Magazines Collection

Magazines and newspapers provide insight into life and society at a given time.

The McNab Magazines Collection numbers around 4,500 titles and complements the book collection, reflecting Robert McNab’s interests.

There is a rich collection of school magazines from selected schools around New Zealand, which is still being added to today.Our collection of magazines from Dunedin schools is particularly good. Relive your glorious school triumphs, or even better, copy them for your children.

We also hold many community publications that at the time seemed of fleeting interest, but now prove very useful for historians, researchers and students, e.g. suburban newsletters. Even the advertisements give a picture of businesses in the area at a given time.

Magazines that record our social and recreational lives are well represented; one of our frequent requests is for newspaper articles about The Beatles’ visit to Dunedin in 1964.

This and many other events were reported in the Dunedin Photo Review, a publication that sent reporters around Dunedin and Otago photographing social and sporting events.

The Collection also features a range of more serious magazines, often in comprehensive runs, e.g. the New Zealand Listener and the New Zealand Patent Office Journal.