Nelson Historical Society Journal

Nelson Historical Society Journal

The first issue of the Journal of the Nelson Historical Society Incorporated was published in November 1955 with James Paterson as the editor. The succeeding five issues of Volume One appeared between 1957 and 1964. Conditions for the inclusion of material were formalised in 1959, with only original material to be accepted. Two further volumes were published between 1966 and 1980. Dr C R Barnicoat was the editor from 1966 to 1977 and was succeeded by Margaret Brown.

In 1981 the Marlborough Historical Society joined the enterprise, and the title changed to Journal of the Nelson and Marlborough Societies. Two volumes were published between 1981 and 1995, with Dawn Smith editor between 1986 and 2014. Karen Stade became editor in 2015.

The Marlborough Historical Society withdrew in 1996, and the title became the Nelson Historical Society Journal, with publication ongoing. The Journal has undergone several name changes:

Journal of the Nelson Historical Society (vols. 1-3)
Journal of the Nelson and Marlborough Historical Societies (vol 1-2)
Nelson Historical Society Journal (vols 6- . The previous 2 volumes were taken as vols 4 & 5 in the journal run)

Digitisation of the journal

Digitisation of the Nelson Historical Society's journals was a collaborative project between Friends of the Nelson Library and the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre (NZETC), later known as The New Zealand Electronic Text Collection. The NZETC was a large online collection of New Zealand and Pacific Island texts and materials developed by Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Library in 2002 and hosted by them until 2024. Editions of the journals from Vol 1 (1955) to Vol 7, No. 4 (2012) were digitised and made accessible through the NZETC site.

In 2024, the NZETC content was transferred to the National Library of New Zealand. They have continued to enable online access to the NZETC through their web archive. The collection was transferred as a static collection and no additions are planned.

Finding articles or subjects within the online journals

Browse the journal issues below, OR
use Index New Zealand to locate articles (select search, then use the advanced search option, enter your search terms in the top box, use the drop-down menu to change the second box to search for Source Journal, and enter Nelson Historical Journal as an "all the words" search), OR
use a search engine such as Google: enter your search terms and add NZETC. Restrict the search to pages from New Zealand, OR
search the NZ Web Archive directly.

Read more information about the NZETC and the NZ Web Archive on the National Library of New Zealand website.

Although most textual content in the journals is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 New Zealand license, permission from the owner or copyright holder must be obtained to re-use any images reproduced in the Journals. NZETC texts can be downloaded in two different formats for your private use or study: Epub, and TEI-XML.

Journal of the Nelson Historical Society

Journal of the Nelson and Marlborough Historical Societies

Nelson Historical Society Journal

Nelson Historical Society Journal from 2013 onwards

Printed editions of the Nelson Historical Society Journal from Volume 1, 1955 - Volume 7 No. 5, 2013 and onwards are available through Nelson Public Libraries and Tasman District Libraries. Some back and current issues of the Journal are available for sale through the society, and the latest edition is available for purchase through local booksellers.

Nelson Historical Society Journal