Cartoons and comics | Waituhi whakakata me ngā pukawaituhi collecting plan

Purpose

The plan provides a foundation for collection development activities that are specific to the Cartoons and Comics Collection of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa (National Library of New Zealand).

The New Zealand Cartoon and Comic Archive is a national collection, developed to preserve, record and provide access to this country’s rich and diverse culture of comic-making and cartooning.

This collecting plan was developed in accordance with the collecting principles outlined in the National Library of New Zealand’s Collections Policy.

Background

The New Zealand Cartoon Archive was launched on 1 April 1992 as a partnership between the New Zealand Cartoon Archive Trust and the Alexander Turnbull Library (ATL). It was created to preserve and provide a platform to promote the educational and historical importance of editorial cartoons in Aotearoa.

In 2005, the Cartoon Archive was fully absorbed into the ATL, and the Trust was replaced with the Cartoon Archive Guardians Committee.

In 2019, the Guardians Committee was disestablished, and ATL formally expanded the scope of the collection to include comic art. The Archive was renamed The New Zealand Cartoon and Comics Archive and the Cartoon and Comics Advisory Group was formed to guide its development, collecting and management.

For the purposes of this document cartoons are defined as editorial cartoons, published in newspapers or magazines, that often focus on political topics and figures of the day. Comics is an umbrella term used to describe an artform that often combines both words and pictures as a narrative device or to dramatize an idea. For more information on the distinction read our blog What are cartoons and comics? Cartoons and Comics include both published and unpublished material, including original art.

What are cartoons and comics?

The expanded scope includes, but is not limited to: caricatures, comic strips, comic books, comics in zine, comix, editorial cartoons, graphic memoir, graphic novels, magazine cartoons, manga, sports cartoons, webcomics and comic ephemera. Cartoons and comics may exist within publications that fall under categories such as broadsheets, newspapers and magazines.

In expanding the scope of the Archive, we hope to further develop and promote these collections, and to provide a home for Aotearoa New Zealand’s rich comics history. It also brings the collection in line with international practices in which cartoon archives, libraries and museums tend to collect both cartoons and comics. The expanded scope also acknowledges that the line between cartoons and comics or their producers has never been rigid, with many prominent editorial cartoonists also producing comics.

This collection will become a place that accurately reflects comics and cartoons history within Aotearoa New Zealand. This will include the artforms, their role (past and present) in society, and the creators and communities who create these works.

Scope of the collection

The collections covered by this plan comprise the New Zealand Cartoon and Comic Archive, and the Cartoon and Comic publications in the Alexander Turnbull Library’s New Zealand and Pacific Collection. Published comics, comic compilations, anthologies, graphic novels and zines have been collected in print under legal deposit, and web comics have been collected as part of the New Zealand Web Archive. Bringing these formats under the Cartoon and Comics Archive will allow us to focus expert attention on further building these collections and complementing our existing legal deposit collecting by building relationships with creators.

The New Zealand Cartoon and Comics Archive contains cartoons from the 19th century to the present, and a growing collection of comic art, by cartoonists and comic artists born or based in Aotearoa. This includes cartoonists and comics creators from Aotearoa who are working internationally. We also collect material relating to creators’ lives, such as their personal papers, preparatory work, and/or or photographs.

The scope of the new, expanded Archive includes the following.

• Cartoons and comics addressing a wide range of social, cultural, and political perspectives. We will retain our commitment to editorial cartoons.

• Cartoons and comics reflecting a wide range of art forms and styles.

• Cartoons and comics published online, public cartoon and comic-associated forums, and creator websites (using ATL’s web archiving capabilities).

• Original artwork, both digital and analogue.

• Manuscript and archival material created by or relating to cartoon and comic creators, or documenting the creation and production of cartoons and comics.

• Comics ephemera and other material created to accompany specific works.

The use of the term ‘creator’ acknowledges that there are often multiple contributors involved in the creation of cartoons and comics. ‘Creator’ includes, but is not limited to, editors, printers, publishers, designers, storyboard creators, script-writers, inkers, and colourists.

Published cartoon and comic items are added to the New Zealand and Pacific collection through New Zealand legal deposit and, where they are not in scope for legal deposit, through purchase and donation.

The New Zealand and Pacific collection includes comics, comic and cartoon compilations, anthologies, graphic novels and zines published in New Zealand, together with overseas publications that relate to New Zealand cartoonists and comics creators, or which have other relevance to New Zealand.

Exclusions

Animations, in general are not collected under this scope, however, some comics may have small animations within their work.

Zines or published material with majority text-based content.

Games, whether analogue or digital.

Cartoons and comics in poor condition or whose physical condition poses a risk to the Library’s collections.

Copies of original cartoons and/or comics (digital and physical), including electronic scans where the original is not available. The Library is concentrating on collecting the most original version of unique materials. The Library does not offer a copy and return service.

Collection strengths

The New Zealand Cartoon and Comics Archive includes over 60,000 cartoons and is the largest collection of its kind in Aotearoa New Zealand. The archive has published several books and exhibition catalogues. Earlier titles are now out-of-print but are available through many Aotearoa New Zealand libraries, including the National Library.

