On 3 July, at the Friends of Te Papa AGM, a cheque for $15,000 was presented by the President, Gordon Shroff, to Te Papa’s Chief Operating Officer, David Robinson.
The cheque was a significant contribution towards the cost of the Te Papa Press publication Holding on to Home: New Zealand Stories and Objects of the First World War, published to commemorate the centenary of the start of World War One. This appealing publication gives a glimpse into the social history of the time through the personal objects that provided a vital link between those who served and their homeland and loved ones.
The support of this book is part of the Friends’ ongoing programme of fundraising and gifting, which in recent times has enabled the sponsorship of a world authority on protest quilts to a conference in Wellington, the purchase of 40 museum folding stools, the employment of a Museum Intern at the Canterbury Cultural Collections Recovery Centre in Christchurch and the publishing of another work by Te Papa Press: The New Zealand Art Activity Book.