Macmillan Brown Library
Closed Access Collections
(level one of the library, accessible to library staff only)
Items in this collection display on the Library Catalogue as "Ask at Service Desk, Library use only".
How to request items from the Closed Access Collections
The core collection of the Macmillan Brown library is that which was left to the University in 1935 by John Macmillan Brown and this forms the base of the library's closed access collection. Macmillan Brown's collection of about 15,000 volumes reflected his interests in New Zealand and Pacific societies, their history, literature, mythology and social life. From 1935 the library was developed primarily as an arts, social sciences and humanities research level collection devoted to New Zealand , but from 1985 the geographic range was enlarged once more to include Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia.
The New Zealand collection of published materials is now large, including books, periodicals and pamphlets of all kinds, and from the mid 1970s increased greatly in range and depth as collecting intensified. There are now significant holdings of reprinted Māori Land Court Records and of other photocopied materials relating to Māori.
The older Pacific Islands collections are rich in ethnography and anthropology, and in the literature of exploration, description and travel. Since 1985 the library has also vigorously expanded into collecting a wide range of official and government publications from the Pacific Island states. The library has begun to acquire the microfilm publications of the Pacific Manuscripts Bureau.
The Macmillan Brown Library collects materials in all languages, and has a policy of permanent retention. Donations of all kinds of publications and original materials are welcome.