Manuscripts and archives held at Special Collections, level 2, Central City Library.
What are manuscripts and archives?
Manuscripts and archives generally consist of unpublished primary resource material gathered by an individual or organisation.
Personal and family papers can include diaries, journals, letters, notebooks, typescripts and scrapbooks.
Records of organisations can include minute books, correspondence and ledgers.
Access to the manuscripts and archives collections at Auckland City Libraries
Manuscripts Online is the catalogue of the New Zealand Manuscript collection and the smaller non-New Zealand manuscript collection.
Some manuscript collections are not on the library catalogue. Please contact Special Collections if you have any enquiries. Resources for locating this material are available in the Special Collections Reading Room. They include indexes, inventories, printed catalogues and databases.
You are welcome to
send us any questions regarding our collection.
New Zealand manuscripts
The material in this collection relates to New Zealand, and particularly Auckland and Northland, from the 19th century through to the present day.
Current collecting concentrates on performing arts, social action and community groups, music, literary papers, women’s organisations, Maori collections and personal papers and diaries.
Access through
Manuscripts Online.
The Sir George Grey collections
Access is not yet available online, though inventories of the collections are available in the Special Collections Reading Room. Please
email us if you have any enquiries.
Grey New Zealand manuscripts and Grey manuscripts
This collection consists of manuscripts either collected or produced by Sir George Grey. The material relates to his political and colonial career, both in and outside New Zealand, and his interest in languages.
Included in this collection are manuscripts by Captain James Cook and Sir Joseph Banks, writings by satirist Peter Pindar and material about Madagascar.
Grey Māori manuscripts and letters
The collection consists of manuscripts and letters in the Māori language, reflecting Grey’s philological and cultural interests, as well as his political alliances.
For more information go to the
Grey Māori manuscript collection.
Grey letters
The collection consists of about 3,000 letters written mostly to Sir George Grey, but occasionally to other correspondents. There are also a few letters written by Grey.
Medieval and Eastern manuscripts
The collection includes Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts from the 12th to the 17th century, and Eastern manuscripts from the 16th to the 19th century.
Access through the
Library catalogue (search by Call number "Med. Ms" or "EASTMS").
View the digitised
Rossdhu Book of Hours (Med. MS G.146).
Reed Dumas collection
Special Collections houses the largest collection of works by and about Alexandre Dumas père outside France, including first editions and 2,000 pages of manuscripts.
Access through the
Library catalogue (search by Call number "RDMS").
Non-New Zealand manuscripts
A collection of miscellaneous non-New Zealand manuscripts ranging in date from 1558 to the 20th century.
Access through
Manuscripts Online.
