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Visit page- New Zealand music safeguarded in Global Music Vault
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- Alexander Turnbull Library secures significant art archive
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- Alexander Turnbull Library secures significant art archive
Alexander Turnbull Library secures significant art archive
21 September 2018: Alexander Turnbull Library secures significant art archive
The archive of charismatic art dealer Peter McLeavey has been acquired by The Alexander Turnbull Library.
Dr Shannon Wellington, Manuscripts Curator at the Alexander Turnbull Library said 'the Archive is a rich and highly significant collection of documentary heritage charting the development of New Zealand’s contemporary art scene during the second half of the 20th century. The letters in particular, demonstrate the depth of understanding and personal rapport McLeavey shared with artist such as Toss Wollaston, Len Lye, Colin McCahon, Richard Killeen, Gordon Walters, Michael Illingworth, Milan Mrkusich, Michael Smither, Robin White and many others'.
Peter John McLeavey ONZM (1936- 2015) established and operated New Zealand’s longest-running dealer gallery representing many notable New Zealand artists and brokering the sale of some of our country’s most iconic works of art. McLeavey started selling paintings in 1966 from his bedsit on The Terrace in Wellington. In 1968 he moved operations to Cuba Street.
Included in the Archive are the Gallery’s exhibition files. These files contain collected correspondence with exhibiting artists, catalogues and invitations for each exhibition, photographs of the artworks and artists and publicity materials; over 560 exhibition files in total, one for each exhibition held since 1968.

McLeavey had a longstanding interest in photography and owned a camera from his teenage years. The Archive includes photographic collages that were taken and compiled by McLeavey from the mid-1970s to the early 2000s. The collages depict scenes in New Zealand and overseas, artists, their artworks and studios, and the McLeavey family.
Also included are sales ledgers and exhibition catalogues showing early prices paid for many of New Zealand’s notable paintings, significant amounts of art ephemera documenting the development of New Zealand’s art market, and appointment diaries kept by McLeavey during his day to day running of the Gallery.
Hilary McLeavey said on behalf of McLeavey family 'we are delighted that the Peter McLeavey Archive is coming to The Alexander Turnbull Library. Peter would be very pleased. It was his wish that his Archive be available to everyone interested in the years to come.'
The Peter McLeavey Archive will be available by request late 2019/ early 2020.

Media contact
For further information and interviews contact
media@dia.govt.nz or call +64 27 535 8639.
- COVID-19 coronavirus update
- A to Z of our work and services
- Contact us
- Our history
- Strategic directions to 2030
- Collaborative projects
- New Zealand Libraries Partnership Programme
- Te Awhi Rito New Zealand Reading Ambassador
- Pūtoi Rito Communities of Readers
- About Pūtoi Rito Communities of Readers
- South Dunedin communities of readers project
- Canterbury Communities of Readers project
- Huntly Communities of Readers project
- West Auckland Te Kāhui Ako o Tiriwā Communities of Readers project
- Pūtoi Rito Communities of Readers — reports
- Pūtoi Rito Communities of Readers Phase 1: 2019 – 2021 Summary and Insights Report
- South Dunedin Communities of Readers Project report
- A changing story of reading at Huntly College
- Canterbury Communities of Readers Project report
- Making reading for pleasure visible in five primary schools from Te Kāhui Ako o Tiriwā
- Teachers as readers in New Zealand primary and intermediate schools
- Reading for pleasure for the collective good of Aotearoa New Zealand
- A national agenda on reading for pleasure: Insights from Communities of Readers research
- Pacific Virtual Museum Pilot Project
- Increasingly Digital project
- Open data
- INNZ metadata
- DigitalNZ API
- Papers Past data
- Papers Past newspaper open data pilot
- Overview — Papers Past newspaper open data pilot
- Dataset — Papers Past newspaper open data pilot
- Get started — Papers Past newspaper open data pilot
- Data standards — Papers Past newspaper open data pilot
- Copyright and re-use — Papers Past newspaper open data pilot
- Projects — Papers Past newspaper open data pilot
- Papers Past data using the DigitalNZ API
- Papers Past newspaper open data pilot
- Turnbull metadata via DigitalNZ API
- Turnbull unpublished collections metadata
- Turnbull names metadata
- Publications NZ metadata
- Ngā Upoko Tukutuku metadata
- Te Puna Web Directory metadata
- Scholarships and awards
- Friends of the Turnbull Library Research Grant
- Friends of the Dorothy Neal White Collection Research Grant
- Helen Zwartz Scholarship
- Jack Ilott Oral History Education Operating Fund
- Jean Wright Award
- Lilburn Research Fellowship
- New Zealand Poet Laureate Award
- Paul Reynolds Scholarship – The No Numpties Award
- Susan Price Scholarship
- Structure of the Library
- Strategy and policy
- Collections policy
- National Library of New Zealand Collections Policy
- Alexander Turnbull Library General Collection collecting plan
- Cartographic collecting plan
- Children’s Collection collecting plan
- Drawings, paintings, and prints collecting plan
