Otago Witness goes Digital

It is anticipated that this work will be undertaken during 2020/21, and the first step will be for the National Library to obtain duplicates of the master microfilms, which are held at NZ Micrographics on behalf of Dunedin Library and Allied Press. Subject to the agreement of the two parties involved, it is intended that copies of the microfilms will then be sent overseas for processing while our master and intermediate microfilms stay safely at NZMS.

When this project is completed, the digitised content will be added to Papers Past on the National Library website and will greatly enhance access to this important early source of Dunedin and Otago history.

The Otago Witness began life in 1851 as a four page newspaper published fortnightly, on Saturday mornings, and later that year moved to a weekly publication with more pages. It was named the Otago Witness to indicate the city's connection with Edinburgh, where the Edinburgh Witness was a popular paper. The publication was a particularly important outlet for New Zealand writers because it also included poetry and short stories. Originally its front page was devoted to advertisements, and later it became the first newspaper in New Zealand to include pictures. Initially these were engravings, but around 1900 the Witness started using photographs. During the boom of the 1861 Central Otago Gold Rush, there was even a special gold fields edition regularly published. 

The publisher of the paper also produced lavishly-illustrated Christmas annuals (the covers and some inside pages were in colour), which were a much-anticipated summer treat, particularly among the rural readership of Otago-Southland, where the paper was most popular. 

The digitised collection will cover the period January 1921 to December 1926, a fascinating post-war period, which also included the work of Associate Editor Eileen Louise Soper, writing as 'Dot' for the correspondence column of the children's pages - the first such column in New Zealand to be dedicated to children. The column became the focus of a book by Keith Scott, Dear Dot - I must tell you - A personal history of young New Zealanders, published in 2011 by Activity Press.

The National Library of New Zealand already holds digitised copies of the Otago Witness for the period 1851-1920, so this new digitisation project will expand the copies available to view online over a total period of 75 years. Dunedin Public Libraries' collection of Otago Witness newspapers on microfiche is complete, from the first edition in 1851 to the last in 1932. 

We look forward one day to bringing the final period of publication online, from 1927 to 1932,  so the entire digitised collection will be fully accessible. A remarkable historical record.