Come and celebrate Papers Past turning 21

Visitors are invited to pull the lever on a Poetry Machine and take home an unexpected story to celebrate the 21st birthday of National Library’s popular Papers Past website.

The Poetry Machine, built for the event, holds more than 100 poems curated from the Papers Past collection, ranging from a boat trip with Katherine Mansfield, in the middle of an earthquake with Alfred Domett, or a long-forgotten love story from an everyday Kiwi.

Three panel discussions have been locked in for Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Launched in 2001, Papers Past contains a collection of text items from New Zealand and the Pacific to search or browse. Papers Past organises text into five formats - newspapers, magazines and journals, letters and diaries, parliamentary papers, and books.

Its popularity grows each year, now having around 30 million page views and around two million visitors annually.

“The success of Papers Past is reason enough to celebrate, but the fact it is 21 years old just makes it an ideal time to further promote it to the public,” says National Library Service Manager Emerson Vandy.

“The beauty of Papers Past is its accessibility and the wealth of information it holds. It’s a collective memory available 24/7 from anywhere in New Zealand and around the world.

“The public can connect with their history through Papers Past, learn from it and continue to tell new stories that add to our culture. The new Aotearoa New Zealand’s history curriculum means Papers Past is an increasingly valuable and relevant resource for study and learning.”

The panel discussions will celebrate Papers Past as a rich resource for researchers, genealogists, and students, and explore the impact of the website on research now and in the future.

The events are in Wellington on 18 August, Christchurch on 12 September and Auckland on 30 September, and will be facilitated by Paul Diamond (Curator, Māori at the Alexander Turnbull Library).

Panellists include Carmen Parahi (Pou Tiāki Editor at Stuff.co.nz), Caroline Daley (Professor of New Zealand History and the University of Auckland’s Dean of Graduate Studies), Kamala Hayman (The Press editor) and Ian F Grant (researcher and writer).

Papers Past can be accessed at Papers Past. You can find full details of each celebration event, including speaker biographies, at 21 years of Papers Past.

For more information, please contact Tim Kong, Director, Digital Experience at tim.kong@dia.govt.nz

The events, which are free, will also be available on Zoom in Wellington and Auckland.

Ends

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