Exploring family histories

The Whakatāne Museum protects and preserves over 600,000 objects, photographs and archives and each has stories to tell. These stories are more than who made it, out of what, when and where. They are also about relationships with individuals and family histories; they encapsulate the memories of families and in turn the identity of communities.

The Traces exhibition presents items from the Whakatāne Museum Collection and the people and places that they relate to. The Whakatāne Museum invites visitors to map their connections to the area, asking  them to identify the location they associate with ….or start your own family research with advice on site at Te Kōputu. The exhibition also provides a starting point for people start their own family history.

PHOTO CREDIT:
Hand coloured photograph Thomas Kirk aged 31, c.1897
Photographer unknown
Whakatāne Museum and Research Centre Collection, 1997.4.2