22 Digital Resources

Captures the details of more than 38 million people, and provides insights into life in the 1920s.

The 1921 Census of England & Wales is a population census taken in June 1921 and paints a picture of the population nearly 100 years ago. It holds information on every household, vessel, institution and overseas residencies that were part of England and Wales in 1921 plus the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

Available only in the Palmerston North City Libraries.

The link will only work if you use a library computer.

A resource for family history researchers.

Ancestry Library Edition is a genealogy database that covers billions of records from census data to passenger lists, and photos to family trees.

This link will only work if you use a library computer or a device connected through the library wi-fi.

A great starting point for anybody researching notable figures in history.

Biography In Context offers authoritative reference content alongside magazine and journal articles, primary sources, videos, audio podcasts, and images. Covering a vast array of people from historically significant figures to present-day newsmakers, it’s continuously updated to ensure students have access to the latest information.

The Critical Issues Collection provides online access to books addressing the big issues facing New Zealand today: housing, inequality, climate change, child poverty, the environment, migration, and more.

One authoritative resource of life on these islands, from earliest beginnings to present day. Comprising 90+ titles from over 30 years of history and biography publishing from Bridget Williams Books.

This popular encyclopedia provides up-to-date and age appropriate information for patrons of all ages.

Discover encyclopedia articles, journals and periodicals, multimedia, primary sources, atlas, dictionary and other resources that support research at all levels.

Explore 300 years of history through local, regional and national newspapers from the British Library’s collection.

Offering online access to millions of pages of British and Irish newspapers dating from the 1700s to the early 2000s. The British Newspaper Archive is a fantastic resource for everyone interested in history and for family historians. Newspapers from the British Library’s vast collection are scanned daily, making it one of the largest online collections of newspapers anywhere in the world.

You need to create an account to access this resource.

Available only in the Palmerston North City Libraries.

The link will only work if you use a library computer.

Palmerston North City Council archives hold records on the development of the city from 1878. You can search a list of what we hold on this database.

Archives Central is a fully-searchable catalogue of Council Archives, including a growing collection of digitised archives, sourced from participating New Zealand local authorities.
The purpose of Archives Central is to make Council archives more accessible for the community and easier to use.
Click on the logos above to view your chosen council’s homepage and search their listings; or use the search box at the top right of this page to search over the whole site.

Club Sandwich is a Palmerston North City Library initiative, connecting you with clubs in Palmerston North.

Browse the Club Sandwich website for clubs that suit your taste, then contact a club through the site, or by using the contact details provided on a club’s profile. Clubs can register a club profile, manage and update their details on Club Sandwich for free.

The community archives hold records of local families, businesses and organisations. You can search a list of what we hold on this database.

This database lists the Community Archives and Research Files that are held in the Ian Matheson City Archives. The Community Archives are records of local organisations, businesses, individuals and their families, and are generally primary documents. Research files are local history topic folders and mainly contain secondary sources of information.

A constantly updated family history and genealogy website.

Find My Past World Edition is a searchable online archive of over 13 billion records. Everything from parish and school records to censuses, and from migration records to military collections from across the globe.

Available only in the Palmerston North City Libraries.

The link will only work if you use a library computer.

Integrates news, global viewpoints, reference materials, country information, primary source documents, videos, statistics, and more in a single search.

Global Issues offers international viewpoints on a broad spectrum of global issues, topics, and current events. Featured are hundreds of continuously updated issue and country portals that bring together a variety of specially selected, relevant sources for analysis of these issues. Rich multimedia - including podcasts, video, and interactive graphs - enhance each portal.

The National Library of New Zealand's searchable database that contains abstracts and descriptions of articles from over 1000 New Zealand periodicals and newspapers.

The National Library of New Zealand's searchable database that contains abstracts and descriptions of articles from about 1000 New Zealand periodicals and newspapers, including some from earlier in the 20th century to the current day.

On Manawatū Heritage you can search, share and download thousands of photographs, archives and other items about the Manawatū.

Manawatū Heritage is a living heritage tool which encourages active participation from the community by accepting digital uploads and written articles from the public. By creating a log-in, you can upload your own stories and photographs to the repository as well as comment on individual items, share your findings via email and social media, and download low or high resolution copies of out of copyright materials.

Learn about Palmerston North through themed heritage tours. This app allows the whole family to explore our history by foot, bicycle or car.

Manawatū Heritage Tours App brings together community-initiated research, images and content from the award-winning Manawatū Heritage digital repository. Mobile technology helps people to explore Palmerston North's rich and often unknown history. Current tours include Women's Places, Military Tour (Walking), and Military Tour (Driving).

Explore amazing adventures in science, nature, culture, archaeology and space.

Includes the complete run of the magazine from 2009 to the present. Provides authoritative, age appropriate digital content suitable for younger readers.

A collection containing digital content from National Geographic.

National Geographic Virtual Library includes the complete archive of National Geographic magazines from 1888 to the present, National Geographic : People, Animals and the World and National Geographic Kids. Along with a cross-searchable collection of National Geographic books, maps, images and videos.

Explore Aotearoa New Zealand's audiovisual archive.

Ngā Taonga and Palmerston North City Library invite you to explore Aotearoa New Zealand's audiovisual history. Previously known as MediaNet, Ngā Taonga is Aotearoa New Zealand's audiovisual archive. Explore an ever-growing local collection of films, radio, television, sound recordings, props and documents spanning 120 years of Aotearoa New Zealand's sound and moving image history.

An online collection of digitally scanned New Zealand material from the 19th and 20th centuries.​

Papers Past provides access to digitised newspapers, periodicals, letters, diaries and parliamentary papers from all regions covering the years 1839 to 1945. Includes the Manawatu Standard from 1883 to 1945.

Provides access to scholarly journals and magazines that analyse and contribute to popular culture.

The Popular Culture Studies database offers useful information for researchers in social science, history, art or liberal arts courses.

Online access to thousands of newspapers and magazines.

PressReader provides unlimited digital access to over 7000 newspapers and magazines from 120 countries (including New Zealand) in 60 languages on your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. As well as current issues, there are back issues available.

Stuff Ltd has restricted access to their magazine and newspaper titles through PressReader. Their titles which include the Dominion Post and the Manawatu Standard are no longer available to be read from home, and are only available using a Library computer, or using a phone or device on the Library wifi.

All other titles by other Publishers are unaffected.

Search nineteenth and twentieth-century archives from the Smithsonian.

This database provides access to the following collections from the Smithsonian, Evolution of flight 1784 - 1991, Trade Literature and Merchandising of Industry, World's Fairs and Expositions : Visions of Tomorrow, and the Smithsonian and Air & Space magazine archive.