By Roselyn Fauth
THIS MONTH IN TIMARU HISTORY | AUGUST 1906
Picture postcard entitled "The Public Library Timaru. NZ", circa 1915. The public library on the corner of George and Latter Street was possibly built soon after the building was finished. The postcard is addressed, on the verso, to "Miss Kate Sherlock Russell Sqr Timaru" and has a half penny New Zealand stamp. South Canterbury Museum 1999/144.1 https://timdc.pastperfectonline.com/photo/27AC74A9-51E4-46BF-83B0-418596148628
On 24 August 1906, about sixty subscribers to the Timaru Mechanics’ Institute met to decide the future of their library. They voted unanimously to accept a proposal from the Timaru Borough Council to “municipalise” the Institute.
Timaru already had a library long before Andrew Carnegie became involved. The Mechanics’ Institute had operated since the 1860s as a subscription library supported by its members. Before Timaru had a Carnegie Library, it had already been borrowing books for more than forty years. So why did the old library have to go?
According to the Lyttelton Times of 7 August 1906, Carnegie offered £3,000 towards a new library building if the Borough Council provided a site, disposed of the Mechanics’ Institute, used the proceeds to buy books, and maintained the new library.
So the sale of the Mechanics’ Institute was not a loophole created by Mayor James Craigie or the Council. It was part of Carnegie’s offer. Not everyone supported the plan. The Lyttelton Times reported on 15 August that three councillors voted against proceeding, and some opposition from Mechanics’ Institute subscribers was expected.
Andrew Carnegie with his wife Louise Whitfield Carnegie and their daughter Margaret Carnegie Miller in 1910. By Unknown photographer - Chicago Daily News from LOC, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31244221
The Institute’s management committee later supported the proposal, and on 24 August the subscribers present voted unanimously in favour.
There was also a legal issue. The Mechanics’ Institute property was held in trust, so it could not simply be transferred to the Council.
Parliament therefore passed the Timaru Public Library Act 1906. The Act states that the trustees and subscribers wished the Borough Council to take control of the Institute and acquire its property. It also directed the value of the old property towards books, periodicals, scientific apparatus and works of art for the new library.
The Act also shows that the idea of a “free” library was still being worked through. It allowed for subscribers and lending fees.
Carnegie had a stricter definition.
Manatū Taonga’s NZHistory notes that Carnegie expected his libraries to be “absolutely free”, including the borrowing of books. Timaru was among the New Zealand councils that struggled with this requirement.
By February 1909, Craigie was stating that there could be no subscribers and that ratepayers and rent-payers should be able to borrow books.
Heritage New Zealand records that when Timaru’s Carnegie Library opened in 1909, it was one of only three New Zealand libraries offering both free access and free borrowing rights to residents.
So Carnegie did not give Timaru its first library. Local people had already supported one for decades.
1880 Interior view of people reading in the Mechanics Institute's library, circa 1887. The image depicts a woman and two men seated around a table in the library. Bookshelves line the walls, only broken by a doorway and a fireplace. 'T' shaped piping hangs from the high ceilings above the tables (sprinklers?). The verso bears hand-written notation that identifies the name of the building and location. South Canterbury Museum 1057
What changed in 1906 was its ownership, funding and access. A subscriber-run institution was being transferred to the Borough Council, with the aim of creating a publicly supported library with free borrowing.
Timaru District Council Building (Former Public Library) 2 King George Place & Latter St LN:2075 C:2 1908-1911 Architect Walter Panton (Panton & Son) Builder Werry & Hunt and then B R Tooth & Son. In 1904 the borough council purchase this site from Dr Gabites for 1150 pounds.
Four unidentified women at a reading desk in the Timaru Library, circa 1951. Depicts the four women seated and reading at a sloped wooden desk at the Carnegie Library built on the corner of King George Place and Latter Street, now part of the Timaru District Council buildings. Verso bears notations in three hands which read "Old library" eading table, 1951" and "6985". South Canterbury Musuem - 2009/070.029
Sources: Lyttelton Times, 7, 15 and 20 August 1906; The Press, 25 August 1906, via Papers Past; Timaru Public Library Act 1906, New Zealand Legislation; Manatū Taonga NZHistory, Carnegie’s “free” libraries; Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, Timaru Council Offices and Former Public Library.
Image: The Public Library, Timaru, c.1909, William Ferrier photography studio, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, O.051443. AHNZ enhanced, 2026.
This is the scrapbook of New Zealands first female librarian! Evelyn Culverwell, Miss Culverwell's scrapbook (1928-1929). Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 02/11/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/8585 She was appointed in 1913 and served until her death in 1936.The Timaru Public Library had opened on 4 June 1909. Between 1909 and 1913, the first librarian (likely male, name not recorded in local coverage) oversaw the early years. When that position was vacated in 1913, the Timaru Borough Council appointed Evelyn Culverwell as Chief Librarian — the first woman in New Zealand to hold that title. In 1928 Evelyn set out alone on a seven-month study tour of England and Scotland, visiting leading public and university libraries. Her scrapbook — still preserved in the Aoraki Heritage Collection — is full of tickets, pamphlets, and handwritten notes.
