Welcome to the blog of the J.C.Beaglehole Room (JCBR).
What we aim to do with this blog is to keep you informed of whatever magic is afoot in the JCBR: events, displays, seminars, particularly exciting new acquisitions, profiles of particular collections and any other resources which we think you might like to know about.
For anyone unfamiliar with the JCBR, it is the home of Victoria University Library’s Special Collections. These consist of rare books, archives, manuscripts, maps, newspapers, artefacts…all manner of material both published and un-published which reflect the research, social and cultural life and interests of Victoria University of Wellington.
John Cawte Beaglehole
The Room was established in 1973 to create a focal point for scholarly research within the Library. It was named in honour of John Cawte Beaglehole, who was a professor of history at Victoria University and who was awarded an Order of Merit in 1970 in recognition of his substantial body of work on Captain James Cook, not the least of which was the editing of Cook’s diaries. According to the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, he was the first New Zealander since Ernest Rutherford to be awarded this honour.
New JCBR Reading Room
We have recently moved into our fourth home, at the south end of Level 4 in the Rankine Brown Building, where our collections now live in a climate-controlled environment, and as well as some wonderful resources to support and inspire research, our readers have one of the most spectacular views in Wellington.
Kia ora ra
Sue