Museums and educational institutions, I have long believed, have many things to share. It’s a happy coincidence (or plan) that the Hocken Library in Dunedin is part of Otago University.
Staff from the Hocken Library and faculty worked on a project, that by any account must have been a huge logistical nightmare at times.
The archivists measured, sorted key words for metadata and scanned documents, the interns added the metadata. There were also decisions to be made about software that would provide the best access for users, the best protection for documents and the easiest update methods.
This collection, being online, provides public access to Samuel Marsden’s letters and documents from the days of his arrival in New Zealand and his work establishing the Church Missionary Society’s missions in New Zealand.
Like public collections already online: National Library of New Zealand and Alexander Turnbull Library
the Marsden collections, being online, will allow more people to read the original letters and to understand the relationships between Maori and Pakeha in the 19th century.
It’s exciting to know that we can now read what Marsden said for ourselves, rather than rely on the (trustworthy but second hand) words of Buick “So far as the darker side of their history is concerned, we have it on the irreproachable authority of the Rev. Samuel Marsden that the tragedies in which the natives made war upon the Europeans were in almost every instance merely acts of retaliation for earlier outrages.[3] ” (Buick, T. L. The Treaty of Waitangi or how New Zealand became a British colony.Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41800/41800-h/41800-h.htm).
And as an aside – anyone interested in the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi Te Tiriti o Waitangi should consider reading Buick’s description of the events of the day. I have always found it stirring reading, as long as I recognise that he may be embellishing some of the drama. But who knows?
Reading history like this helps us understand the mind set and world view of our ancestors, and helps us find our place in this world.
Congratulations to the Hocken Library. A fantastic resource.
edtech. ako 