Chinese New Zealand history resources

In this month's Connecting to Collections talk, writer Ruth Lam presents some examples of the Chinese New Zealand history resources available in the Alexander Turnbull Library and National Library of New Zealand collections. Ruth explains the value of library collections to her work in developing an understanding of the lives of Chinese in New Zealand in days gone by.

A rich source for research
Ruth Lam has co-authored several books about the lives of Chinese in early New Zealand, including Sons of the Soil: Chinese Market Gardeners in New Zealand and The Fruits of Our Labours: Chinese Fruit Shops in New Zealand.

In addition to interviewing market gardeners, fruiterers and their descendants, Ruth and her co-authors drew heavily on the collections of libraries and archives such as the National Library, Alexander Turnbull Library and Archives NZ. In this talk, Ruth presents some examples of the Chinese New Zealand history resources available in these collections and explains how valuable they were to the authors in developing an understanding of the lives of Chinese in New Zealand in days gone by.