www.nzmusicmonth.co.nz

May is New Zealand Music Month!


One of New Zealand's most prominent musical family's is the Eady family. Entrepreneurs, musicians, businessmen, instrument makers and supporters of the arts and culture - this year marks the 130th birthday of Lewis Eady Ltd.

Heritage Images contains a wide selection of over 100,000 digitised images from Sir George Grey Special Collections and includes photographs of shops run by Lewis R. Eady & Son Ltd. as well as their rival, brother and uncle - Arthur Eady Limited.

The future premises of Lewis R Eady & Son Ltd, 1927. Sir George Grey Special Collections, 4-454.

Arthur Eady Limited music store, 1938. Sir George Grey Special Collections, 4-2530

Subsequent generations of the Eady family have been involved in the music business since the brothers, Lewis R. and Arthur opened their respective shops.  Lewis's sons (Lewis "Alfred", Ernest, Cecil, Raymond and Sydney) worked for a time in the business and some of their children have also pursued careers related to music.

A keyword search of "Eady family" in the New Zealand Card Index returned several results including  the card below about Lewis Alfred Eady (1891-1965) which mentions that in 1926 ". . . the family presented a music section to the Public Library". 

New Zealand Card Index, NZCI000109317.

Another index entry is of Sydney's son Bruce, who manufactured and sold New Zealand's first guitar called The Jensen during the 1950's and 1960's. The index directs you to the information source, an article published in the July 1993 edition of North & South magazine.

New Zealand Card Index, NZCI000109308.

Another database to search is Index Auckland. This database focuses on history, art, theatre, film and music. Many of the reference sources are from Auckland area newspapers and journal articles. This database continues to have content added to it, so it is an ideal resource for contemporary artists.

Index Auckland has nine records for the Eady family. One of the records is an  article "Music in family" that highlights the family's history and their musical past, published in the Auckland Star on 24 November 1965.

Excerpt from article in the Auckland Star, 24 November 1965.

These Auckland eResources and databases are accessible to everyone through the Digital Library page of the Auckland Libraries website, click here to start searching for your musical ancestors!

Karen