August events at National Library

The Team from Alexander Turnbull Library

Free events at the National Library during early August. Most events are in or very near the foyer, and free. You can find more information on our website: natlib.govt.nz...

Tivaevae: a Cook Islands Research Framework

Date: Thursday 6 August 2020, 12pm to 1pm
Teremoana Maua – Hodges will share with us how Cook Island women create their beautifully embroidered bedspread ‘Tivaevae’. A form of artistic quilting traditionally made by Polynesian women.

Meeting Worlds of Words- a Fulbright experience in Arizona, USA
Date: Tuesday 11 August 5.30pm drinks and nibbles 6pm talk.
Dr Nicola Daly will share her experience at the World of Words Center at the University of Arizona in Austin, Texas. The Center aims to build bridges across global cultures through children’s and adolescent literature.

Rugby League: a New Zealand history
Date: Wednesday 12 August 12.10pm - 1pm (Lunchtime talk)
In this talk, historian Ryan Bodman will explore the value of social media as a 21st century history-research tool. Over the past five years, Ryan has been researching and writing Rugby League: A New Zealand History, which is a social and cultural history of the football code in New Zealand. As part of this project, he has developed a social media account under the same name, which promotes public engagement with his research outputs and has brought a collaborative component to his research process. In this talk, Ryan will explore the use of social media in the development of his book, paying particular attention to the value of social media to academic historians seeking to engage with people from outside of the university-setting.

Singing the trail: the story of mapping Aotearoa New Zealand
Date: Thursday 13 August 5.30pm start.
John McCrystal tells the story of Aotearoa New Zealand through its maps – and the stories of the explorers who made those maps
John begins his tale with a focus on oral maps made by early Polynesian and Maori settlers: waypoints, lists of places in songs, chants, karakia and stories that showed direction. Centuries later came the great navigators, Abel Tasman and then James Cook. And finally it was the turn of the surveyors, explorers, rockhounds, gold diggers and politicians to negotiate the internal detail.