Evelyn Culverwell was the first female chief librarian in New Zealand and was appointed to the role at Timaru Public Library in 1913. In 1928 Miss Culverwell was granted a leave of absence for approximately seven months to travel to the United Kingdom. During this time she visited libraries in England and Scotland. She created a scrapbook full of correspondence, admission tickets, pamphlets and other ephemera she collected on her travels. Miss Culverwell held this position for nearly twenty three years until ill health forced her resignation in late 1935. She passed away soon after on January 3 1936. Evelyn Culverwell, Miss Culverwell's scrapbook (1928-1929). Aoraki Heritage Collection https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/8585
Maud Ethel Evelyn Culverwell and her mother Helen Judith Culverwell grave in Timaru Cemetery.
Details of the former Timaru Public Library - Roselyn Fauth 2024
Issued by P. W. Hutton Booksellers and Stationers, Timaru. 1911 F.T. Series No. 1228
William Ferrier took this photo of the Post Office and the Public Library, Timaru. Hocken Snapshop hocken.recollect.co.nz/24086
Before the Library was built Eliot Whatley created an artwork showing the view from Lynwood House in 1874. This was the town house of George and Elizabeth Rhodes on Corner of George and Latter Streets in Timaru. George Rhodes and his brothers profited from the growth of Timaru by selling their sections of land in the town center. They also contributed to community life: St Mary's Church (Anglican) at Timaru was built between 1860 and 1861 on land given by them, and George was one of the first wardens. George was also a justice of the peace and a member of local committees and institutions. George's life was productive but brief. He died of typhoid fever at Purau on 18 June 1864 at the young age of 47. In Timaru, street names such as George Street and Elizabeth Street honor the Rhodes family still. The Levels was sold but, determined not to leave the region she had such happy memories of, Elizabeth and her five young children lived in their town home "Linwood House" which stood behind the present Council chambers. In 1867 Elizabeth married Arthur Perry, a charming young barrister from Tasmania who had commenced a law practice in Timaru. They remained at Linwood until 1873 when they purchased Beverley from Henry Le Cren. A large house on 8 hectares of land at the junction of Wai-iti Rd and the Great North Road, now Highway 1. It was to become a garden of note in the district.
Dr Edward Butler (1834-1870) also lived at Lynwood House. He is mentioned in a Strathallan diary as having lived in a one roomed house. His dispensary burnt down in the 1868 fire. He is burred at Timaru cemetery with his son beside him who was born 1864 but only lived 3 months.
Timaru Herald - 7 October 1899 Latter Street presents several sorts of busy-ness just now. The Corporation men are cutting down the hip of the street itself. Mr Broadhead is building a good sized cottage on the former site of the Linwood stable yard, just at the rear of the Trinity Church; and Mr Pringle is pulling down the old Linwood house; one of the earliest of pretentious wooden houses in Timaru.
Can you find this stone face...?
Over the main entrance is a bust of Mayor James Craigie (1851-1935), carved by Mr Hood, who also carved most of the stonework on St. Mary’s Church.
He arrived in New Zealand from Scotland bin 1867 and began business as a painter and decorator in Timaru in 1873.
He was chairman Timaru Harbour Board 1906-10, Mayor Timaru Borough 1902-13 and Member of Parliament 1908-22. Cragie gave many gifts, Statue of Burns (Botanic Gardens) Oak Trees Craigie Avenue, Chimes for Town Clock 1913 (hung in Chief Post Office until 1933 then transferred to Municipal Buildings) and to the South Canterbury Art Society to lay the foundation of the public collection for the future art gallery the Aigantighe. James Craigie was the Mayor for ten years, and President of SCAS. He gifted 5 artworks, Charles Goldie Memories, The Last of Her Tribe 1913. William Greene Scene in Surrey 1909. Thomas Kennington The Mother 1895. John Perrett Mount Cook from Lake Pukaki 1896. John Perrett Mt Cook from Lake Pukaki c.1896. See a copy of the South Canterbury Arts Society 6th Exhibition 1913 here: christchurchartgallery.org.nz/1913-SCAS
Andrew Carnegie was a man of contradictions. A 19th Century self made man, and described as the wealthiest man in the world (worth $557 billion NZD in to-days terms), he increased the working hours and decreased the wages of his workers so that he could give bigger philanthropic donations worldwide to his two projects, public libraries, and pipe organs inside churches. Timaru benefited with a donation for each project.
After a year of negotiations with Carnegie by the Mayor James Craigie, a gift of £3,000 was promised. The library also benefited from a donation of £2,500 from the winding up of the Timaru Mechanics’ Institute, who also donated their extensive library and fittings to stock the library. As a condition of the Carnegie gift, the Council gifted the site to the public, and were to make the library free to all ratepayers. The Council considered that as a renter also paid rates by default, the library would be free to all residents within the boundary.
https://www.carnegie.org/publications/the-gospel-of-wealth/?