Collections

Find out about highlights in the National Library and Alexander Turnbull Library collections, ways that you can use the collections, how you can support our work, guides to caring for your collections and have a look at some of our online exhibitions.

Collections spotlight

Black background and lots of lined up coloured book covers in the foreground.

Alexander Turnbull Library collections

Find out about the history of the Alexander Turnbull Library collections.

Buildings and land under flood water.

Disaster recovery

Help on how to recover water-damaged belongings such as photographs, books, artworks and music collections.

Looking down a corridor there is large floor to ceiling pull-out storage on both sides.

Offer material to the Alexander Turnbull Library

Help our collections grow by donating an item.

Collections highlights

Use our alphabetical list to browse our collections.

A to Z of our collections

Browse the collections.
Landscape painting of Diamond Lake. A person in a boat and mountains in the background.

High-res images

Free high-res images available for download.

Soldiers crowding around to look at a book.

Blog

Read about the collections.

Papers Past homepage

Papers Past

Millions of pages of newspapers, journals, letters, and more.
DigitalNZ homepage

DigitalNZ

DigitalNZ is a great tool to find, use, and share digital content.

Homepage of digitalpasifik, blue sky with silhouette of hills and trees and a star constelation.

Digital Pasifik

Explore, discover the rich diverse cultural heritage of the Pacific.

Using the collections

Using the collections in the Reading Rooms.

What you can do

Find out all the things you can do with our collections, online and off.
Detail of the score to Ode to Joy.

Music hire

Borrow performance material or list your own collection.
Interloaning items from the library.

Interloan from us

Learn about borrowing items in our collections through your local library.
Happy kids reading happily.

Services to Schools lending service

Borrow books and resources from our schools' collections.
A digital camera such as you can use to make research copies.

Make copies

See how to get research or publication copies of collection items.
Borrow for an exhibition

Borrow for an exhibition

Enquire about borrowing an item for an exhibition.

Caring for collections

Collections safely stored in acid-free boxes.

Care for your collections

Guides to help you take care of your own precious items.
National Digital Heritage Archive.

Digital preservation

Learn about the National Library Digital Preservation Programme.

Search a slice of the collections

Searching on the National Library Catalogue

National Library Catalogue

Search our published collections, including books, magazines, audio, and websites.
Searching on Tiaki

Alexander Turnbull Library catalogue — Tiaki

Search our unpublished collections, including manuscripts, images, and audio.
Publications piled up on a table.

Index New Zealand

Find abstracts of articles from a huge range of New Zealand periodicals, and how to get them.
Search across dozens of databases of e-resources.

National Library e-resources

Search dozens of national and international databases for reference material, heritage items, and up-to-date research.

Support us

Looking down a corridor there is large floor-to-ceiling pull-out storage on both sides.

Offer material to the Alexander Turnbull Library

Find out about donating an item.

Happy girl jumping in front of a carving at the National Library.

Te Puna Foundation

Donate or leave a legacy to support the work of the National Library of New Zealand.
Logo Turnbull Endowment Trust established 1934

Turnbull Endowment Trust

Leave a bequest or donate to support the Alexander Turnbull Library.

Logo the Friends of the Turnbull Library, Ngā hoa e te whare pukapuka Turnbull.

Friends of the Turnbull Library

Promoting public interest in the Alexander Turnbull Library.

Online exhibitions

Cast in light, life in a mining town.

Cast in light: Life in a mining town

Explore our online exhibition created to accompany the Cast in Light exhibition at the Library.

Between skin and shirt. The photographic portraits of William Harding.

Between skin & shirt: The photographic portraits of William Harding

Portraits from the William Harding collection.

Cartoon titled "A strange disappearance". Shows a man's boots with words "country" and "party" sticking out from the water, The water has the words 1928 election on it.

Cartoons and comics of New Zealand

Highlights of cartoons and comics from the Alexander Turnbull collections.
Queen sitting in ornate seat.

Queen Elizabeth II — Vale Regina

A tribute to Queen Elizabeth II.
Four Māori men playing saxaphones. They are all wearing dark suits.

Pictures of note

Celebrating all things music with items from the Alexander Turnbull Library collections.
Child floating in water.

Trouble in Paradise

Explore our online exhibition created to accompany the Trouble in Paradise exhibition at the Library.

Barbed wire around a rugby field.

A country divided — 1981 Springbok tour

Explore our online exhibition of photos and cartoons about the 1981 Springbok tour.
Mīharo Wonder

Mīharo Wonder

Discover wonder in this Alexander Turnbull centenary exhibition.
Pūkana! Te ihi, te wehi, te wana. Moments in Māori performance.

Pūkana — curator’s talk

Listen to Paul Diamond, one of the curator’s of Pūkana, talk about the exhibition.

Papers Past — full text search

Newspapers on Papers Past

Newspapers

Search across millions of pages of historic newspapers from 1839 to 1950, covering New Zealand, Pacific, and international news.
Periodicals on Papers Past

Magazines and journals

Explore Pākehā and Māori magazines, including 'Fair Play', 'Maori Record', 'Te Ao Hou', and the 'Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand'.
Manuscripts on Papers Past

Letters and diaries

Discover the McLean papers, a rich and unique record of mid-19th century interactions between Māori and Government.
Parliamentary papers on Papers Past

Parliamentary papers

Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives 1858 to 1950. Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives 1854 to 1856.

Follow us for collection highlights

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@NLNZ on Twitter

All kinds of interesting bits from the collections, plus events and blogs.

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Events, news, new acquisitions, blogs, and more.