MĀORI SERVICES AND RESEARCH MATERIAL AT AUCKLAND LIBRARIES – PART ONE WITH DENA JACOB
Ki te wātea te hinengaro me te kaha o te rere o te wairua ka taea ngā mea katoa.
If the mind is open and the spirit is flowing, all things are possible.
Tēnei te mihi nui ki a koutou katoa,
Ko Dena Jacob taku ingoa. Ko au te Poukōkiri Rangahau Māori o Waitakere Pātaka Kōrero o Tāmaki Makaurau. My name is Dena Jacob and I am the Senior Research Librarian Māori based at Waitakere Library.
I will be contributing a few of our Library resources in the next few newsletters and hope you find benefit in what I share. The first resources I’d like to share are helpful Māori specialist staff and our Library website www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz and there are four main research centers (Takapuna, Waitakere, Central and Manukau) with four dedicated PouKōkiri Rangahau Māori (Senior Māori Research Librarians). Dena Jacob—Waitakere Library; Raniera Kingi—Manukau Library, Xavier Forsman—Takapuna Library. Our Central Poukōkiri is currently being recruited.
We are highly sought for our experience and expertise in accessing whakapapa resources, accessing mātauranga Māori, guiding and assisting your Rangahau.
Each of us is available to meet in dedicated one-hour sessions either kanohi ki te kanohi or virtually. You can book in by emailing;
Māori This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
We often facilitate open workshops regarding the many Whakapapa resources available through the Auckland public Library.
The Auckland Library website (www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz) host numerous databases all very helpful in finding content related to Whakapapa and Family History.
Whakapapa is about people: it is a link to tūpuna, to heritage, to identity. For Māori it is a taonga, and for many it is also tapu. Māori connect to a waka, whānau, hapū and iwi.
For some whānau, identifying their iwi is the first step in learning more about who you are.
When researching your whakapapa, it's helpful to find out from your whānau what your iwi affiliations are. In the Library a few sources that you might like to try are:
• Māori electoral rolls—from 1872 to 1969 they recorded iwi and hapū names.
• Māori birth and death certificates—recorded iwi and hapū names.
• Māori marriages index 1911—1951.
• Military records - can provide iwi, hapū, next of kin, and sometimes a will. Be aware that ages recorded on military records were not always correct.
• Māori Land Court minute books (MLCMB) - contain detailed information about Māori history, whakapapa and land.
In the next resources I will share, we can check out our photographic collections. This image [see page 18] is taken from the JT Diamond collection of Nihotapu Falls, Waitakere and in the iwi area of Te Kawerau a Maki.
I opened with a whakataauki from the late great Ngapo Wehi with a reminder that all things are possible with an open mind and flowing spirit. I hope you enjoy our Auckland Libraries snippets in learning.
Nga mihi
Dena