The Archive includes:

• cartoons and comics by and about people from Aotearoa New Zealand, reflecting a range of social, cultural and political perspectives and art forms and styles

• digital copies of newspaper and magazine cartoons, from around 2005 to the present

• original cartoon drawings from the 20th and 21st centuries by pre-eminent cartoonists and comic creators

• manuscript material created by or relating to creators’ lives

• born-digital editorial cartoons collected since the early 2000s.

Cartoons and comics are not always independently published formats and are often embedded within published material. This means that they are already present in current collections, and there are already many existing links with current donors. These include:

• Existing publications such as newspapers, zines and magazines. Of particular interest (relevant to the priority areas below) are publications that feature comics by women - newspapers, women’s comics and zines submitted under legal deposit, feminist magazines and community records

• There are many artists in the Music Collection and Drawings, Paintings and Prints Collection who are cartoon and/or comic creators and there is a possibility that comics have been collected as part of ephemera in the music archive. We may also be able to use our established relationships with current donors and cartoon and comics creators to collect cartoons from them.

Collecting principles

The National Library of New Zealand Collection Policy provides a suite of principles that guide all collecting across the published and unpublished collections by the National Library and Alexander Turnbull Library.

National Library of New Zealand Collection Policy

The relevant principles from the Collection Development Policy are provided below, with an explanation of how they will be realised for the Cartoons and Comics Collection.

Principle 1

Developing breadth and depth in the Library’s research collections requires decisions to be informed by, and responsive to, current and emerging research trends as well as the anticipated needs of future generations of New Zealanders.

Actions

Cartoons and comics staff take an active role in the Aotearoa New Zealand and Pacific studies research community. This active role enables the Library to be more informed about identifying the items that can be useful for current and future users and researchers.

Priority areas will aim to address gaps in the cartoons and comics collection so that future research needs are more likely to be addressed. The Library welcomes and encourages dialogue with any part of the research community.

The Cartoon and Comics Advisory group will play a key role in supporting a long-term, positive and productive relationship between the Library and the Cartoons and Comics communities.

Principle 2

Active engagement with iwi, hapū and whānau helps build good collections of documentary heritage and tāonga created by Māori and relating to Māori, for the benefit of all New Zealanders.

Actions

The Archive is committed to working according to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and existing ATL policy and practice. This means cartoons and comics are recognised as taonga, and whenever relevant, development is done in partnership with hapu, iwi and other rōpū; tikanga is followed; and issues of ownership and access are viewed through a te ao Māori lens.

The Kaihautū, National Library and other kaimahi Māori will be consulted on issues and items of significance.

In developing the cartoons and comics collection staff will actively address its weakness in cartoons and comics by Māori creators and writers; and representations of Māori culture (some of which may be by non-Māori). The Archive will prioritise the collection of cartoons and comics by Māori, in both Te Reo Māori and English.

Principle 3

The Library has an important leadership role in collaborating and coordinating collection related activities across institutional and national boundaries to enable New Zealanders to connect to information important to their lives, and to support strong documentary heritage and tāonga collections for all New Zealanders.

Actions

The Alexander Turnbull Library always considers the most appropriate repository for a collection prior to acquisition, which can often be another institution within Aotearoa New Zealand or further abroad.

Potential areas for collaborative or coordinated proactive collection will be explored with other institutions, especially when the Library’s born-digital collecting capacity can be utilized, and gaps in relevant national holdings identified.

Principle 6

The Library takes into account the cost of acquiring, storing, managing, and making accessible collection items when building its collections.

Actions

The Library’s process for approval to purchase collection items includes consideration of cost and benefit, and is followed at all times when the Crown’s acquisition budget is used to build collections.

For items that are donated to the cartoons and comics collection, the Library considers the total cost of collecting, processing, conserving, and providing access as part of the appraisal process. This helps to determine the value of the items managed in perpetuity as Aotearoa New Zealand documentary heritage.

Proactive priorities

The Cartoon and Comic Collection is developed for research in Aotearoa New Zealand studies and to preserve cultural heritage in perpetuity for all New Zealanders. The recent expansion in scope has meant there are significant gaps in key areas. To address these the Library will focus resources on building connections in these priority collecting areas.

• Significant Māori cartoon and comic creators and significant cartoon and comic works in Te Reo Māori.

• Significant creators and works that are at risk of being lost.

• Internationally recognised webcomics’ creators and comic creators.

• Key comic collectives, publishing groups, anthologies, and community groups who have contributed to the development of communities * Comic and cartoon creators contributing to the evolution of ‘editorial cartoons’, comics made explicitly within a digital landscape for sharing on social media.

• Voices significant to diverse communities and diverse approaches.

• Significant creators excluded from cartoons and comics histories and research. These include:

  • Māori

  • Women

  • Minority, marginalised and communities that are reductively represented, underrepresented or not represented. These groups include refugees and migrants, takatāpui and rainbow people, Pacific Island communities, and beneficiaries and/or people living in poverty.

• Cartoons and comics that tell our unique stories, pūrākau and histories.

Contact

Sam Orchard, Assistant Curator, Cartoons and Comics, Alexander Turnbull Library 
Email — sam.orchard@dia.govt.nz

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Last updated 2023