- Ephemera collecting plan
- Manuscripts collecting plan
- Music collecting plan
- New Zealand and Pacific Published Collections collecting plan
- Oral History and Sound collecting plan
- Overseas Published Collections collecting plan
- Overseas Published Collections — collection management project
- Photographs collecting plan
- Rare Books and Fine Printing Collection collecting plan
- Schools Collection collecting plan
- Digitisation plans
- Preservation policy
- Principles for the care and preservation of Māori materials
- Collection use and reuse policy
- Access policy
- Charging policy
- Annual report and statement of intent
- Collections policy
- Friends and advisors
- Statutory bodies
- Te Puna Foundation supporters
- Publications
- Working here
- Media
- New Zealand music safeguarded in Global Music Vault
- Call for Poet Laureate nominations
- Communities working together get kids reading
- Digital dimension sure to delight at new portrait exhibition
- International archival service expertise helps New Zealand preserve its audiovisual taonga
- Lilburn Trust Citation Awards 2021
- National Library reconsiders agreement with Internet Archive
- The endless search for the next note: Ross Harris, Lilburn Lecture 2021
- ‘Trouble in Paradise’: exhibition to shine spotlight on climate change in the Pacific
- National Library signs historic agreement with Internet Archive
- $5m in grants to support library sector
- ‘Fortnite, Fades and Kicks’ at National Library
- Documentary heritage celebrated at National Library Auditorium
- Mīharo Wonder: Celebrating 100 Years of the Alexander Turnbull Library
- Calling NZ authors to register for payments
- Te Awhi Rito NZ Reading Ambassador nominations open
- A century of wonder: An evening of celebrations
- New website connects Pacific people to cultural heritage collections
- National Library announces new National Librarian — Te Pouhuaki
- Living the Dream: Karyn Hay on New Zealand Music: Lilburn Lecture 2020
- One more year for the Poet Laureate
- Music education the focus of two inaugural Lilburn Research Awards
- Anton Killin named as Lilburn Research Fellow 2021
- Libraries to help with jobs and community recovery
- Turnbull Library makes iconic score of ‘Overture: Aotearoa’ available online
- Five new collections of New Zealand’s scientific and social history treasures added to the UNESCO Memory of the World New Zealand Register
- National Library makes more room for New Zealand and Pacific stories
- Chris Knox tape archive arrives at Alexander Turnbull Library
- Antarctic Treaty 60th anniversary gift to NZ schools — new wall map of Antarctica
- Rangatahi take part in popular creative writing competition — Smart Alex
- Pūkana exhibition open at Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa
- Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision moves to the National Library building
- Waiata taking off at Wellington Airport during te wiki o te reo Māori
- New Poet Laureate announced
- New central Wellington library space named
- The fast pace of a fast-talking PI Poet Laureate
- New Zealand Poet Laureate Award — call for public nominations
- Rip It Up live on Papers Past
- Wahine 50 Charitable Trust’s collected stories donated to the Alexander Turnbull Library
- Warm Pacific Greetings from Smart Alex
- Jack Lovelock Papers and Cambodian women oral history inscribed to Memory of the World
- Holocaust Memorial launches in New Zealand
- Alexander Turnbull Library secures significant art archive
- Smart Alex Creative writing winners announced
- Flying Nun lands in 100 year old Alexander Turnbull Library
- Hikoi remembering Alexander Turnbull — 1918–2018
- Daniel Beban named as Lilburn Research Fellow 2019
- Topp Twins exhibition opens at National Library of New Zealand
- Rare 15th Century books donated to National Library of New Zealand
- UNESCO status for Wellington heritage collections
- Complete online record of 150 years of discovery
- The Lilburn Lecture 2017: Twin passions for Royal
- Kua riro mai i a He Tohu ngā tohu hoahoa ā-motu
- He Tohu exhibition scoops national design awards
- Smoke incident
- New Zealand’s new Poet Laureate announced
- Poet Laureate Award – 2017 call for nominations
- Help preserve your local history – get it online!
- Te Puna Foundation launched
- NLA Fellowship for Paul Diamond
- Victoria University and National Library offer new maps of human knowledge
- Tiaki – all systems go
- Historic South Island and Māori newspapers on Papers Past website
- Unfolding the map
- New Poet Laureate announced
- Poet Laureate Award – call for nominations
- National Library takes next step to modernise Services to Schools
- Lilburn Research Fellow 2015
- Notes from the Front
- Opening the files on World War 1
- An imaginary Antarctica at the Turnbull
- Get the insiders’ guide to innovation
- Singapore adopts NZ search service
- RadioNZ on DigitalNZ
- Historian Beaglehole’s letters now available
- Fairytale facts
- Booker win can inspire others
- Next in Line opens
- Papers Past reaches 3 million pages
- New Laureate announced on Poetry Day
- From logs to blogs
- Burt Munro’s pistons
- Helping save our local history
- Tirohia Mai opens
- Nominations called for Poet Laureate
- Snapshot of the heartland
- Songs of protest
- From the pages of the NZ Herald
- Real story behind Hollywood’s Argo
- Lawrence manuscript discovered
- Reunited for Valentine's
- New Mansfield Story
- Reopening Molesworth Street
- Big Data opens