Iconic Magazines To Feature On Papers Past

Historic copies of iconic magazine the New Zealand Listener will be making their way to the Papers Past website following an agreement between the National Library and magazine owner Are Media.

The Listener is the most requested title for digitisation within the magazines and journals section of Papers Past. The website, which began in 2001, now has more than 8 million pages of material for the public to access. Featuring a collection of text items from New Zealand and the Pacific, the material is in five formats - newspapers, magazines and journals, letters and diaries, parliamentary papers, and books.

The agreement with Are Media also includes digitising historic copies of equally iconic magazine the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, at a date to be confirmed. The Listener will be the first digitised, with issues from 1939 to 1959 expected to be available on Papers Past next year.

“The Listener is of great historical and cultural value to New Zealand, spanning more than 80 years,” says National Library Director Content Services, Mark Crookston.

“Readers will see the changing nature of the Listener over time, reflecting the shift and growth of broadcasting. There’s also myriad historic events captured in the depth of writing the Listener has, spanning from World War II and including the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s conquering of Mt Everest, the emergence of rock and roll and the advent of television in all homes to accompany radio.

“We are delighted to be working towards having the Listener and Woman’s Weekly added to Papers Past. Both magazines are New Zealand icons as well as rich resources for researchers.”

Spanning more than 80 years, the Listener began in July 1939 as the Journal of the National Broadcasting Service, with the purpose of providing radio listeners with a printed weekly programme. With the introduction of television in June 1960, the Listener started publishing weekly TV listings. Alongside these listings, the Listener contained topical articles, editorials, letters to the editor and reviews, all covering the ‘political, cultural and literary life’ of New Zealand that it became known for.

The New Zealand Woman’s Weekly began in 1932 as the ‘journal devoted to the interests of women and the home.’ It has become the longest-running magazine in the country, adapting to the times throughout its history.

Are Media took over publishing the Listener and the Woman’s Weekly in 2020 and is pleased the digitisation to Papers Past will add value to researchers and the wider public.

“We are delighted that the National Library is honouring our print taonga this way,” says Listener editor Kirsty Cameron (Ngāpuhi, Pākehā).

“Both the Listener and the Woman’s Weekly reflect Aotearoa over the decades. To browse any issue is to get a snapshot into what was capturing our attention at that time. To have this content become available at any time, from anywhere in the world on Papers Past is a fitting next chapter.”

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