A treasure-trove of maps, minute books, letters, rate books, records and portraits linked to local government in Central Otago, dating back to 1866, is available for the public to access.
The Central Otago District Council records officer Kas McEntyre said the archives were housed in three purpose-built rooms at the council's Ranfurly service centre.
They cover the area now within the district council boundary and include more than 5000 items including cemetery information, ledgers, photos, and operational details.
Original records from the Alexandra, Cromwell, Roxburgh and Naseby Borough Councils, Vincent and Maniototo County Councils, and the parts of the Tuapeka, Southland and Waitaki Country Councils incorporated into the Central Otago district in 1989, are all included.
Mrs McEntyre said there was a wealth of information available and she asked anyone interested in viewing it to make an appointment. She has one scheduled day in Ranfurly a week and is based in the Alexandra office for the rest of the week, so making an appointment in advance meant she would be able to arrange a time to guide users in their searches.
"We have requests about all kinds of things. For example, a family member might want to learn about an ancestor and we can go through the rate books, locate a property and show an early map of it, so they can see it then and now."
It was interesting to follow through how rumours and speculation about various matters were recorded in the council minutes and sometimes fiction became "facts" over time, she said.
The records are not used for the day-to-day business of the council, but are kept for their value to the wider community as historical documents.
A long-term project has been under way to organise the archives into a more accessible order.