History

We have a great range of online history resources, including reference sources, journals, magazines and much more.

Our online history resources can be found at mygateway.info. Check out our History portal page for databases such as History Resource Center and the Discovering Collection.

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 |
• Perspectives on History

Lending history magazines are shelved in the Art, Music & Literature Magazine collection on the first floor of the Central Library, and in the branches on the magazine stands.

Here are links into the catalogue for just a few of our most popular history magazines:

• Archeology |
• BBC History |
• Biblical archaeology review |
• Current History |
• Heritage Matters |
• History Now - Te Pae Tawhio O Te Wa |
• History Today |
• True West

Catalogue Search

• All history periodicals

The Central Library has an excellent reference collection (for in-library reference only) containing Atlases, Yearbooks and Fact books, great for statistical information and the history of countries. This collection is housed on the 2nd floor of the library.

Other publications of use include: The Far East and Australasia, The Middle East and North Africa, Africa south of the Sahara and South America, Central America and the Caribbean.

New Zealand Reference Material:

The 2nd floor of the Central Library houses several different collections which contain a wealth of information about New Zealand's history. The NZ Reference Collection (NZCOLL) contains at least one copy of most of the books published in New Zealand over the past 100 years. It also contains a large number of unpublished reports as well as many smaller publications which were often only for sale in a specific region for a short period of time (e.g. school and parish jubilee histories).

Alongside this collection are the AJHR's (Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives) which give an insight into the "official" history of the State back to the 1860s as well as many other government publications such as the New Zealand Gazette (also available as a searchable database) and New Zealand Parliamentary Debates (i.e. "Hansard").

There are also two separate collections which are kept behind the reference desk on the 2nd floor - the "NZ Stack" and "Rare" collections. These contain books which because of their rarity or fragility must be kept in special conditions but most are available to view under supervision and all are listed in the library's on-line catalogue.

MyLibrary:

Every month our librarians choose their picks of the new history books as part of our MyLibrary service. Have a look at the Libraries' history recent picks for interesting new titles every month.

Here are our latest picks:

New Zealand History Online

• NZHistory
  The Ministry of Culture & Heritage's New Zealand History site -- this should be your first stop online for New Zealand history
• Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand
  The official encyclopedia of NZ, which when complete will be a comprehensive guide to the country's peoples, natural environment, history, culture, economy, institutions and society.
• 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand
  The first encyclopedia of New Zealand, published in three thick volumes in 1966. An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand was a critical and publishing success at the time, and has been used as a basic reference work since.
• The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War
  This fifty volume series is being put online as copyright expires.
• New Zealand History Teachers' Association

Overseas History Online

• Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition - an online version of this classic edition.
• Spartacus Educational
  Mini-encyclopedias on historical subjects, designed for British school-children.
• Best of History Web Sites
  An award-winning American portal created for history teachers, students, and general history enthusiasts.
• Historical Text Archive
  A small collection of historical e-books.
• HyperHistory Online
  An expanding scientific project presenting 3,000 years of world history with an interactive combination of synchronoptic lifelines, timelines, and maps.

Wellington's Museums

• Te Papa
• Museum of Wellington City and Sea
• Colonial Cottage Museum
• Wellington Cable Car Museum

Wellington's Archives

• Archives New Zealand
• Alexander Turnbull Library
• Wellington City Archives
• National Register of Archives and Manuscripts

• Newman, Liberal Policy and the Left Wing, 1908 - 1911 : a study of middle-class radicalism in NZ
• Stenson, The origins of the Government Advances to Settler's Act, 1894
• Clark, The NZ Liberal Party and Government, 1895 - 1906
• Bassett, Sir Harry Atkinson : a political biography, 1872 - 1892
• Shannon, Decline and fall of the Liberal government : a study in an aspect of NZ political development, 1908 - 1914
• Hamar, Sir Robert Stout, 1844 - 1930
• McKimmey, The Temperance Movement in NZ, 1835 - 1894
• Grimshaw, The Women's Suffrage Movement in New Zealand, 1835 - 1894
• Rogers, The Single tax Movement in NZ