Hocken: Prince of Collectors
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26686/jnzs.v0i21.3920Abstract
Dr Thomas Morland Hocken (1836-1910), born and trained as a medical practitioner in Britain, settled in Dunedin in 1862 and built a very successful medical practice. He soon began researching early New Zealand history and by 1880 was delivering public lectures on the subject. At a time when there were no publicly available collections of primary sources or publications relating to New Zealand in the country, and where the best resources for historical research were in London, Hocken began collecting ephemera, maps, newspapers, pamphlets and books, paintings and drawings, seeking out and copying original documents and saving the reminiscences of old colonists to support his research and publications. Over time his collecting became more comprehensive and he turned his attention to creating a full bibliographical record of New Zealand publications, culminating in the publication of A Bibliography of the Literature Relating to New Zealand in 1908. His last act was to gift his collection to the nation to be held in trust by the University of Otago and available for anyone with a definite purpose of study.
Downloads
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
The Journal of New Zealand Studies retains the copyright of material published in the journal, but permission to reproduce articles free of charge on other open access sites will not normally be withheld. Any such reproduction must be accompanied by an acknowledgement of initial publication in the Journal of New Zealand Studies.