Tapuaka - Heritage & Archive Collections

Tapuaka is the Māori name for the heritage & archive collections at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington. A tapuaka is a particular knot that was used traditionally by Māori to tie the punga (anchor) of a waka (canoe). Thus the name Tapuaka relates to the idea of our university as ‘Te Herenga Waka’ – the ‘hitching post’, our people as the 'waka', and us as the anchor knot connecting our past to the present.

Tapuaka’s mission is to preserve and make accessible the social and cultural history of our university for current and future generations. We also hold many other collections of archives, developed over time to support teaching and research at Te Herenga Waka and in the wider community. Our collections are a treasure trove of historical materials that includes rare books, manuscripts, photographs, maps, pamphlets, objects, and other unique items.

These collections, both published and unpublished, can be accessed via the J.C. Beaglehole Reading Room on the fourth floor of the Kelburn Library.

Published material can be searched via Te Waharoa: https://tewaharoa.victoria.ac.nz/

Archives and manuscripts can be searched via ArchivesSpace: https://archives.victoria.ac.nz/

Digitised material can be searched via Recollect: https://wgtn.recollect.co.nz/