Discovering an intact library from the 19th century

Going into the Brancepeth Station Library was like suddenly being in the 19th century for Professor Lydia Wevers - someone had literally walked out the door 100 years ago and left it there.

The Brancepeth Station Library collection, containing more than 2000 volumes of popular fiction and general works, is a rare example of an intact 19th century library.

Victoria University Professor Lydia Wevers will explain the importance of the stained and scorched collection at her inaugural professorial lecture next week.

Her lecture will describe what this library tells us about the everyday lives of the readers and about the intellectual life of those living on a Wairarapa sheep farm in the 1890s.

"This project is a wonderful mix of social history and everyday life. It’s how you find out what people actually did in the past, particularly what their intellectual lives were like," says Professor Wevers, director of Victoria University's Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies.

The collection was gifted to the University Library in 1966 by the late Mr Hugh Beetham, of Brancepeth Station in the Wairarapa, then one of the largest properties in the region.

Victoria University Vice-Chancellor Professor Pat Walsh says Professor Wevers is an outstanding researcher, teacher, and leader of the Stout Research Centre.

"I am delighted to announce Professor Wevers' inaugural professorial lecture. Victoria's Inaugural Lecture series is an opportunity for new professors to provide family, friends, colleagues and the wider community with an insight to their specialist area of study. It is also an opportunity for the University to celebrate and acknowledge our valued professors," says Professor Walsh.

Professor Wevers' lecture topic coincides with the book she is currently writing about the library collection, and she says the research has attracted attention outside New Zealand too. "The Stout Centre is about internationalising New Zealand Studies, and connecting it around the world. The Brancepeth Station project has an interesting international dimension. I've already contributed to a book coming out with Palgrave, and have published a couple of articles in Australia. It's great that something local and provincial can get international attention," she says.

The public lecture runs from 6-8pm in the Hunter Council Chamber, on Kelburn Parade, on Tuesday 20 May. To RSVP, please email rsvp@vuw.ac.nz  with 'Wevers' in the subject line.