We're not a ‘collecting’ archive and do not have personal papers, diaries, or manuscripts from private individuals. We're not a library and don’t have full editions of books, newspapers, or electoral rolls.

Some of the things we don't have include:

• Birth, death and marriage certificates

• Newspapers

• Books or published works

• Individual files on residential properties or houses (unless it was a state house or a government building)

• World War Two personnel files or personnel files from later conflicts

• Family diaries or personal papers

• Complete sets of electoral rolls

• Official census records

• Individual pension files

• Individual tax returns

• Passport applications

• Car registrations

• Complete Sāmoan land and title records, especially after 1920

• Films, photographs, or artworks not created for, or by, the government

Many records haven't been kept. This can be because of disaster, human error or decisions made in the past about their long-term value. We only hold around 3-4% of everything ever created by the New Zealand Government.

More of our archives are being digitised and made available online.

Archives that we have digitised so far include:

• Passenger lists

• Probates more than 50 years old

• Military archives from the New Zealand Wars, South African War and First World War military personnel files, unit diaries and military claims

• National Collection of War Art

• Police Gazettes more than 70 years old

• Naturalisation information

• Land information, including crown grants and deeds indexes, crown purchase deeds, historic maps and roll plans, surveyor field books, Māori reserves, claims, confiscations, and more

• Public works maps and plans

• National Publicity Studios photography

• Railways negatives

• Blue Books

• Films and photographs from the National Film Unit

• Constitutional archives such as Te Tiriti o Waitangi

• Māori Land Court Minute Books. These are only available in our reading rooms

• German Sāmoa archives, registers, and village files

• Education Board archives and Education Review Office reports

• Chinese immigration information, such as poll tax books and re-entry files

• Politicians’ papers

• Canterbury Association Shipping Papers

Individual archives of cultural and historical significance, found on our online search engine Archway or on our Flickr or YouTube pages.

More information about what is available online can be found on our What's been digitised page.

Archives that are digitised on Archway show a 'view or download digitised record' link. More information about how to find archives can be found on our Using our online search page.

Our Auckland archive has records created by government agencies within the old Auckland Provincial Government boundaries. This includes Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty and Poverty Bay.

Noteworthy records in this archive include those of the:

• Auckland Provincial Government (1853-1876),

• the Agent General Auckland (1865-1878),

• and the archives of every Native School/Māori School in New Zealand (1872-1984).

Frequently-used archives include:

• Family-related court archives. Such as divorce files, maintenance registers, probate and bankruptcy files from courts in the top half of the North Island

• Māori land information from the Māori Land Courts and Māori Land Boards in the top half of the North Island. Including minute books, alienation files and confiscations

• Land registrations (deeds system), crown land administration, and early survey plans. These cover the top half of the North Island

• Health records from public institutions in Northland, Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty. This includes public hospitals and Carrington, Kingseat, Tokanui and Raventhorpe psychiatric hospitals

• School archives from some primary schools in the former Auckland Education Board district

• The Waikato Immigration Scheme and other Special Settlement schemes

• Gold mining from the Hauraki and Puhipuhi mining districts

• Railways information

• Public Works/Ministry of Works and Development archives

• Customs, including early correspondence from 1865-1915. These cover Chinese poll tax, shipping report books and passenger arrivals by ship from 1915 to 1965 and plane from 1939 to 1965

More information about what we have in our Auckland archive can be found in our research guides.

Wellington is the largest of our four archives and holds the record from the head offices of central government. The information in these records cover the whole of the country. We also have regional archives for the lower half of the North Island, including:

• Taranaki

• Whanganui

• Hawkes Bay

• Manawatū

• Wairarapa

• Wellington

as well as some from Marlborough and Nelson.

Frequently-used archives include:

• Immigration information

• War archives, including the New Zealand Wars, the South African War and First World War military personnel files, First and Second World War unit diaries, Defence Department archives, and maps and plans

• Coroner’s inquests into deaths

• Land information including deeds, crown grants and purchases, maps and plans, minute books, surveyor field books, block files, raupatu archives, aerial mapping, photography and more

• Family-related court archives such as divorce files, maintenance registers, probate and bankruptcy files from courts in the lower half of the North Island

• Archives of cultural significance to Māori. Such as the Māori Land Court Minute Books, whakapapa information, Māori Affairs archives, and more

• Citizenship and naturalisation information

• Health, mental health and welfare records

• Police, prisons, and other law-related archives

• Politicians’ papers

• Railways and public works maps and plans, including highways, buildings, and other works

• Government employment and work-related archives

• Education Board, school, and early university archives

• Audiovisual archives, including films from the National Film Unit, National Publicity Studios photography, and photography from a range of government organisations

• Artwork including the National Collection of War Art. As well as school journal illustrations, patents and copyright, and railways and health posters

More information about what we have in our Wellington archive can be found in our research guides.

Our Christchurch archive has archives created by government organisations in the Canterbury and Westland regions, as well as some from Marlborough and Nelson.

Our most significant holdings are the records of the Canterbury Association (1848- 1853) and the Canterbury Provincial Government (1853-1876).

Frequently-used archives include:

• Land registration (Deeds System) records, Crown Land administration records and early survey plans covering the top half of the South Island

• Gold mining and coal mining records from Westland

• Family-related court records (e.g. divorce files, maintenance registers, probate and bankruptcy files), and criminal and civil case records, from all courts in Canterbury and Westland

• Health records from public institutions in Canterbury and Westland (including public maternity hospitals, Sunnyside, Templeton, and Seaview psychiatric hospitals, Cashmere Sanatorium, Queen Mary Hospital, Hanmer Springs)

• School records from (mostly closed) schools in Canterbury and Westland

• Railways records

We also hold some local government records under contract from the Canterbury Regional Council (Environment Canterbury), including legacy archives such as those of the Lyttelton Harbour Board.

More detailed information about what we have in our Christchurch archive can be found in our research guides.

Our Dunedin archive has records created by government organisations in the Otago and Southland regions. This includes Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Sub-Antarctic Islands.

Noteworthy records in this office include the Otago and Southland Provincial Government from the late 1840s to 1876.

Frequently-used archives include:

• Land information, including deeds and land transfer indexes and registers, and maps

• Court records, such as divorce files, maintenance registers, probate and bankruptcy files

• Health records from public institutions in Otago and Southland, including Seacliff Hospital and Dunedin Hospital. Many of these are restricted so you'll need permission to view them

• Gold and coal mining information, including maps

• Immigration information, especially of non-British subjects arriving under the Immigration Restrictions Acts

• Railways, including maps and plans

School records for Otago are held by the Hocken Library. Invercargill City Libraries and Archives hold Southland school archives.

More information about what we have in our Dunedin archive can be found in our research guides.