The Preserving Local History and Educational Trust (Te Pupuri I Nga Hitori o Te Rohe Trust) is seeking information about newspapers published in New Zealand that are now hard to locate. We invite you to assist us in tracking down these newspapers.

The Northcote Athenaeum was formed on 7 May 1903 and followed the format of similar athenaeums and mechanics' institutes across the British Empire and North America from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries.   It featured musical performances, talks, debates, plays and literary recitations by many of the locals in the Northcote area.   Starting with over 100 members, in 1907 the Athenaeum had 160 members, in 1909 it claimed over 250 members and in 1911 it had 214.   At the 1906 census the Northcote Riding of Waitemata County had 1116 residents.

The weekly 'Devonport Gazette', renamed the 'North Shore Gazette' from 13 November 1924, is now available online. There are only two missing issues from 3 November 1921 to 1 August 1930, with the original hard copies held at Auckland Libraries. However, they have only 21 further issues after 1 August 1930 until 1948.

There are 17 issues of the 'North Shore Gazette' for the 1945 to 1948 period on The Preserving Local History and Educational Trust website preservinglocalhistory.recollectcms.com/. There are also just two from 1934 and two from 1936. All but two issues were donated by Devonport Museum, while the former North Shore Historical Society helped fund some of the preservation work. 

On 22 November 2024 Lachy Paterson presented “Community Newspapers: Ensuring a Digital Past” at the Centre for the Book Symposium in Dunedin. The presentation was prepared by him and Ross Harvey, board members of The Preserving Local History & Educational Trust/Te Pupuri i ngā Hītori o te Rohe Trust. In it they examine two historical newspapers, the Devonport Gazette and the Ruapehu Bulletin.

The Devonport Gazette and its successor the North Shore Gazette, a local record of an important period of the history of Auckland’s North Shore, are now available online. Published from November 1921 to May 1948, the Gazette was the major newspaper covering the North Shore generally, and Devonport in particular.

In 2018, Ian F. Grant, ONZM published Lasting Impressions: the Story of New Zealand's Newspapers, 1840-1920, the first comprehensive history of New Zealand newspapers published since Guy Scholefield's Newspapers in New Zealand was published in 1958. The New Zealand Review of Books described Lasting Impressions as "a compelling, often delightful read, and a truly magnificent addition to the scholarship of journalism here".

One of the trust’s key aims is to preserve digitised local newspaper content that will be of use in schools and other educational settings. Although newspapers on sites such as Papers Past are accessed by all manner of people, they are a valuable resource for teachers and are often the first place school students look when researching New Zealand’s past.

As a newly co-opted trust board member, Lachy met up with some Dunedin high-school history teachers last month for a kōrero, first about what the trust was doing, and then to get some data on how the teachers and their students use online sources in their teaching and learning practice. Although not all history teachers in the city could make it, we had eight teachers from Bayfield High School, Columba College, John McGlashen College, Kaikorai Valley College, Logan Park High School, Otago Girls High School and Queens High School.

The new, improved Otago Witness illustrated supplements are coming to a screen near you! The Preserving Local History and Educational Trust will replace murky, low-quality digitised photographs with high-quality scans from the original paper copies, preserving their historical value. The supplements, filled with significant images of places, people, and events, offer a window into New Zealand's past, making them a valuable resource. While Papers Past will soon integrate the new images, they will also be available on the Trust’s Recollect site.

The Preserving Local History and Educational Trust is digitising historical newspapers in partnership with the National Library of New Zealand and NZMS. The Marlborough Express, which holds a rich history dating back to 1866, is one of the newspapers being digitised.

In this blog, Steve Austin, the former Executive Director of the Marlborough Museum, highlights the importance of historical newspapers as the "first draft of history." Digitisation not only preserves these newspapers but also makes them more accessible to researchers, students, and family historians.

A few years ago, a wise librarian suggested that Andy Fenton should form a Foundation or Trust that could help preserve local history from communities across Aotearoa and facilitate community engagement – subjects he is incredibly passionate about.