This plan outlines the specific strengths and current collecting priorities for the Oral History and Sound Archive held by Auckland Council Libraries.

The Oral History and Sound Archive aims to document, preserve and share the diverse voices and sounds of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. By capturing oral histories and sound recordings, we seek to create an archive that reflects the cultural, social and historical diversity of the people in our region.

We strive to engage with communities and individuals in a way that honours their stories while creating accessible resources that help contribute to deeper understanding of Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland - from the past, in the present and into the future.

About the collection

Definitions

Oral history interviews collect detailed and descriptive recollections from a person about a specific time, place, event or experience. Interviews are in long-form, an average of two to three hours either on a topic or as a life history.

Sound archives are created by recording public events and festivals, presentations and author talks or readings and lectures. They are most often recordings of prepared material delivered on a topic. These archives may also include soundscapes.

History and formation of the collections

The foundation of our Oral History and Sound Archive comes from the amalgamation of previous Borough and City Council collections, donations from historical societies and community groups, and individual recording projects.

More recent additions to the collection include content created through Auckland Council projects and commissions. We are often the chosen repository for local and nationally-funded recording projects.

Geographic coverage

The collection includes stories of place from across Tāmaki Makaurau. There are some collections that relate to events and topics of local, national and international interest.

The collection includes voices reflecting on life in the early 20th century, with a strength in post-war mid-20th century stories.

Extent and formats

Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections holds approximately 4000 sound recording items in the Oral History and Sound Archive.

The original format of most material in the collection is magnetic tape recordings in reel-to-reel and cassette tapes of variable size. Early digitally-created material can be found on DVD or CDs.

The collection also includes video recordings on VHS tape, DVD and as .AVI or .MP4 formats.

New content is created in digital formats. These collection items include sound preservation standard quality .WAV files as well as .MP3 access files.

Analogue collections are actively format-shifted to ensure preservation and access.

All items have accompanying documentation which can include coded finding aids such as abstracts or transcripts, biographical information, research notes, use permissions, background articles and photographs. These are in both paper and digital format.

Strengths of the collection

Local history

The Oral History collections reflect life in suburban Tāmaki Makaurau through community and neighbourhood projects. These often include description of domestic life, observations of infrastructure such as transport, housing, schools, shops and community facilities. Local characters and places of signifcance are often noted as well as observations of now and then – changes across time.

These collections often include wider reflection on historical events of national or international importance within a person’s lifetime. Example collections include Dominion Road Stories (2003, 44 interviews).

Communities of interest

Oral histories are generated through communities of interest and as topic-based interviews. These collections are often created at times of significant celebrations or anniversaries or as a result of a commissioned project. These collections are valuable for understanding the specific interests of a community or group are often grounded in biographical information related to the narrators. Example collections include Chinese in New Zealand Oral History Foundation Projects (2003-16, 42 interviews).

Sound Archive

The sound archive includes the recordings of events, talks, music and soundscapes. These collections capture the moment of an event, performance or talk and are archived as historically  significant beyond the moment in time. Example collections include Going West Writers Festival (1996 to 2022, the full festival sessions).

Rapid response

These interviews primarily deal with community response to events or social issues. This category also includes “rapid response” projects that focus on a specific contemporary event or situation. Example collections include Kei Roto I te Muru: Inside the Bubble – COVID19 (2020, 32 interviews).

Current collecting priorities

Current collecting is prioritised. The aim is to build on existing collection strengths, fill gaps in collections, and respond to the changing needs of researchers now and in the future.

Support for ongoing or emerging projects includes:

• Māori urban experiences - mana whenua and mataawaka.
  
• Te reo Māori content as sound archives and oral histories.
  
• Documenting the experience of Pasifika communities.
  
• Documenting the experience of established and new diasporic communities.
  
• Documenting the experiences of people with disabilities.
  
• Projects that capture lesser-heard voices including the LBGTQI+ community.
  
• Community-led oral history recording projects of place (i.e. neighbourhoods and local history).
  

Ongoing priorities

Acquisitions in these areas build on our existing collection strengths:

• Oral history recording projects of place (i.e. neighbourhoods and local history).
• Collections related to literary history.
  

Exclusions

Material will be assessed for acquisition against existing collection strengths and priorities.

Exclusions and referrals may be made where other collecting institutions have definitive strengths in subject areas, such as military history and transport and technology.

The following will also not be collected:

• Material with low sound quality that effectively renders it inaudible.
  
• Material that does not have clear permission documentation for access or use.
  

Want to discuss a research query or donation?

Specialist staff are available to assist you with research questions or potential donation of materials. 

Learn more about our research services or find out how to donate to the heritage collections.