New Zealand Family Stories are treasured assets in our Family History collection.

These published family histories, are books written by family history researchers, and are frequently self-published. Often they are donated to the library, although we do also have a budget that allows us to purchase them too.

They contain stories about individuals and families, and most have genealogical tables, photos, and documents. Ideally they also have a name index in the back.

Since our lovely refurbishment, we’ve been able to get them out into the spotlight to display and make them more accessible.

They are a reference-only collection which means that they are always here for researchers to consult – and this also helps with their preservation.

They represent years, sometimes decades of research, and its always a delight for me when someone brings one of these treasures up to the desk to tell me that they've found their family in one of these books.

Happy hunting

Seonaid