Reflections on being a Māori Curator

A ground-breaking role

In 2010 the role of Curator, Māori was established at the Alexander Turnbull Library as part of a major restructure. It was the latest in a line of Māori-specific positions that commenced 30 years earlier. Unlike other curatorial roles this was a subject specialist role, but with no dedicated Māori collection. Instead, the position had influence that ranged across all of the Library’s collections.

In this presentation, Paul Diamond (Ngāti Hauā, Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi), the inaugural Curator, Māori gives an overview of his time in the role.

A Friends of the Turnbull Library event

The Friends of the Turnbull Library, Nga Hoa o te Whare Pukapuka Turnbull, offers a monthly programme of public talks that are free to all. The public programme highlights the work of researchers who draw on Turnbull material for their projects.

Friends of the Turnbull Library

About the speaker

Paul Diamond (Ngāti Hauā, Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi) is Curator, Māori at the Alexander Turnbull Library and a former recipient of the FoTL Research Grant. He received the Friends of the Turnbull Research Grant in 2007. Paul is the author of A Fire in Your Belly: Māori leaders speak (2003); Makereti: Taking Māori to the world (2007); Savaged to Suit: Māori and cartooning in New Zealand (2018); and Downfall: The destruction of Charles Mackay (2022). He has previously worked as an oral historian and broadcaster, and in 2017 was awarded Creative New Zealand’s Berlin Writer’s Residency. Downfall was selected as a finalist in the 2022 Ockham NZ Book Awards and the 2023 Ngaio Marsh Awards.