| Auckland Museum Institute | |
| Formation: | [1] |
| Type: | Learned Society |
| Headquarters: | Auckland Museum |
| Location City: | Auckland |
| Location Country: | New Zealand |
| Focus: | --> |
| Membership: | 1,098 (2023) 935 (2022) |
| Parent Organisation: | Royal Society of New Zealand |
| Website: | aucklandmuseum.com |
Auckland Institute and Museum, known as Auckland Museum Institute since 1996[2] and the Royal Society of New Zealand Auckland Branch, is a learned society in New Zealand.
Formed as the Auckland Philosophical Society on 6 November 1867, for "the promotion of art, science, and literature by means of a museum and library, lectures, and meetings of the members", with a view to incorporation with the newly created New Zealand Institute and adopting the Auckland Museum,[3] [4] [5] the Society was fittingly renamed the Auckland Institute in March 1868 and formally incorporated with the New Zealand Institute on 10 June 1868.[6]
In October 1869, upon the resolution of the Auckland Provincial Council, John Williamson, Superintendent of the Province of Auckland, transferred the 17-year-old Auckland Museum and its contents to the Auckland Institute, on the guarantee that the Institute "will adopt the proper measures (1) for the preservation of its present contents, (2) for a free admission of the public at convenient times." He also obtained a grant of the old Post Office site in Princes Street for the Institute.[7] By 1871 the Institute was known as Auckland Institute and Museum;[8] which first appeared on their annual reports in 1880–81.
In memory of the noble sacrifices made during the Great War, Auckland War Memorial Museum was opened to the public on 28 November 1929. In the opening address, the Chairman of the Citizens War Memorial Committee, Alfred Seymour Bankart, said to the Governor General, Sir Charles Fergusson:
Your Excellency, the Memorial takes two forms, the Museum building and the cenotaph, both embodying the same spirit. They are to be entrusted to the care of different bodies—the Court of Honour and Cenotaph to the Mayor and Councillors of the City of Auckland, and the Museum building to the trustees of the Auckland Institute and Museum.[9]Accordingly, Fergusson presented the Cenotaph to the Mayor of Auckland, George Baildon, accepting on behalf of the citizens, and the Auckland War Memorial Museum building to the President of the Auckland Institute and Museum, Hubert Earle Vaile.[9] [10]
In 1996 the Auckland War Memorial Museum Act 1996 separated the Institute from governance of the War Memorial Museum. Today the Auckland Museum Institute is charged with the support of the Museum and Museum Trust Board by providing advocacy, promoting the use and understanding of the Museum's collections and activities and supporting the function of the War Memorial aspect of the Museum. Since 1996, it has focused on its historic roles as 'Learned Society', operating Friends of the Auckland Museum, and appointing body for four Museum Trust Board members.
The Institute's first independent special interest group, the Medical Section for the promotion of medical science, formed in 1869.[11] The Anthropology and Maori Studies Section followed in 1922;[12] Astronomical Section, Auckland Astronomical Society, in 1923–24;[13] Conchology Section, Auckland Shell Club, in 1931; Maritime Section, Auckland Maritime Society, in 1958; and Costume & Textile Section, Costume and Textile Association of New Zealand, in 2002. Auckland Astronomical Society pursued the establishment of Stardome Observatory. Auckland Maritime Society pursued the establishment of the New Zealand Maritime Museum.
Current sections are:
Auckland Museum Institute is a partner in the Monuments Men and Women Museum Network, launched in 2021 by the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art.[14]