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Overview
Tuhinga 12: 1 -15
ABSTRACT: The herbarium known internationally as WELT is the oldest public herbarium in New Zealand, having been established in 1865. For its first 90 years, staffing varied between minimal and non-existent. For the first 120 years, storage and working conditions were inadequate and at times harmful to the collections. Despite this, the herbarium has amassed an extensive collection of historical and reference material and is an important centre for taxonomic research on the New Zealand flora. The 1997 move into the fourth building it has occupied provides the herbarium with good quality storage facilities for the first time in its existence. For at least the last 70 years, most basic work on the collections has been done by non-permanent staff or volunteers. Although there are now more permanent staff, who are more academically qualified, than ever before, the herbarium remains understaffed relative to its responsibilites and the work still to be done.
KEYWORDS: botany, herbarium, history, museum, Te Papa, WELT