Archive of New Zealand Music

The Archive of New Zealand Music is the world's largest archive of unpublished material relating to New Zealand music and musicians.

The Archive collects and preserves New Zealand's music heritage, making it accessible now and into the future.

It holds hundreds of unique collections that document the rich variety of our musical life, from the works of composers and musicians through to music education, broadcasting and criticism.

The Archive contains:

• Music scores and lyric sheets
• Over 12,000 unpublished sound and video recordings
• Correspondence, manuscripts, and diaries
• Scrapbooks and clippings
• Organisational and company records
• Photographs
• Posters, programmes, and other ephemera
• Oral histories
• Musicological research papers

We established the Archive of New Zealand Music at the Alexander Turnbull Library in 1974, at the suggestion of composer Douglas Lilburn.

Published music recordings and scores are held in the New Zealand Music, Sound, Audiovisual collection.

Access the Archive of New Zealand Music

You can find collection items in the Archive using Tiaki. You can order and access items from the Archive through the Katherine Mansfield Reading Room at the National Library building in Wellington. Some digitised items are available to view online.

To preserve original items, we make sound and video materials accessible through surrogate copies. Please request these and other material in advance by contacting us or using the "Request to view" button on collection item pages in Tiaki.

Get copies of items in this collection

You can get copies of items in this collection if donor restrictions and copyright allow. You can order photocopies, digital photographs or audiovisual copies by letter, phone or email.

More about making copies

More about copyright and privacy

What's in the Archive of New Zealand Music collections?

You’ll find all musical styles and genres in the Archive. Among the many highlights are collections relating to:

Classical composers

The Archive holds the personal collections of many prominent New Zealand composers, including:

• Douglas Lilburn
• David Farquhar
• Jenny McLeod
• Jack Body
• Gillian Whitehead
• John Psathas

These collections include scores together with personal papers, correspondence, and photographs. We also hold the records of organisations related to music composition, including:

• The Composers' Association of New Zealand
• Price Milburn Music

Concert music

The work of many notable New Zealand concert performers, patrons, critics, and mentors is represented in the Archive through personal collections, including those of:

• Donald Munro
• Terry Vaughan
• Warwick Braithwaite
• Peter Godfrey
• Fred Turnovsky
• L D Austin

You will also find the records of many musical organisations in the Archive. Notable examples include:

• New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
• New Zealand Opera Company
• Chamber Music New Zealand

Popular music

Many performers have contributed to the development of New Zealand popular music. We hold collections of papers relating to significant performing artists, including:

• Johnny Cooper
• Dinah Lee
• The Avengers
• Tommy Adderley
• Ian Morris
• Geoff Maddock

The Archive also contains substantial collections of demos, master tapes, and unpublished recordings from labels, studios and radio stations, including:

• Flying Nun Records Ltd
• Viking Sevenseas NZ Ltd
• Ode Record Company Ltd
• Failsafe Records
• Writhe Recording Studio
• Radio Active 89FM

Māori music

You will find a range of collections relating to Māori music in the Archive, including:

• Ngāti Pōneke Young Māori Club
• Richard Nunns
• Radio New Zealand Maori Music Collection
• Margaret Orbell

Further collections relating to Māori music are held in the Manuscripts Collection, significant examples including the research papers of:

• Sir Apirana Ngata, regarding Ngā Moteatea (Māori Purposes Fund Board papers)
• Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal

Pacific Island music

We also hold collections relating to Pacific Island music, including field recordings, research papers, and song texts. Notable collections include:

• Allan Thomas

Jazz and folk

The Archive contains rich holdings relating to New Zealand jazz history. These collections include unpublished recordings, research papers, and radio scripts, important examples being:

• The Dennis Huggard Jazz Archive
• Arthur Pearce (a.k.a. “Turntable”)
• Murray McNabb

Folk music is also well-represented in the Archive through field and concert recordings, scores, posters, and folk-club records. Notable collections include:

• Phil Garland
• Angela Annabell
• The Wellington Folk Centre
• Willow Macky

Sonic arts and experimental music

We hold a large body of material relating to experimental music, free improvisation, and sonic arts, including:

• Live Recordings from The Space and Happy
• Braille Collective
• Sonic Circus 1976, 1978, 1987 (Concert FM New Zealand Composer Sound Archive)

Music education

Here you will find collections relating to musical education, including the papers of notable music teachers, such as:

• Owen Jensen
• Frederick Page
• Judith Clark

The Archive also holds the records of the Wellington Branch of the Institute of Registered Music Teachers of New Zealand.

Musicologists, librarians, and collectors

Many New Zealand music writers have deposited their research papers with the Archive, including:

• John Mansfield Thomson
• Peter Downes
• Joy Tonks
• Adrienne Simpson
• Roger Watkins

Other notable collections were donated by:

• International Association of Music Libraries (New Zealand Branch)
• Brian Salkeld
• Ron and Zillah Castle

Music recordings and oral history

You will find thousands of unpublished New Zealand music recordings in the Archive’s collections, across all genres from classical, Māori and Pacific Island, to rock, folk and jazz, along with oral history. Audiovisual media range from acetate discs through to open-reel tapes and born digital files. Further music-related recordings are held in the Oral History and Sound collection, including:

• Pop Music Oral History Project
• Te Upoko o te Ika (Radio station) sound recordings