Explore the National Library and Alexander Turnbull Library Collections
“Applause and tin came tumbling in” The songsters of Charles Thatcher.
Millions of pages of newspapers, journals, letters, and more
3612
Hi-res images available to download for free
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Browse and search specific collections
DigitalNZ: Find, use, and share digital content
Use the collections
What you can do
Find out all the things you can do with our collections, online and off.
Donate items
Help our collections grow by donating your physical and digital heritage items. We would love to have a look at your New Zealand and Pacific material.
Care for your collections
Take care of your own precious items with our advice, including guides to caring for paper, photographs, audio, and more.
Services to Schools
Schools and home educators can borrow books and resources from our schools collections.
Music hire
Register for the Music Hire Service to get performance material or list your own collection.
Interloan from us
Get certain National and Turnbull Library collection items through your local library.
Make copies
See how to get research or publication copies of collection items.
Digital preservation
Learn about collecting, caring for, and using today's digital objects.
Search a slice of the collections
National Library Catalogue
Search our published collections, including books, magazines, audio, websites, and more.
Tiaki
Search our unpublished collections, including manuscripts, images, audio, and more.
Index New Zealand
Find abstracts of articles from a huge range of New Zealand periodicals, and how to get them.
Subscription e-resources
Search dozens of national and international databases for reference material, heritage items, up to date research, and student resources.
Papers Past: full text search
Newspapers
Search across millions of pages of historic newspapers from 1839 to 1948, covering New Zealand, Pacific, and international news.
Magazines and journals
Explore Pākehā and Māori magazines, including Fair Play, Maori Record, Te Ao Hou, and the Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand.
Letters and diaries
Discover the McLean papers, a rich and unique record of mid-19th century interactions between Māori and Government.
Parliamentary papers
Search through the record of government-related reports published by Parliament from 1858 to 1950.
Follow us for collection highlights
@NLNZ on Twitter
All kinds of interesting bits from the collections, plus news, blogs, cool links, and weird stuff we like.
Turnbull Rare Books
Special selections from the Turnbull's exquisite Rare Books and Fine Printing collection, from medieval manuscripts to illustrated Victorian bindings.
Turnbull Ephemera
A tour through visual design history, with posters, flyers, postcards, and more.