Databases and Online Resources useful for New Zealand history research (as at May 2026)
Archives:
To find out about the archives held by Archives New Zealand search on their Collections search:
Their research guides are well worth checking out:
Directory of Community Archives:
A directory of the archives, libraries and places around the country which hold community archives:
General biographical and reference sources:
Find NZ articles: Use to discover references to bibliographies, indexes, family histories, journal and newspaper articles. Includes Index New Zealand.
Find NZ Artists: a database of artist names and a great tool to find information about New Zealand artists and which galleries, libraries or museums hold this information:
Goldrush Online: Goldminer’s database, New Zealand 1861-1886.
Compiled by Kae Lewis this is searchable by name & can be filtered by district. Search over 88,000 records of goldminers from the Otago, West Coast and Thames goldrushes of New Zealand.
A collection-sharing site developed by National Services Te Paerangi, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. The site connects collections and taonga across Aotearoa New Zealand with people, places, and stories. It has over 1.5 million digital objects and more than 400 directory listings of museums and heritage institutions.
KURA Heritage Collections Online
Auckland City Libraries heritage collections has a vast array of taonga such as archives & manuscripts, cemetery records, ephemera, maps, photographs and shipping lists:
A listing of photographers operating in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands from the 1840s through to the early 2000s, including the names of studio assistants, colourists and retouchers, together with some chemists and photo-stock dealers.
From Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage by subject.
New Zealand Electronic Text Collection (NZETC) | National Library of New Zealand
The New Zealand Electronic Text Collection (NZETC) was developed by Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Library in 2002 and hosted by them until 2024. In 2024, the collection was transferred to the National Library of New Zealand, who are making it available as a web archive.
Lisa Truttman’s ongoing and building list of and database of information on historic private maternity homes and “lying-in” hospitals in New Zealand.
Te Ara The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand
It includes a digitised copy of McLintock’s An Encyclopedia of New Zealand published in 1966.
New Zealand Gazeteer of Place Names
Administered by the NZ Geographic Board, the database provides information on both official and unofficial place names.
Government Documents
Atojsonline- Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives
Parliamentary papers, votes and proceedings including reports of government departments, commissions of enquiry, royal commissions of enquiry and much more from 1854- 1950.
British Parliamentary Papers. Colonies New Zealand.
A collection of British Parliamentary Papers, Colonies: New Zealand, 1835-1896.
Hansard NZ Parliamentary Papers: Historic volumes of Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) for the New Zealand Parliament 1854 to 1990.
New Zealand Gazette- There are two choices:
Luke Howison’s free easy to use search index for the gazette and the provincial gazettes.
or
New Zealand Legal Information Institute (NZLII)
Provides full text searchable issues of the gazette for 1845, 1846, 1913-1999.
NZLII is a joint project of the University of Otago Faculty of Law and the Australasian Legal Information Institute and the website hosts much of the country’s case law, as well as legislation, law journals and law reform papers. It combines information from 112 databases onto a single website. Access to this information is anonymous and free.
New Zealand Military History
NZ Militia, Volunteers & Armed Constabulary.
This has the names and details of almost 16,000 men who served in the Land Wars as part of the New Zealand Militia, Volunteer forces, or in the Armed Constabulary, from 1863-1871.
Online Cenotaph database is a gathering point for the personal and official memory of people who served for New Zealand Aotearoa.
Onward project
Seeks to locate and publish a photograph of every member of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force who served overseas during the First World war 1914-18. So far five volumes have been published with nearly 20,000 portraits and an index to the volumes is available online.
ONWARD PROJECT | Fair Dinkum Books
Images and Audio/ Video Collections
Digital NZ
This platform was established by the National Library of New Zealand in 2008 to make it easier to access digital collections. DigitalNZ has grown to include more than 30 million items from over 200 content partners. It has aerial photos, artworks, digital stories, newspapers, posters, research papers, sound and video recordings and lots more.
DigitalNZ – Explore
The centralised repository of authoritative cartographic and geospatial resources selected by the staff of the University of Auckland Library.
Maps
Cartographic collection (Maps held at the Alexander Turnbull Library)
Established in 2010 by Doris de Pont,this online museum records and shares the stories of the people, objects and images that have contributed to the development of Aotearoa’s unique fashion identity.
O Nehera – University of Waikato Library Digital Collections
This includes manuscripts, maps, photographs, postcards, posters, university publications from the collections of the University of Waikato Library.
Historic Image Resource of Historic New Zealand aerial photographs from 1930-2010.
Maaori
A vast index of Māori names referred to in books and journals, including the names of boundaries, Māori individuals, canoes, trees, landmarks and geographical locations. Journals indexed include the Journal of the Polynesian Society and the Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand.
Iwidex
An index of information on Māori tribal history, tikanga ā-iwi and whakapapa drawn from a wide range of published and unpublished material including newspapers, serials, monographs and manuscripts. Compiled by the staff of Auckland City Libraries.
Maaori Land Court minute books
These have a great deal of information on tribal history and traditions. The Maaori Land Court minute books index indexes the minute books from 1865 to 1910 and is available at:
Waitangi Tribunal reports and publications:
These are a valuable source of tribal history and other information:
Whakamīharo Lindauer Online
A website dedicated to Gottfried Lindauer’s celebrated portraits of 19th century Maaori leaders: men and women who continue to inspire today.
Lindauer online project – homepage – Lindauer Online
Newspapers
Illustrated London News: New Zealand Content 1842-1902
A digital library of the New Zealand content published in the Illustrated London News from Vol. 1 (1842) to Vol. 121 (1902). The Illustrated London News was a weekly publication founded in 1842 as the world’s first illustrated newspaper.
This delivers digitised full-text New Zealand and Pacific newspapers, magazines and journals, books, and other formats. Also includes Maaori niupepa.
Family History
A search tool by Luke Howison for NZ-Focused genealogical research that collates results from government sites such as Archives NZ, Births, deaths and marriages, cemetery websites, military records and many other online history resources.
New Zealand family history records coordinated by Diane Wilson such as electoral and jury rolls, marriage records and speciality indexes.
Research Databases
A reminder to check out what databases your public library membership provides access to e.g.
Ancestry and other family history databases such as Find my past. Some of the subscriptions may be for in-house library use only.
Australia New Zealand Reference Centre Plus
Articles, books and journals often full text. Many references are from 1995 onwards. Use the publications authority link to find out the NZ journals and newspapers that are included.
PressReader
Over 7,000 newspapers and magazines from around the world are available and can be viewed just as they appear in print. You can toggle between original print view and a screen-optimized text view and can download up to five full newspapers or magazines every day. Date range 2006-