RESEARCH ON THE RUN

Saturday 29 July 2023
11am - 12noon

40 MINUTE TALK WITH Q&A
AUCKLAND CENTRAL LIBRARY

 In 2022, Mary Kisler and Paula Legal went to Europe to track down James Tannock Mackelvie’s life after he left New Zealand in 1871. Their quest started in the south of France, in Hyères, the ‘English’ seaside resort where Mackelvie spent his winters, as the climate was believed by European doctors to be especially beneficial for those with lung disease. 

Little did Mary and Paula know when they set out that they were visiting a researcher’s mecca, where every street within the English enclave of Costabelle boasted a printed sign, giving its history and its relevance to the English community. Some had moved there permanently, while others like Mackelvie hoped the warmth and sea air might see him through another winter. And even there he was able to advance the collection that ultimately came to Auckland.

All travel of course, must include both the sublime and the ridiculous in regard to temperature, and so after garnering all the information that Hyères had to offer, Mary and Paula travelled north to the arctic temperatures of Scotland, where further revelations were in store.

Join us as Mary and Paula share their travel adventures, photographs and research findings.

PLEASE RSVP

To secure a seat please RSVP info@mackelviesociety.com.
This talk is limited to 25 people only, with priority booking for Mackelvie Society Members. 
This event is a repeat of the 18 July talk held at the Museum which was sold out, so be quick if you’d like to come along!

PAULA LEGEL, Associate Curator, Heritage Publications has worked with books and in libraries for most of her career. In this role from 2019, Paula is the first to inhabit a designated curatorial position for heritage published materials at Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum. Having this role has enabled her to focus on collections such as the Mackelvie Collection of Books and Pamphlets.

MARY KISLER MNZM, art historian, curator, writer, and now Emerita Curator, with an MA in Italian and Art History. She worked for 21 years at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, latterly as Senior Curator, Mackelvie Collection, International Art. In 2016, she was Craig Hugh Smyth Fellow at the Harvard Centre for Renaissance Art, Villa I Tatti, Florence, researching Italian works in New Zealand Public Collections.