The Methodist Church of New Zealand Archives

The Methodist Church of New Zealand Archives is staffed by two experienced archivists, Katherine Doig (National Archivist) and Emanuella de Ruiter (Digital Archivist).

The archivists work alongside a small and dedicated team of highly-skilled and knowledgeable digital volunteers, who provide invaluable assistance by researching, writing about, indexing, and transcribing the digital collections housed on our Recollect website, Kei Muri Māpara, here.

We also employ the services of a specialist archival conservator on a contract basis, Stephen Doig, to undertake work on collection holdings in need of preservation or remediation.

Conservator Stephen Doig hard at work in the repository of Kei Muri Māpara.

We care for and make available records created by The Methodist Church of New Zealand considered to be of long term historical value, and also the personal papers and publications of those individuals who worked for or were closely associated with the Methodist Church of New Zealand (whether in Aotearoa or as part of overseas missions).

We also give advice to the Church's governance and administrative bodies, synods, parishes, and missions on archiving their records, and offer research assistance to internal and external enquirers about our holdings via our remote reference and copying service.

We assist researchers with our archives in-person in our Reading Room in Papanui, Christchurch (open by appointment only), and are involved in outreach activities (both online and in-person) that facilitate engagement with and awareness of the unique and precious documentary taonga that we care for.

In addition to the careful arrangement and description (organisation and cataloguing) of new deposits of material accepted into our collection, we run an active archival conservation and digitisation programme to ensure that our most frequently-used holdings and also those archives in formats most at risk of degradation or loss (such as magnetic media audiovisual holdings), are preserved and safeguarded for future generations of New Zealanders to enjoy and learn from.

We also maintain a Recollect website Kei Muri Māpara, that allows our digital collections to be browsed and researched by anyone, anywhere, at any time, here.

An open plan drawer in the repository with a blue print from Kei Muri Māpara's collection.

We hold over 1.5 km of original records including:

▪ Architectural plans and specifications of MCNZ buildings and churches

▪ Baptism registers and marriage registers (dating from 1830 onwards, and accessible up to 1925), cemetery records

▪ Parish Archives Collection consisting of minutes, correspondence, circuit schedule books, membership rolls, records of committees administering the church or parish, sports clubs, Methodist Women’s Fellowship, Sunday School, Bible Class, temperance, fireside groups, and choirs (excluding only Otago and Southland parish records, which are held by the Hocken Archives)

▪ Personal Papers and Historical Records Collection which includes private papers such as diaries, correspondence, sermons, historical research and ephemera (dating from 1817 onwards)

▪ Photographs Collection containing tens of thousands of images of people, events, and church buildings

▪ Records of national Methodist Conference and national committees, ecumenical committees, departments, divisions, funds, and boards (including Home and Overseas Mission records).

▪ Records of the regional Methodist missions across New Zealand, including records of Methodist Children's Homes and other Methodist-administered charitable aid and welfare institutions.

▪ Audiovisual, Objects, and Digital Collections

Plus: a wide variety of Methodist publications (from NZ and abroad), collection finding aids, and indexes.

Compactus (mobile) shelving in Kei Muri Māpara's secure climate-controlled repository. 

Our digital collections are available to browse and research on our new Recollect website, Kei Muri Māpara, here.

We invite you to delve into our fascinating and extensive digital collections of newspapers, publications, photographs, memorabilia, manuscripts, official proceedings and reports, and audio-visual material dating from 1817 to the present day.

This is often your best first port of call when commencing research into our collection holdings.

We add new items and collections weekly, so please visit the site often – and don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you have any questions or comments, we’re here to help!

A screenshot of our Recollect site's landing page.

Subject-specific research guides are available here with in-depth coverage of relevant collection holdings.

Extensive collections listings of our archival holdings (both offline and online) are able to be browsed by keyword here. 

For further assistance, ask an archivist via our enquiry form.

Remote Reference Service (Research and Copying) Charges

A prepaid flat rate fee per half hour of archivist's research and digitisation time applies for our remote reference service. Requests can be made via our enquiry form.

Generally, we can offer up to an hour's paid research and copying per individual enquiry.

We will provide you with a quote (and details of how to submit payment to us) in our initial reply to your enquiry.

We offer up to an hour's free research assistance and copying to those researching parish land histories. Additional archivist time required will be charged for at our usual flat fee rate, or alternatively you may choose to make an appointment to visit us in person to conduct your own research into your parish archives, free of charge. 

