College and Research Libraries T h e Alexander Turnbull Library BY L O D A MAE DAVIS FO R F I V E W E E K S I enjoyed the hospi-tality of the Alexander T u r n b u l l Li- brary in Wellington, New Zealand, while studying their collection of works on the culture of the Polynesian islands of the South Pacific. T o most of us, these are Utopian isles where manna falls from heaven into the waiting mouth of the traveler and work is all play. But to the New Zealanders they are lands where people strive to provide food, to obtain a few of our conveniences, to educate their children, and to learn more about Western ways of life. It is fitting, there- fore, that the best library collection of works on Polynesia should be found in that outpost of Western civilization clos- est to Polynesia, New Zealand. T h e T u r n b u l l collection became the property of the people of New Zealand through the bequest of Alexander Hors- burgh T u r n b u l l of his private library, in 1918. Later the T u r n b u l l home was purchased to house the collection. It was completely remodeled four years ago. T h e library has the atmosphere of a treas- sure house where gentlemen readers might browse, yet it is a part of the pub- lic library system of New Zealand, ad- ministered by the Internal Affairs De- partment, and financed by government funds. Mr. T u r n b u l l was a man of discern- ment, the bachelor son of a wealthy Wellington merchant family, who even at the end of the nineteenth century ap- preciated the importance of the litera- ture, and of development of New Zea- land and the South Pacific. T h e original Miss Davis is Dean of Women, University of California, Riverside. collection of fifty-five thousand volumes consisted of thousands of the finest rare books and original editions of English literature, original manuscripts, letters, maps, books before 1640, current books and periodicals of his time, paintings, portraits, photographs, and book bind- ings. On the walls hang original paint- ings and in the large bookcases are found some of the best examples of the art of ancient and modern bookbinders. T h e r e are some four thousand pictures, includ- ing works of the artists and draftsmen who accompanied the first Dutch to come to this area, and a photograph collection consisting of some hundreds of thousands of negatives covering the history and de- velopment of New Zealand. T h e Pacific collection includes mater- ial on New Zealand, Australia, Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Indonesia, and Malaysia. T h e Australian, Malaysian, and Indonesian areas are covered well but not exhaustively. T h e material on the Oceanic Islands, however, is gathered as fully as possible and is probably su- perior to any other collection of its kind. T h e r e are strong holdings on the ethnol- ogy and linguistics of the native peoples of the Pacific. On the native languages alone, of which there are some four hun- dred, there are over six thousand vol- umes. T h e library owns a considerable 3 9 6 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S number of paintings by early New Zea- land and Maori artists. Captain Cook's log of the Eagle in 1755-56; the journal of Gallego, master pilot on Mendana's voyage of 1563, when he discovered the Solomon Islands; the journey of Anto- neli who explored the coast of South America in 1608; the earliest printed ac- counts of the voyages of Magellan; and papers and letters of the Scott-Shackleton expeditions to the South Pole are stored here. In the Pacific section are the col- lected editions of Hakluyt 1599-1600, Linschoten 1598, De Bry 1590-1634, Thevenot 1663-96, Callender 1766-68, and the long series of the Linschoten So- ciety and the Hakluyt Society. T h e r e are also many manuscripts on Maori history and culture. T h e non-Pacific section consists of a number of collections, with the impor- tant emphasis on English, Scottish, and New Zealand literature. T h e constant ob- jective of the library is to maintain homogeneity in its collections. T h e of- fice of the director of the library houses one of the finest Milton collections in ex- istence, with many first editions and hand bound volumes. Good collections also gather about the names of Samuel But- ler, Kipling, the Brownings, William Morris, Defoe, Thackeray, and Shake- speare. Scottish literature is particularly full. Sets of many periodicals are found —English Literary History, t h e Edin- burgh Review, Scots Magazine, t h e Re- view of English Studies, t h e Modern Lan- guage Review, p u b l i c a t i o n s o f t h e M o d - ern Language Association of America. Supporting these groups are works of bi- ography referring to most of the writers whose works are shelved. T h e collection of fifteenth-century books, while not large, is choice, and there are examples of books from the presses of Stephanus, Aldus, Plantin, Elzevir, Koberger, Rat- doldt, Baskerville, down to the Ashen- dene, Kelmscott, Golden Cockerel, Doves, and Nonesuch. T h e r e is an extremely choice collection of about two thousand volumes on art. T h e history section is not large but contains some early chronicles in Scottish and Irish history, books on Canadian and West Indian history for the early period, Italian statecraft of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and of World W a r I. Turnbull is not a lending library, since many of its hundred thousand titles are unique, and therefore can be used only on the premises. T h e library will do a certain amount of research for people at a distance, however, and carries on con- siderable correspondence, as well as for- warding microfilmed material at a nomi- nal charge. In so far as possible, the li- brary participates in an interlibrary loan program, lending material that is not ir- replaceable. T h e collection of microfilm material of the earliest records of voy- ages, papers of the first missionaries, and original documents housed in London, is increasing. In its operation, the library has been influenced more by the American library pattern than by the English system. T h e library is related closely to the commu- nity. Technically, the Dewey Decimal system and American Library Associa- tion rules are followed. With the help of the Ford Foundation, the T u r n b u l l Li- brary is now receiving microfilm of Eng- lish literature prior to 1640. T h e New Zealand libraries have a problem to find and keep trained per- sonnel. Because of comparatively low sal- aries paid to the professional library staff and to university professors, libraries and universities have suffered. Some of the best people have been lured away by the better salaries paid in Australia and the United States. T h e homelike atmosphere of the stately mansion and the courtesy and ef- ficiency of the staff make the T u r n b u l l Library a hospitable and comfortable en- vironment in which to do library re- search. It should become more widely known, as New Zealand draws more over- seas visitors. S E P T E M B E R 1 9 6 2 3 9 7