Overview
Te Papa has a substantial holding of James McDonald negatives made during his employment at the Dominion Museum in the early twentieth century. The photographs listed here were made during his employment at the Tourist and Health Resorts Department, and include those made by McDonald of Rua Kenana and his followers and family (in 1908), and the Patara te Tuhi and Tutange Waionui groups.
McDonald worked for the Department as a photographer from 1901 until 1905, when he was transferred to a position of assistant and draughtsman at the Dominion Museum. In 1906 he was transferred back to the Tourist Department to work on displays for the New Zealand International Exhibition in Christchurch. The following year he began making films, officially recording various scenic attractions for the Tourist Department. In 1912 McDonald returned to the Dominion Museum as photographer and art assistant and remained at the museum until 1926.
McDonald’s best known photography is that taken on field expeditions with Elsdon Best from 1918 to 1923, but he also made many photographs in the studio of the Dominion Museum.