Heritage

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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

Offering online access to over 80 million 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.

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.

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.