From Tauranga City Library’s archives
A monthly blog about interesting items in our collection
Tauranga Libraries’ Sladden Collection of older books contains at least 61 labelled as the Jim Wedderspoon Memorial Bequest. The only explicit record of how they got there is in an undated (1970s?), anonymous typescript about the Sladden, found in the Library’s Vertical Files. It says, “Another valuable donation of local material came from the family of James Wedderspoon”.
Tauranga Historical Society had set up a special sub-committee to process the bequested Sladden and Wedderspoon books into a usable order. Its interim report, published in the Society’s Journal for September 1963, says “Both the Sladden and Wedderspoon bequests will be increased after a number of duplicates have been sold and the proceeds utilized for additional purchases. In the case of the Wedderspoon bequest, the increase will be substantial”. This suggests there was some overlap in the collections, and the 61 items are what’s left after the duplicates had been separated for sale. The books and pamphlets labelled as Wedderspoon are mostly formal Pākehā-authored publications on Māori history and artistic production.
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| Māori music, with its Polynesian background. Memoirs of the Polynesian Society, Volume 10. |
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| The label from Ko Nga waiata Maori: he mea kohikohi mai (collected by Sir George Grey) |
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| Presbyterian Church choir c1915 - Jim is on the far left, his brother Carrick standing in front of his mother. Tauranga City Libraries Photo 05-471 |
After leaving Tauranga as a young man Jim appears to have been restless – moving regularly between Auckland, Dunedin, Christchurch and Tauranga, working at a freezing works, as a clerk, studying at Lincoln, and later working as a garage attendant. He appears in a Tauranga electoral roll in 1949 living in Devonport Road – he was at No. 154 when in 1952 he was an inaugural member of the Tauranga Historical Society.
He died on 6 December 1961. His Will left the whole of his estate to his married sister Ngaroma Nancie Ansell. Since she lived in Auckland it is possible that interested members of the Tauranga Historical Society offered to take his book collection, rather than the family having to carry it back with them. The books would be seen as complementary to the Sladden Collection.
Sources:
- Tauranga City Libraries' subscription to Ancestrylibrary - available free when at one of our branches
- Publications and images held at Tauranga City Libraries and on Pae Korokī.
- Items in the Bay of Plenty Times found through PapersPast.
Books in Tauranga Libraries' Special collections can be found through our online catalogue, and viewed by appointment by contacting the Heritage and Research Team by email at research@tauranga.govt.nz.
Written by Leslie Goodliffe, Information Access Specialist, Tauranga City Libraries.
