Some treat reads have come into the Auckland Research Centre of late and if they pique you interest, there are borrowable copies within the Auckland Libraries system as well. These are the kind of books that are nice to pick up and dip into at any time.

First up, the 1950s gets a look-in with “Life in 1950s London.”  An interesting decade between the second world war and the counterculture of the sixties.

It’s worth flicking through for the fabulous photos, and if you did happen to have been around at the time, reminiscing about life. How, for example, nearly everybody smoked, the growing popularity of sports like boxing and football, the rise in coffee drinking, and international events like the Billy Graham crusades. It would be interesting for those who remember the decade to compare how it panned out with life here in New Zealand.  This is one of a series on decades, and we also have the 1940s title.


Sticking with the UK, we have another fascinating read, “Beneath the Big Top.”


It’s a “social history of the circus in Britain” and is laden with all sorts of titbits, misdemeanour and fun, from the beginning of the circus up to the more recent spectacle of Cirque du Soleil. A fascinating chapter on the 19th century looks at the likes of Barnum and Bailey and on the trend of mysticism and spiritualism that was big at the time. The author claims writers Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Elizabeth Barrett Browning were followers of the spiritualism fad - a combination of magic and spirituality. And even royalty loved the circus. Queen Victoria was apparently so fascinated with Isaac Van Amburgh, the big cat trainer known as the “Lion King,” that she had a portrait painted of him with his cats. Naturally clowns, murder and debauchery, and the effect of television on the circus get a look in. A book to have a browse through when you feel like some light but entertaining reading.

Joanne Graves

Do you have a Methodist tucked away in your family somewhere quietly frowning on the antics of their descendants?

If you do, have you checked the Wesleyan Methodist Roll? No? Then do we have a resource for you!

The roll has over 1 million names of people who donated a guinea (21 shillings or ₤1 1s) to the Wesleyan Methodist Million Guinea Fund (Jan 1899-Jun 1904).

Richard Ratcliffe has written an informative booklet to the The Wesleyan Methodist historic roll explaining the whys and wherefores etc which is on the shelves at Central Auckland Research Centre at 4 ENG REL MET.

We have a microfiche copy of the volumes which the donations were noted in on microfiche (4 ENG REL MET). Unfortunately, there is no name index; however, there is an index on the Methodist website which gives the Circuit/Mission, Church/Chapel, vol/district, page and fiche number.

Richard’s booklet lists the 50 volumes and which Missions/Chapels are in that volume. By using this I know that Croydon is in volume 6 and the 3rd London District. I should then be able to find the fiche and page numbers by referring to the index on the Methodist website - vol 6 page 3 fiche 1-... (Croydon seems to be missing from this list).

The list gives a name, address or, in the case of donations made in memory of the deceased “In Memorium”

The Roll covers England, Wales, Scotland (not Ireland) and a variety of other countries.

By using this list I have been able to make an educated guess as to which of three families were the initial followers of this faith.


Marie Hickey

We are regularly adding to our stock family and local history books in the Central Auckland Research Centre.

Some books you look at the title and think "not my area of interest/thing"; while others just seem to leap off the shelf at you. Two such books arrived recently which I found to be very interesting and thought they may be of interest to some of you.

Ragged London: the life of London's poor