The Friends of the Hocken are marking 25 years of existence with a historical research award for 2017.
The Friends of the Hocken are a group of volunteers who support and promote the Hocken library with various projects.
The research award offers a one-off award of $10,000 to support an individual (or more than one person) researching an aspect of the historical development of Maori or Pakeha culture and society in New Zealand primarily drawing on the Hocken Collections.
Marketing and membership secretary Sara Barham said the winning application might not be a written report but rather a more artistic form of storytelling.
"You could easily see some sort of theatrical event telling a story using images or music from the collections as well as reflecting something that happened in history.''
Mrs Barham has had a role with the friends since 2011, when she was asked to help the group by then president Pete Hodgson. However, as Mrs Barham explained, her association with the Hocken goes back a little further.
"One of my first holiday jobs was as a library assistant at the Hocken.''
That was back in 1977 when she was in her penultimate secondary school year. The experience spurred Mrs Barham to undertake further librarian training.
She said she was attracted to the Hocken's "really stunning'' artworks, which included works by Colin McCahon and Ralph Hotere.
Glancing through the materials on offer at the Hocken, she was impressed by the way that "old research can contribute to new stories''.
Looking into the future, she said the friends, working with Hocken Library staff, were conscious of the importance of digitising historical material to better retain it for posterity.
An ongoing project was the digitisation of now defunct newspaper the Cromwell Argus which was important because it reflected the importance of Cromwell to Otago's development, she said.
"In the 1860s and 1870s, that area of the country was buzzing. In lots of ways, really active communities [worked] to develop Otago and make it the way it is today.''
The Friends are also involved in the transcription of historic World War 1 materials, which had been slower than expected because "we're learning as we go'', Mrs Barham said.
Transcribers also had the opportunity to check each others' work.
JOSHUA.RIDDIFORD @thestar.co.nz
