Polly Cantlon
Polly Cantlon, Senior Lecturer in Computer Science, University of Waikato
A history of graphic design in New Zealand 1880 – 1950
A History of printing in New Zealand 1830-1940.
Editor: R.A. McKay (Wellington Club of Printing House Craftsmen, [1940])
Description: 249 p., [41] leaves of plates : ill. (some col.), facsims., ports. ; 29 cm. Includes index.
One copy accompanied by miscellaneous ephemera pertaining to R. Coupland Harding.
Callmark: Z222 N5 M153 H
“I am completing research and beginning writing on a history of graphic design in NZ 1880-1950. At present I am interested in material from 1880-1900 roughly, that marks the transition of composing material for print from a printing trades based practice, to an art based practice, as it moved from jobbing printers to the first advertising agencies, and also as printers themselves began to employ ‘designers’.
This material includes both typography and illustration, in ephemera as much as books.”
Dianne Bardsley
Dr. Dianne Bardsley, Lexicographer and Director, New Zealand Dictionary Centre
Collecting words and citations in New Zealand English
Various resources.
“Although Samuel Johnson described lexicographers as ‘harmless drudges’, we are reminded that the test of a vocation is the love of the drudgery it involves. The vocation that Harry Orsman loved became wellknown with the publication of the Dictionary of New Zealand English and the sources he used have been revisited for subsequent New Zealand English publications. We examine some of these and look at what makes a useful citation for national dictionaries based on historical principles.”
Corin Higgs, Research Assistant, Statistics New Zealand / VUW School of Government
The Consumers Price Index
Corin Higgs
Inquiry into the cost of living in New Zealand, 1910-11
. / By J. W. Collins. (Wellington : Government Printer, 1912.)
Description: 29 p. ; 21 cm.
Callmark: HD7071 C712 T
The 9/- bonus : the Arbitration Court’s judgment challenged : being the substance of an address delivered at the Choral Hall, Christchurch / by J. McCombs. Christchurch, N.Z. : Printed by the Lyttelton Times, [1921]
Description: 7 p., [1] leaf of plates : col. map ; 21 cm.
Callmark: Roth Pamphlets 05-085
These items were of great use in researching the development of the Consumers Price Index. The Department of Labour’s Inquiry into the Cost of Living formed the basis of weightings in the Retail (now Consumers) Price Index. The McCombs pamphlet is an historical example of criticism of the Index and of its usage by the Arbitration Court in setting wages.