Tools for researching the past

When it comes to researching your forebears, you can either be pleasantly surprised or sorely disappointed. Cases that fit into the latter category are more common than you would think. Many of our past relatives seem to leave great historical gaps in their wake rather than the opposite. As a matter of fact, is much...

The Ruapuna Cemetery – Who is the Whiting Child?

An interesting comment on the early records of the Ashburton District is the information these original documents may reveal, or in some cases the paucity of information. The records (2 minute books, 3 incomplete receipt books and a Treasurer’s notebook/cashbook for 1895 - 1948) held by the Ashburton Museum for the Mayfield/Ruapuna Cemetery on Coskeries...

The Ashburton Museum Archive is always kept busy answering enquiries and assisting people to undertake research on a wide area of topics. Normally the answers to questions are then stored away in a book or computer, and images purchased from us are hung on a wall or printed and published. Rarely does the information we...

Making sure objects are well looked after is something that the team at Ashburton Museum takes pride in, especially as the rich history of the district means that we have many thousands of objects that we look after and preserve. When visitors come in and ask to do family research you never quite know what...