Hītori - History
Library resources for researching historical topics.
Discover our history resources
Quick links
Recent booklist: Te Tiriti o Waitangi
The below booklist is an excellent place to start for learning about Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Explore stories about our local history
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Te Tiriti: Te Whanganui-a-Tara, 29 April 1840
Learn about when Te Tiriti was signed by mana whenua. -
New online resource: the Wellington Provincial Council Gazette, 1854-1876
Digitised for the first time is the collection of the weekly gazette of the Wellington Provincial Council, which offers a fascinating insight into the city and region’s early colonial history. -
The Spectacular Cinemas of Wellington
For much of the 20th century, entertainment was dominated by movie theatres. Many of our early cinemas grew from live theatres following the first screening of motion pictures in the capital in 1896.
Recent stories
History eResources
Resources you have access to with your library card. Also included in this list are a number of freely available websites that can be accessed without a library card login.
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Ancestry Library
A research database for genealogists and family history enthusiasts, aiding you to trace your family history with records from United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Only available for in-library use.
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Archives of Sexuality & Gender (Gale)
Gale’s Archives of Sexuality & Gender spans the sixteenth to the twentieth century and is the largest digital collection of primary source materials relating to the history and study of sex, sexuality and gender. Highlights include New Zealand periodicals Pink Triangle and Out! New Zealand’s Alternative Lifestyle Magazine
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Bridget Williams Books - Te Pouhere Kōrero
Te Pouhere Kōrero is a journal authored by a collective of established Māori historians. The ten volumes of Te Pouhere Kōrero: Māori History, Māori People explore the rich narratives of Māori and indigenous history. Covering a wide range of topics, the collection provides a valuable resource for research on the history and culture of Aotearoa New Zealand.
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Bridget Williams Books - The NZ History Collection
Provides online access to over thirty years of award-winning history and biography publishing from Bridget Williams Books – includes over New Zealand history 90 titles.
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Bridget Williams Books - Treaty of Waitangi Collection
Gathers together some of the finest writing and scholarship on New Zealand’s founding document online – including access to award-winning histories and commentaries, such as Claudia Orange’s The Treaty of Waitangi.
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Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
This website contains over 3,000 biographies of past New Zealanders who have ‘made their mark’ on this country. Entries are posthumous only – there are no entries for still living prominent New Zealanders.
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Digital NZ
Search 30+ million New Zealand items across 300+ collections in one place. Sources include the online collections of museums, archives, libraries, galleries and more.
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Economist Historical Archive, 1843–2020 (Gale)
The Economist presents the world’s political, business, scientific, technological and cultural developments and the connections between them. With this archive you can access every weekly issue between 1843 and 2015 — from cover to cover.
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Find My Past
At Find My Past, search over 50 million genealogy records for Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands – millions of records that you won’t find available elsewhere online. Access is via the public internet computers in our libraries, remote access is not available.
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Gale Presents: National Geographic Virtual Library
Search articles and legendary photos from this historical archive, covering more than a hundred years of National Geographic magazine. Includes coverage of global events, nature, science, technology, and the environment.
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New York Times
Offers our members the opportunity to login each day with your library card details and claim a “group pass” which gives 24 hours’ access to their websites & smartphone app. (Please note: the expiry time for your 24 hours access is given in US Eastern Time, and an initial nytimes.com email/password registration is required.) Provides access to the searchable archive from 1851-1922 and 1981-present
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NZHistory
Information and resources from Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Three broad categories showcase themes in New Zealand history: culture and society, politics and government and New Zealand at war. Includes information about political milestones, protest and reform, the Treaty of Waitangi, Māori leadership, Heads of State, Parliament and the people and the work of government.
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Niupepa: Māori Newspapers Digital Collection
The Niupepa: Māori Newspapers Digital Collection is an electronic collection of over 17,000 pages taken from 34 separate periodicals. Most of the titles originally available through this project are now available through Papers Past – to find all the Niupepa titles available, scroll down to the ‘Māori Newspapers’ section of About Papers Past.
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Papers Past
Digitised New Zealand newspapers, periodicals, letters, diaries and parliamentary papers from 1839 to 1945. Coverage includes The Evening Post from 1865 to 1945, and The Dominion from 1907 to 1920, plus many other early Wellington region publications.
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Primary Sources (Gale)
Simultaneously search or browse through all our Gale historical newspaper databases from the 1600s to the 21st century. Search includes archives for: Daily Mail 1896-2004, The Independent 1986-2012, International Herald Tribune 1887-2013, The Sunday Times 1822-2006, The Telegraph 1855-2000 and The Times (of London) 1785-2013, as well as some special collections.
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ProQuest Research Library
Access to a wide range of scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, and newspapers on popular academic subjects. The database includes more than 6,600 titles – over 5,000 in full text – from 1971 forward.
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Smithsonian Collections Online (Gale)
Gale and the Smithsonian have partnered to give students and researchers a look behind the glass of the Smithsonian Museum’s exhibits and collections. The digitized materials within Smithsonian Collections Online span multidisciplinary topics for both research and education, including: Evolution of Flight 1784-1991 and Trade Literature and the Merchandizing of Industry World’s Fairs.
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Te Ara: the Encyclopedia of New Zealand
In Māori, Te Ara means ‘the pathway’. Through interlinking text and image trails, the Encyclopedia takes you on a journey of discovery. The site also includes New Zealand’s last official encyclopedia from 1966. It is published here in full, with all the original drawings, maps and photographs.
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The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War
Published by the Department of Internal Affairs in the decades after the end of the war, this fifty volume series covers all areas of New Zealand’s involvement, from detailed accounts of particular battalions, to the political and economic background and consequences, to full accounts of particular episodes and campaigns.
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Trove
From the National Library of Australia, Trove provides access to over 20 million pages from over 1000 Australian newspapers from each state and territory and from the earliest published newspaper in 1803, to the mid-20th century.
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Wellington Recollect
Interested in our city’s history? Wellington City Recollect draws upon the library’s collections of photographs, postcards, vintage pamphlets, theatre programmes and more. Discover Wellington through time.
Online history journals and magazines
We have a great range of online history resources, including reference sources, journals, magazines and much more.
The following are just a few of the history journals and magazines available online (in full text) through our databases.
If you are viewing this page outside a library, please login here first, then the links below will work for you.
- Arab Studies Quarterly
- American History
- Canadian Journal of History
- History Review
- Journal of Social History
- Military History
- Natural History
History magazines in print
Here are links into the catalogue for just a few of our most popular history magazines:
Catalogue Search
Wellington's museums
Wellington's archives
- Archives New Zealand
- Alexander Turnbull Library
- Wellington City Archives
- The Community Archive: National Register of Archives and Manuscripts
Overseas history online
- Spartacus Educational
Mini-encyclopedias on historical subjects, designed for British schoolchildren. - Best of History Web Sites
An award-winning American portal created for history teachers, students, and general history enthusiasts. - HyperHistory Online
An expanding scientific project presenting 3,000 years of world history with an interactive combination of synchronoptic lifelines, timelines, and maps.