Oral History

Are you looking to find out what children ate for dinner in the 1920s? Or how people celebrated Christmas a hundred years ago? What impact did World War One have on the community, and how did people cope during the influenza pandemic of 1918?

Perhaps you are more interested in the experiences of settlers who came to New Zealand from Europe in the 1950s, or how the descendants of the first Pākehā settlers feel about their ancestors, or the powerful stories of kaumatua and kuia collected in the 1990s

The Wairarapa Archive has a rich store of memories within its large oral history collection. With recordings dating back to the 1980s, memories stretch back to World War One and beyond.

The original recordings were made on cassette tapes but these have been digitised and copies of most interviews are available on request.

The Wairarapa Archive has a small on-going oral history programme. If you are interested in contributing please contact the Wairarapa Archive staff. Click here to listen to our oral history collection from the 1918 influenza pandemic.