A large bound register containing land deed information cared for by Kei Muri Māpara.

Our detailed guidelines for NZ Methodist parishes and associated organisations on creating, appraising and archiving records are available in PDF format here.

Please do not hesitate to contact the National Archivist if you are unsure about what to do, or if you need advice on record preservation, disaster preparedness planning, or any other archives-related matters.

If you are intending to transfer records into our care, please ensure that you contact us for advice before delivering or sending the records to us. 

We need to ensure that the nature and condition of the material you are intending to send is appropriate to be accepted into our collection for permanent safekeeping, and if it is deemed appropriate, we also need you to capture and record as much descriptive and contextual information as possible about the records and their provenance for us, prior to their transfer into our custody.

If we receive unsolicited donations of archives and records not considered to be of long term value to MCNZ, these may be disposed of by us without notice. 

If you are a private donor, rather than an officer acting on behalf of a Methodist Connexional organisation, we will also need you to fill out our Deed of Gift Agreement Form.

Bays of archives boxes stored in Kei Muri Māpara's repository.

We moved to a new purpose-built archive building with state of the art environmental controls within the new complex of buildings built for the Methodist Administration Division in Langdons Road, Christchurch, in 2018.

Our facilities include a large repository for physical archival storage with monitored security and climate controls, an archival digitisation suite now equipped to safely digitise most archival formats in-house to best-practice standard, an office for the archivists to undertake their work, a public reading room and reference library (open by appointment only), a kitchenette with a lounge for staff and visitors to use, and an accessible bathroom.

The name Kei Muri Māpara was gifted to the Archives for the new building by Te Taha Māori. Its meaning is:

 Kei beyond the present, the former, the previous

Muri looking back

Māpara is a place in time, the writings, stories and reflections of history

Some of the equipment in our archival digitisation suite at Kei Muri Māpara. 

Our Reading Room is open by prior appointment only, please use our enquiry form to request an appointment, including as much information as possible about the archives that you are wishing to view in person. 

Appointments are generally available between 10am and 4pm Monday to Thursday, but due to staff time constraints we are unfortunately not able to cater for 'walk-up' appointments.

Appointments are not available on Fridays, weekends, public holidays, during the Christmas/New Year period, or on Easter Tuesday.

It is free of charge to view archives in person, and to make copies of unrestricted archives via handheld digital devices (so long as a flash is not used). If you require the archivists to make digital copies of items on your behalf, then our prepaid flat rate digitisation fee applies (a 10 working day turnaround applies for these digitisation requests).

Physical Address

54 Langdons Road, Christchurch 8053, New Zealand (open by prior appointment only).

Parking  

Car parking (including mobility parking) is available in front of Weteriana House, 50 Langdons Road. Please see the map below.

A map showing our location (shaded).

If you (or a member of your whānau) spent time in Methodist care, the Citizen's Advice Bureau's new Kōnae My Records website is the very best place for you to find out more information about the records that we may hold at Kei Muri Māpara (The Methodist Church of New Zealand Archives) relating to this time.

You can also find out more information on Kōnae about the process of requesting copies of your care records from us (or those of a whānau member) - and submit your records request to us (and to any other organisations involved in this care) directly via the site, here.

Kōnae also has information about the support services and resources available to help you through this process, which we understand can be challenging for many. 

Under The Privacy Act 2020, we are required to respond to your records request within 20 working days; once we receive your request, you should receive a response from us within 10 working days - however it may take longer than 10 working days for us to deliver copies of your records to you. This is because we are required by The Privacy Act to ensure that sensitive personal information relating to other named individuals is removed from the copies of the records that you receive. This process can take time, especially if we hold a lot of material relating to your time (or your whānau member's time) in care.

Kōnae also has information to assist those wishing to make a claim for redress for abuse suffered by individuals while in Methodist care. You can also learn more on our website about the Methodist Church’s Resolution and Redress Process for survivors.

If you'd prefer to submit your care records request to us via our website that's no problem at all - please feel free to use our enquiry form. It helps us if you are able to include in your request any details that you remember about the dates of your care, and the names of the places and people involved in your care. If you could also include the name or names you were known by during that time, this will help ensure that we can find and provide all of the relevant material about you that we hold at The Methodist Church of New Zealand Archives.

Please note that we will also need to sight proof of your identity, prior to commencing research into your request. We will provide you with the details of how to do this when we receive your request.