Brancepeth Station Library archives c1884-1929

Brancepeth Station in the Wairarapa was established in the 1850s by H.H. Beetham and T.C. Williams. In 1884 Mr Beetham, then sole owner, established a subscription library for the station residents, and in 1895 a printed catalogue was issued listing 1342 titles (1390 volumes). In the following years over 700 titles were added, and at least 200 volumes were either withdrawn or lost; most of these additions were in the years up to 1905, the period of greatest activity. In 1966 Mr Hugh Beetham, the owner of the station, gave the books (about 1900 volumes) to Victoria University Library, together with the surviving records of the library's administration. The books were given on condition that they be kept in their original bookcases; they may be viewed on Level 4 of the Kelburn Library (Rankine Brown building), but are no covered by this archival finding aid. Each book has been catalogued onto the central library catalogue with the original reference, which consisted of a number for each author plus a running number for each title. To see a listing of the publications, perform a basic search in Te Waharoa (URL: http://tewaharoa.victoria.ac.nz/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=VUW) using 'Brancepeth' as the search term, then use "Refine my results" in the sidebar menu to limit to items in Kelburn Library (JCBR).