19th C records at Archives

In 1957, the government passed the Archives Act requiring departments to pass on their records to National Archives. Between 1990 and 1993, Wellington National Archives moved into the building they currently occupy and acted to protect the records in their collection by upgrading security. Up until then the records had been easily available to researchers in a minimally controlled environment.

Before the changeover, some records had been misplaced, some had been misappropriated. There has never been a full audit of the records. Occasionally, staff have been assigned a specific record group for retrospective checking. Resources are now fully committed to managing new records and the modern delight of digital records.

So be aware that some delicious pieces of history may not be available at the present time but may yet turn up at some unknown date if there was ever a full audit started, funded.