Otago. 150 Years of New Zealand’s First University

2019

Special Collections LG741 D8 C53 2018

Dunedin: Otago University Press (with kind permission)

As part of the 150th anniversary celebrations, Dr Ali Clarke was commissioned to write the history of the University of Otago. Her work was an update of previous histories such as G. E. Thompson’s A History of the University of Otago, 1869-1919 (1919), and W. P. Morrell’s The University of Otago. A Centennial History (1969). Clarke’s approach is a thematic one. It begins with the founding and administration, and follows with chapters on staff, the humanities, the sciences, and so on. She ends with ‘Buildings’ and ‘Otago’s place in the world’. Here are students studying in the library (now the Council Chamber) in 1949. Back then, it was all hand-written, with no computers in sight.