Local history is integral in shaping our communities, and the preservation of these stories and records for the future is vital. The goal of our Your Stories project is to digitise, and make available, all historical newspapers (from 1840 to 2000) that are at risk of loss or decay.
This will ensure that the stories and histories from diverse communities right across urban and rural New Zealand are preserved for current and future generations. Hear stories about the papers already digitised and how to access them, about the papers in dire need of preservation and the papers whose whereabouts require your help to find!
Discover:
The newspapers we’ve already digitised and how you can access them
The titles in urgent need of preservation
How you can help us find missing papers
Saturday 20 September
2.00pm–3.00pm
Auckland University Clock Tower Building, 22 Princes St, Auckland Central – 105-012 Seminar Room
This is a Free public event presented as part of the Auckland Heritage Festival 2025.
No booking required - but it would be great to let us know if you plan to attend by email
Speaker Bios:
Felicity Barnes is a senior lecturer in History at the University of Auckland, where she teaches the history of Aotearoa/New Zealand. As cultural historian with particular interest in settler colonialism and imperialism, she has spent a lot of time working with newspapers. They formed essential archives for her books, New Zealand’s London, which examined the impact of cultural links between New Zealand and London and Selling Britishness: The Dominions, Commodity Culture, and Empire, 1926-1939, was awarded the 2023 Wadsworth Prize For Outstanding Achievement in British business history. She is looking forward to working with the trust in preserving more of our printed pasts!
Andy Fenton has always been driven to make digitisation, workflow, and online community engagement accessible for individuals and organisations. He has vast experience offering strategic and operational insights into projects having co-founded three ICT companies in Aotearoa New Zealand, elected for 5 years as a School Trustee, and served for 13 years as a Naval Officer in the Royal New Zealand Navy.
Andy has contributed to the cultural heritage sector in many ways – he was on the NDF Board, was a member of the ARANZ Council, and joined the Australia/New Zealand Joint Standards Committee for Information and Image Management. He is currently a member of Standards NZ’s International Review Group IT-021 and he Chairs IT-021-13 Micrographics and Electronic imaging in Australia.
Andy is currently the Chairperson of the Preserving Local History Trust.
