (Rachel Barrowman, 1995), Edward Gibbon Wakefield and the Colonial Dream (1997)
• Academic Conferences
  • The European sources of New Zealand culture, June 1992
  • Edward Gibbon Wakefield and New Zealand, 1830-1865: a reconsideration, August 1996
  • Collecting, Connecting, Creating Knowledge: Libraries, Archives and Research in the 21^st Century (in conjunction with the Stout Centre), June 2003
  • Paradise New Worlds of Books & Readers: an international SHARP conference (in conjunction with the Stout Centre), January 2005
  • Miltonic Origins/Miltonic Innovations: Milton’s poetry and thought in New World societies and cultures, December 2008.
• 90th Anniversary of ATL in 2010
  • Set of three bookmarks designed by Wai-te-ata Press/ Te Whare Ta o Waieata
  • Thanks Alex postcard competition prize of $1,000
  • Founder Lecture by the Governor-General, HE the Hon Sir Anand Satyanand, at the Grand Hall, Parliament Building
• Milton Quatercentenary 2008
  • Secondary School essay competition
  • Special issue of OTR

Advocacy and Submissions

• to Judicial Review of National Library restructuring as it affected the Alexander Turnbull Library, 1999
• on National Library restructuring and transfer to Department of Internal Affairs, 2010
  • Statement by the Committee of the Friends of the Turnbull Library, April 2010
  • Submission to Parliaments Education and Science Select Committee, October 2010
  • Other reports and statements on the merger

• Submission to the National Archival and Library Institutions Ministerial Group, July 2018

Stationery

• 1999 FoTL logo, based on AHT bookmark by Herbert Williams
• Letterhead
• Membership brochure
• Three bookmarks (see 90th Anniversary)