Four newly digitised diaries

We have four newly digitised diaries - three ship board diaries from Mirage 1864, S.S. Somersetshire 1869 and Rimutaka 1885 and the 1866 to 1872 diary of C.R. Shaw, a surveyor of the Timaru district, giving working and domestic details, and including running accounts on the right-hand margin of each page.

Arthur Francis Lester Priest : Diary 1915

A diary kept by Arthur Francis Lester Priest (1893-1915) from late 1914 to August 1915. The diary documents his experience in the first World War. The collection includes some memorabilia kept with the diary: a letter, newspaper clippings, postcard and photograph.

Howard Kippenberger: World War II letters and cards, 1940-1945

Howard Karl Kippenberger (1897-1957) served at the Somme, where he was wounded and discharged. In 1939 at the outbreak of war he was given command of the 20th Canterbury/Otago Battalion. As these letters show, he served in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, rising to the rank of Major General.

Cecil Malthus

Cecil Malthus’ letters and telegrams tell his story of the First World War.

You can follow him now on Twitter at @malthus_letters. He writes to My own dear Hazel from April 1914 to his discharge in April 1917.

WW100

WW100 is a programme to mark the First World War centenary from 2014 to 2018. Explore World War 1 content as well as events and activities in Christchurch and Canterbury. 100chch on Twitter takes you back to what was happening 100 years ago today.