Home | Kawe Mahara Queer Archives Aotearoa (formerly LAGANZ)

Kawe Mahara Queer Archives Aotearoa
formerly Lesbian and Gay Archives of New Zealand: Te Pūranga Takatāpui o Aotearoa (LAGANZ)

The Archives are owned by a charitable Trust and housed in the Alexander Turnbull Library of the National Library of New Zealand, Wellington.

We collect, preserve and make available for research the records and personal papers of queer and takatapui people and organisations in Aotearoa New Zealand. Our collections are focused on people who identify with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions and innate variations of sex characteristics.

Collections

What We Collect
Jack Goodwin Collection - Books, serials, pamphlets.
Manuscript Collection

Digital Archive Project

Volunteer

Activities range from working bees on collections, outreach activities, helping at events, and supporting our digitisation and metadata initiatives. Some of these you can do at home.

Volunteer Drop-in Sessions Online

Every Thursday, 7pm-7.30pm via Zoom.

Join us for a chat, to get quick feedback or demos on your current activity, or to find out which activities are a good fit with your skills and interests.
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87514323134?jst=2 (no password, we use a waiting room).

Visit the Archives

Collections are held at the National Library building, cnr Molesworth and Aitken Sts, Wellington.
Contact the Curators for an appointment or research enquiry.
Guide to Using the Catalogue

Resources on this Website

Audio from the Homosexual Law Reform Debate - Searchable database of audio recordings.
Serials List - Newsletters, community newspapers and journals held in the collections.
List of MS Papers - Records of groups and individuals in the collections.
Homosexual Law Reform Retrospective.

Links

GiveOUT Day 2026

We're taking part in GiveOUT Day 2026. From 7pm, on Thursday 8 October donations to Kawe Mahara will be matched dollar-for-dollar. This is a great opportunity to support our mahi and other LGBTTQIA+ charities.

Find out more about the Rainbow New Zealand Charitable Trust's initiative: rainbownzcharitabletrust.org.nz.

Knowledge And Memory Pack for Queer History Month Aotearoa — Pūmahara Ia Te Wā July 2026

Kawe Mahara has released a digital resource with practical tools and suggested activities to celebrate queer history your way in July.

View/Download the Pack: Kawe-Mahara-KAMP2026.pdf [51 pages, 3 MB].

Tell us about your Queer History Month event in our online form - we'll add it to our calendar shared via social media to help you promote it.

These "Celebrate Queer History Month Aotearoa - Pūmahara Ia Te Wā" banners and email signatures can be used for free:

- Black background, 2000 pixels w x 900 h, 50 KB - QHMAEmailSignature_FA-1.png
- Black & white background (colour Kawe Mahara logo), 2000 pixels w x 1000 h, 66 KB - QHMAEmailSignature_FA-5.png.

Latest Newsletter

Read the latest Kawe Mahara Friends and Volunteers Update - 24 May 2026.

Events

In Person Working Bees (including Zoom): Transcribing Digitised Homosexual Law Reform Submissions at National; Library, Wellington
Sep: Sat 12, Sat 19 (10am-12.30pm);
Oct: Sat 3, Sat 17 (10am-12.30pm).
Auckland In Person Working Bee: Transcribing Digitised Homosexual Law Reform Submissions at Gus Fisher Gallery, Lvl 4 The Kenneth Myers Centre, 74 Shortland St, Tāmaki Makaurau:
Sat 10 Oct (10am-2pm).
Saturday Working Bees with Collections at National Library, Wellington:
Oct: Dates TBA;
Nov: Dates TBA.

Kawe Mahara Trust

Kawe Mahara Trustees own the archives on behalf of the community.
The Trust's objects.
History of the archives: Out of the Ashes.

Friends of Kawe Mahara

Join the Friends of Kawe Mahara. Or consider making a donation.
Friends receive occasional newsletters and invitations to Kawe Mahara events.

Make a Bequest

Advice on leaving a financial gift in your will.

Books for Sale

Twenty Years On: Histories of Homosexual Law Reform (2009)
Outlines: Lesbian and gay histories in Aotearoa (2003) - Out of print, borrow from public and academic libraries.

Oral History

Kawe Mahara Queer Archives Aotearoa formerly Lesbian and Gay Archives of New Zealand: Te Pūranga Takatāpui o Aotearoa (LAGANZ)

Volunteer Drop-in Sessions Online

GiveOUT Day 2026

Knowledge And Memory Pack for Queer History Month Aotearoa — Pūmahara Ia Te Wā July 2026

Latest Newsletter

Kawe Mahara Queer Archives Aotearoa
formerly Lesbian and Gay Archives of New Zealand: Te Pūranga Takatāpui o Aotearoa (LAGANZ)