Skip to main content

Story: History and historians

Centennial histories

Image
Centennial histories

This image shows the 20-part centennial magazine, Making New Zealand, and the 11 centennial history books that were published by the Centennial Branch of the Department of Internal Affairs between 1939 and 1941. The Making New Zealand series was described as 'pictorial surveys of a century', and the illustrations, organised by John Pascoe, added significantly to their appeal. Thirteen books had been planned, but Apirana Ngata's contribution on Māori was never completed, while Bill Sutch's volume on social services was considered unsuitable for the series but was published by Modern Books in 1941 as Poverty and progress in New Zealand.

Using this item

Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

by Marguerite Hill

This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Jock Phillips, History and historians – Rise of academic history – 1940 to 1970, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/43553/centennial-histories (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Jock Phillips, published 6 December 2013.