Letters

Resources for genealogists

Our Heritage and Research team can assist you with our family history research resources. Visit us at He Puna Wānanga - Heritage & Research at He Puna Manawa, 21 Devonport Road to make use of our vast selection of genealogy resources listed below.

Books

  • Published and printed material

Family History Reference Collection 

  • Research Guides, shipping, map books, directories, Burke’s Peerage and dictionaries of surnames.

Reference Collection

  • Local histories, family histories, official war histories, school jubilee publications, biographies; Dictionary of New Zealand Biography: the latest (1990-2000) and Scholefield (1940); Who’s Who in New Zealand, Tauranga Photo News 1962-1970.

Journals

  • New Zealand Genealogist
  • Family Tree (UK and NZ versions)
  • Practical Family History
  • Family History Monthly
  • he Volunteers (Military history)
  • Tauranga Historical Society Journal
  • Historical Review (Whakatane Historical Society)
  • Ohinemuri Historical Society Journal

There are many useful journals – this is just a selection

New Zealand Directories

  • Tauranga Burgess Rolls 1886 – 1891; 1893 – 1900
  • Local electoral rolls for Tauranga  
  • Parliamentary electoral rolls for New Zealand: microfilm 1854 to early 1900s, 1941, 1949; microfiche 1898 – 1938, 1943, 1946, 1954 – 81; hard copy 1984 to the latest version
  • Wises: microfiche 1866 – 1955; hard copy 1911, 1939, 1956, 1957, 1958
  • Wises Te Puke 1892 – 1951; Te Puna 1910 – 1951; Maketu 1910 – 1925; Katikati 1891 – 1951
  • A selection of hard copy directories for the 19th and 20th centuries for different regions of New Zealand.
  • Current New Zealand wide telephone books
  • Historic Bay of Plenty telephone directories
  • Māori Reference Collection including family reunions, Waitangi Tribunal reports, Raupatu document bank, Tauranga Māori Land Court Minute Books.

Microfiche

Not everything is online!

  • New Zealand births/deaths/marriages index 1840-1990
  • Māori births/deaths 1913-1960
  • Māori marriages 1911-1951
  • Births/deaths/marriages from provincial newspapers and church records
  • Directories and provincial rolls
  • Accidents, obituaries, biographies, wills
  • Bankruptcies
  • Cemetery transcripts
  • Citizenship/naturalisations
  • Government – miscellaneous
  • Māori land claims 1855-1955
  • Military – miscellaneous including war deaths in both World Wars
  • Patents 1860-1890
  • Religion – officiating ministers 1848-1900
  • Settlers and land – Canterbury, Otago, Taranaki
  • Shipping – Comber Index, etc.
  • Turnbull Biographies Index
  • Women named in the Cyclopaedia of New Zealand
  • Pre-1900 families index
  • IGI New Zealand
  • IGI England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Pacific Islands
  • Australia: Victoria births/marriages 1853-1913, deaths 1853-1960; New South Wales births/deaths/marriages pre 1856-1905; South Australia, Northern Territories, Tasmania miscellaneous

Microfilm

  • Electoral rolls, newspapers, Archdeacon Brown’s papers
  • New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, 
  • Te Puke Times 1913-1975
  • Daily Southern Cross 1861-1876

Electronic Information

  • The library subscribes to Ancestry.com, FindMyPast.com, MyHeritage. These are all freely accessible on Public PCs in our library and in He Puna Wānanga - Heritage & Research.
  • The Research PCs in He Puna Wānanga - Heritage & Research contain Early Auckland Births & Deaths; BDMs from The New Zealander, Gallipoli; NZ Marriages; NZ Burial Locator; Tauranga Burials and Cremations; NZ Society of Genealogists’ Index; and other resources. 

Pae Korokī 

Tauranga archives online. Discover the diverse and unique stories of Tauranga Moana, our digitised archives, maps, images and publications, here: Pae Korokī

Resources available by appointment:

  • Archives and manuscripts, Unique unpublished material. Diaries, letters, and other records of Bay of Plenty families, businesses, churches, clubs and organisations.
  • Archdeacon Brown’s original papers (The Elms Collection – microfilms and typescripts available for access/viewing).
  • Sladden collection and rare material, including all volumes of the Cyclopaedia of New Zealand (1897)
  • Munro collection
  • Maps and charts - Tauranga and districts from 1865, Tauranga harbour and other New Zealand charts from mid-1800s, Pacific voyages and early explorers
  • Photographs
  • Hard copy newspapers, including:
    • Te Puke Times 1976 to date
    • Bay of Plenty Mirror 1972-1974
    • Tauranga Argus and Tauranga Record 1866-1868
    • Bay Sun 1975-1988
    • Katikati Advertiser 1969 to date
    • Mount and Papamoa Times 1990-2001
    • Bay News 1991 to date
    • Weekend Sun 2001 to date

Full access available at your library

  • Find My Past
    Search through billions of family history records from across the globe, including birth, marriage and death records, census records, military records, historical newspapers and lots more. 
  • Ancestry.com
    Trace your family history across billions of records, including census, vital, military and immigration records from the United Kingdom, Ireland, United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
  • MyHeritage Library Edition
    The MyHeritage database includes birth, death and marriage records from 48 countries, the complete U.S. and U.K. censuses, immigration, military and tombstone records and more than 3 billion family tree profiles.

Related Information

  • Tauranga City Council Online Cemeteries Database
    Information regarding burial locations for all six cemeteries operated by Tauranga City Council; however it does not include Mission Cemetery or Māori burial grounds information.
  • Archives New Zealand  
    Te Rua Mahara o te Kawanatanga is the official guardian of New Zealand’s public archives.
  • Papers Past
    Digitised NZ newspapers, letters, diaries, magazines and parliamentary papers from the 19th and 20th centuries.
  • Family Search
    Images and index of ship passenger lists from 1839 – 1973.
  • The Ultimate Guide to Census Records
    US Census Records and general information around what these records can reveal about your family history.
  • NZ Society of Genealogists
    Assistance for people wishing to compile family histories from sources in NZ and overseas.

Family History Charts

 

 
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