Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision New Zealand Audiovisual Archive

History and Founding

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision is New Zealand's national audiovisual archive, formally established on 1 July 2014 as the operating name for the New Zealand Archive of Film, Television and Sound (Ngā Taonga Whitiāhua Me Ngā Taonga Kōrero). The organisation was created through the merger of three major predecessor institutions: the New Zealand Film Archive Ngā Kaitiaki O Ngā Taonga Whitiāhua (established 1981), the Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero (established as an RNZ subsidiary in 1998, with roots dating to the 1930s), and the Television New Zealand Archive. The integration of these collections and operations took place between 2012 and 2014, with the Minister for Broadcasting formally announcing the unified operating name in August 2014.

Collections and Holdings

Ngā Taonga cares for more than 800,000 items dating from 1894 to the present day, encompassing film and video, radio and television recordings, oral histories, photographs, props, and related documentation. Film holdings span formats from 70mm to 8mm, nitrate and acetate prints, and contemporary digital projection files. The audio collection includes more than 120,000 items, with the Radio New Zealand Sound Archive dating to recordings from the late 1930s. The Television New Zealand Collection, managed on behalf of the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, holds over 600,000 hours of original New Zealand television including news bulletins, current affairs, documentaries, sport, and entertainment programming.

Notable Materials Related to Journalism and Media

The archive is a primary repository for New Zealand broadcast journalism. The TVNZ Collection preserves decades of news bulletins and current affairs content, and in 2024 Ngā Taonga accepted a significant deposit from Warner Bros. Discovery following the closure of TV3/Newshub, safeguarding 35 years of New Zealand news and current affairs history. The Māori broadcasting archive, maintained on behalf of Te Māngai Pāho, includes all genres and channels featuring te reo Māori programming. The Radio New Zealand archive contains historical radio broadcasts and audio documentation from across the country.

Preservation Initiatives

Ngā Taonga has pioneered innovative, low-cost high-quality collection storage methods, attracting international attention for its use of horticultural technology adapted for archival purposes. In 2022 the organisation launched Utaina, a major multi-year Crown-funded programme to digitise over 400,000 at-risk items, primarily magnetic media such as Betacam video tapes from the 1980s. The project is one of the largest digital preservation efforts globally and involves collaboration with Archives New Zealand and the National Library of New Zealand.

Access and Usage

Ngā Taonga facilitates access for researchers, the media industry, the museum sector, and the public. An online catalogue allows searching of the collection. Rights and clearance processes are managed to enable re-use and sharing of content. The archive is committed to the principles of Te Tiriti O Waitangi and maintains the TIAKINA framework for the care and management of taonga Māori, actively developing relationships with whānau, hapū, iwi, and Māori organisations. The organisation is housed partly within the National Library building on Molesworth Street, Wellington, following a move in 2019.