Papahou: Records of the Auckland Museum celebrates the depth of narrative and evolution of museum practice, creating a unique space for collections-based research and reflections on the museum field. Published by Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum, Papahou primarily focuses on New Zealand and the Pacific, featuring contributions across disciplines that reflect the breadth of museum-based scholarship—from peer-reviewed research articles to Editorially Reviewed opinion pieces and reviews. Researchers and practitioners across the museum sector are warmly invited to contribute.
Formerly known as Records of the Auckland Museum or Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum, the journal’s new name, Papahou, signifies its transition to a digital-first platform. Inspired by carved containers called papahou or wakahuia, which traditionally safeguarded treasured items, the journal now digitally preserves the Museum’s stories and histories. Literally meaning "a new surface" or "ground," papa hou evokes both innovation and continuity in museum storytelling.
With over 450 articles since its first publication in 1930, Papahou includes research on the Museum’s extensive collections as well as contributions from experts in related fields. While the journal holds a strong foundation in scientific research, including descriptions of nearly 700 new taxa, it also embraces a wide array of content, including archaeology, ethnology, documentary heritage, social history, cultural heritage, and museum studies. Select volumes, including historic issues dating back to 1930, are available through the Biodiversity Heritage Library, maintaining the accessibility of both past and present work.
Below are volumes 50–57; selected previous issues of the Records.
Papahou: Records of the Auckland Museum has transitioned to the ARPHA platform, a digital-first environment offering seamless access to its latest content.
Browse issues
Our 2023 volume includes articles on the Auckland War Memorial Museum collection of stone tools from Pitcairn Island, Southeast Polynesia, Dr Ezra Newton Drier and his collection of New Zealand Mollusca and Ferdinand Hochstetter's missing rocks.
Read moreOur 2022 volume includes articles on Willie La Roche malacology collections, historic bryophyte specimens, vegetation and fauna of Motueka and Poikeke Islands, Mason wasps, a plaster bust of Ferdinand Ritter von Hochstetter and the collection of books, pamphlets and serials donated by James Tannock Mackelvie.
Read moreOur 2020 volume includes articles on the Pitcairn stone tool collection, Māori archaeological textiles, John Buchanan’s pre-1880 records and illustrations of New Zealand fungi, the flora and vegetation of the northern Kermadec Island group, the naturalised flora of Niue, moa fauna, and fossil and Recent molluscan types.
Read moreOur 2019 volume includes articles on the papers of our first director, T.F. Cheeseman; correspondence between Cheeseman and Henry Ward, of Ward’s Natural Science Establishment in Rochester, New York; fossil and recent molluscan types; and the establishment of the green lacewing (Mallada basalis) on mainland New Zealand.
Read moreOur 2018 issue includes articles on the Egyptian collection; the Mackelvie Trust Board; the Rev. A.H. Voyce; the plants of Waya Island, Fiji; and Charles De Kempeneer, one of our earliest employees.
Read moreOur 2017 issue includes articles on the Motherhood of Man movement, archaeological excavations on Motutapu Island and Matakawau Stingray Point Pā, and Māori Kākahu (cloak) fragments from Piha.
Read moreOur 2016 issue includes articles on fossil and recent molluscan types; the provenance of the type specimen of William Colenso’s giant weta; and research by the late Margaret Morley on intertidal micromollusca and the ostracoda of the Cavalli Islands.
Read moreOur 2015 issue includes articles on an undated sampler attributed to Elizabeth Cook; a Predynastic vessel with a potmark; clay as a medium for Māori artefacts, and intertidal records of 'sea slugs' (nudibranchs and allied opisthobranch gastropods) from the North Island. There are also obituaries of former Auckland Museum director Graham Turbott, Q.S.O. and the surveyor and malacologist Walter Oliver Cernohorsky, F.L.S.
Read moreSelected past issues of the Records are available online through our partnership with the Biodiversity Heritage Library; more will be added as they are digitised and where copyright licensing allows.
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