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Nelson Historical Society Journal, Volume 7, Issue 2, 2010

Foreword 2010

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Foreword 2010

We are pleased to bring you the second journal in Volume 7. This Journal includes eight articles, six of them produced by Society Members. The article on early transport was written by Connie Vining from Nelson College for Girls who was the recipient of The Jeff Newport Memorial Prize.

The Society continues to have a wide range of interesting guest speakers many of whom go on to produce journal articles and add to the rich tapestry of historical information contained within its pages. We are grateful to our many contributors who enable us to keep this valuable and interesting publication alive.

This year has seen the introduction of another milestone for the Society. On March 17, 2010 we celebrated the completion of the digitisation of all of the previous journal articles since inception and their availability on the world-wide web. These journal articles are accessible through the NZ Electronic Text Centre (NZETC) website nzetc.victoria.ac.nz.

We are extremely grateful to the Microfilming Sub-Committee of the Friends of the Nelson Library who, commencing in 1994 under the leadership of chairperson and Society member Nola Leov, spent some years in fund raising to enable various publications of historical worth to be initially microfilmed and some eventually digitised. As a result of this fundraising, the committee were able to microfilm not only editions of the Nelson Evening Mail from 1911 to 1976 (editions of the Nelson Evening Mail from its inception in 1866 to 1910 were microfilmed by The National Library), the Motueka Star, the Golden Bay Argus and the papers of the Nelson Provincial Council, but also had sufficient funds to digitise our journals. We greatly appreciate the many years of hard work and dedication undertaken by this Sub-Committee, many of whom are members of our Society. Through their work, vital Nelson historical records, many of which had become dilapidated, have been preserved and are now easily accessible to all.

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I am delighted to advise that the Society nominated the Microfilm Subcommittee for a community service award and this has been successful, with Nola Leov and her committee being honoured at a civic function in May; a just reward for exceptional effort by all concerned.

Another Society member Margot Haley has been the driving force behind the installation of the History Boards at Alton Street. Much of the information on the boards was sourced from earlier Nelson Historical Society journal articles.

I would like to thank all our contributors, our editor Dawn Smith and Karen Price for design and layup. I hope you enjoy the contents.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the recent death of our Patron, Life Member and Past President Ian Simpson. Ian worked tirelessly for the Society, he had a wealth of knowledge of Nelson history, and was a guiding light for many years on the committee. We will miss his presence at our meetings.

Tony Hunter

President, May 2010