Archives Research Guides & Resources
Please note that, while still useful for researchers, all of the following archives research guides and resources are currently being reviewed and updated; we hope to have the updated material available by the end of 2025.
In 2025 our digital collections were moved to our new Recollect website, Kei Muri Māpara. As a result of this, some of the website information and URL links in the guides are no longer current.
Please do not hesitate to ask an archivist for further research assistance or clarification via our enquiry form.
- Acknowledgement & Citation Guidelines Last updated Apr 2022
- Archival Advice for the MCNZ Connexion Last updated Apr 2021
- Children's Homes & Care Records Last updated Apr 2022
- Church Buildings & Land Last updated Apr 2022
- Deed of Gift Agreement Form (for private donors gifting records to MCNZ Archives) Last updated Dec 2021
- Early New Zealand Wesleyan Missionary Registers Last updated Sep 2022
- Family History & Whakapapa Last updated Apr 2022
- Home Missionaries Last updated Apr 2022
- Lay Preachers Last updated Apr 2022
- Methodist Terminology Last updated Apr 2022
- Ministers Last updated Apr 2022
- Newspapers Last updated May 2022
- Websites Last updated Apr 2022
- World War One Chaplains & Ministers Last updated Apr 2022
Recommended Links for New Zealand Methodist Research
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Our Websites
The Methodist Church of New Zealand Archives Websites
▪ Kei Muri Māpara Recollect Website
The Methodist Church of New Zealand Websites
▪ The Methodist Church of New Zealand Home
▪ Te Taha Māori (holds many historical records of significance in their own archival storage in Auckland).
▪ Methodist Subsites (links to all MCNZ-affiliated websites, including those of individual parishes, regional missions, academic, and other organisational bodies of the Church).
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Other Archives and Libraries
▪ Hocken Archives (most Otago and Southland Methodist parish and church archives are held in the Hocken Archives in Dunedin).
▪ John Kinder Theological Library Website and Pūmotomoto Recollect Website
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Newspapers and Serials
Available online via our Recollect Site
We've digitised and made available historical editions of New Zealand Methodist newspapers, and many other New Zealand Methodist serials, on our Recollect website, here.
Due to the high volume of material, this digitisation process is ongoing, and new editions are added to Recollect weekly - so do please be sure to check the site regularly to keep up to date with what is available online.
Available in our Reading Room
Hard copies of New Zealand Methodist newspapers and serials that we haven't yet made available online may also be consulted in our Reading Room (by appointment only), or we can digitise specific editions and articles, or conduct research into them on your behalf, via our prepaid remote reference service.
Methodist Newspaper and Magazine Indexes
These indexes to New Zealand Methodist content in Methodist Newspapers and Magazines may also be of interest and assistance to you.
▪ Index to Wesleyan Methodist Magazine (UK) 1814-1869 by Rev. Major Albert Rugby Pratt
▪ NZ Methodist Newspaper Index 1948 to 1986
General NZ Newspapers and Magazines
General newspapers and serials can also include information about the New Zealand Methodist Church and its people. Historical editions of many titles can be searched on the National Library's Papers Past website.
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Other Useful Resources
Historical information about people who worked for, or were closely associated with MCNZ
▪ A Register of Ministers, Home Missionaries, Stationed Māori Ministers, Deaconesses, & Missionary Sisters of the Methodist Church of New Zealand compiled by Donald Phillipps, containing the names of all who have served from the beginning of the Wesleyan Mission to Aotearoa in 1822, to those who entered Ministry at the 1940 Conference.
▪ In Memoriam: Deacons, Deaconesses, and Overseas Workers of the Methodist Church of New Zealand (Revised 2022)
▪ In Memoriam: Home Missionaries of the Methodist Church of New Zealand (Revised 2022)
▪ In Memoriam: Ministers and Probationers who have exercised Ministry in New Zealand and were still in the Methodist Ministry at the Date of their Death (Revised 2022)
▪ Methodist Ministers' Family Members who signed the 1893 Women's Suffrage Petition compiled by MCNZ Archives (Published 2017)
▪ The Order of St. Stephen: Information and List of Members compiled by MCNZ Archives (Published 2020)
Historical information about places and organisations associated with MCNZ
▪ Canterbury Methodist Churches by Jo Smith, MCNZ Archives (Revised 2014)
▪ Methodist Cemeteries in New Zealand compiled by MCNZ Archives (Published 2012)
▪ The History of Methodist Social Services in Aotearoa New Zealand by Carol Barron (Published 2022)
Historical information relating to Methodism in Aotearoa New Zealand
▪ Layman's Handbook by Rev. G. I. Laurenson (Published 1970)
▪ Methodist Marriage Ceremony Information from 1883, 1947, and 1977
▪ Methodist Church (in Aotearoa) by Tim Shoebridge, Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand (Revised 2018)
▪ Methodism in Aotearoa NZ (MCNZ Information Pack)
▪ The History of Methodism in New Zealand by Rev. William Morley (Published 1900)
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NZ Methodists in World War One
A list of known Methodist World War One Rolls of Honour and Memorials in New Zealand Methodist Churches (as at 2015), compiled by MCNZ Archives volunteers during the WW100 commemorations is available online here.
Other material compiled by the volunteers at that time includes:
▪ Newspaper Cuttings Methodist Ministers' Sermons (1917)
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NZ Methodist Centenary (1922)