New website gives online access to Hastings Libraries’ community archives.

Are you interested in local history? Want to learn more about the School of Radiant Living that flourished in Havelock North in the 1940s?  Or look at photos of early Blossom Parades in Hastings? 

Perhaps you have information to add to others’ collections or you want to make your own personal, digitised historical collection.

All this is and more is available on a new website, called Recollect, giving us free online access to the Hastings District Libraries community archives — a treasure trove of local history.

Recollect has come about through funding from the New Zealand Libraries Partnership Programme with the National Libraries of New Zealand, aimed at supporting librarians and library services across the country.

Havelock North Library houses the Hastings Libraries community archives. This is made up of thousands of objects including documents, music programmes, photographs, trophies, maps and slides, and letters. 

These are all being digitised and uploaded to Recollect. 

Hastings District Libraries collections and content team leader Mya Robertson said Recollect can be used to take a look at where you grew up or remember places around Hastings that have changed over the years, like Fantasyland or the city centre.

By registering as a member (all that’s required is an email address or Facebook account) the public can also contribute their own knowledge and memories about the holdings, as well as create personal collections of their own.

To recollect go to: https://hastings.recollect.co.nz/  

Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air