Making Yesterday Serve the Cause of Tomorrow: 50 Years of the Historical Society

Abstract

Despite a general interest in Baptist history, New Zealand
Baptists from their beginning in 1851 had no official Historical
Society for almost one hundred years. After the Second World
War, however, the possibility was raised of a society in New
Zealand on the lines of the one in England. This came to
fruition in November 1950 when the NZ Baptist Historical
Society was founded. The Society focussed on four things:
publicity, arranging annual meetings, establishing an archive,
and publishing books and bulletins of historical interest. Since
1986 the Society has adjusted to a more modem approach. It
has amended its name, produces a regular Research Journal,
has transferred the archives to a more up- to- date facility and
has begun the full computerisation of its records. It faces the
21st century with confidence despite limited finances and
changing demands.