Bernard Sladden Photographic Collection

DateMostly within Sladden's adult life (1900-1961), though some are items he had collected from earlier times.Collection SummaryPhotographs from the Bernard Sladden (1879-1961) collection. Sladden was a photographer, cattle farmer, book keeper, historian, soldier, botanist, ornithologist and ranger operating largely in the Bay of Plenty. His books form the core of Tauranga City Libraries' "Sladden Collection". The images are glass plate negatives, lantern slides (some hand coloured), silver gelatin prints and triacetate film negatives, reflecting a variety of photographic technologies of the time.
DescriptionLantern slides often contain some of the following topics.

Copies of historic photos, paintings, maps and engravings relating to various subjects, including the Tarawera Eruption, Captain Cook’s visit and Maori subjects.
Coastal and inland bush scenes, amateur snapshots, probably made by Sladden during travels by boat along the east coast, and by motor car in the interior, of the North Island.
Nature photos, often close-ups. They depict birds (gulls, terns, gannets, shags, penguins, oystercatchers, shearwater, kingfishers, heron, silvereye, kaka), fish (tuna, dolphins), crustaceans (crayfish), reptiles (tuatara, gecko), plants (rengarenga lily, tī kōuka, pohutukawa, tussock), lichens and even rock outcrops (obsidian, columnar basalts.) Many of the images correspond with, and have almost certainly been created from, the film negatives. N.B. There is some overlap between this and the previous group.
Christchurch townscapes, standard scenes, although they may also be amateur snapshots.

The above were probably created for private and/or public slideshows. A list in the Sladden personal papers, for example, identifies addresses to the Tauranga Historical Society about “Captain Cook in the BOP” and “The island of Tuhua and its old-time people.” Other photographs relate to work he undertook as Warden for the offshore islands and his natural history adventures.

The slides described below are likely purchased as aides de memoire for such slideshows.

Comic Scenes: 4 slides from a published cartoon series, “Nine Lives of a Cat” (Box 2).
Paris Landmarks: Forty hand-coloured slides of Paris scenes, including buildings, gardens, street scenes (end of Box 6 and Box 7), and a map of the city centre; numbered 1 to 39, and therefore part of a series, but the publisher is unknown.
Egypt Landmarks: Five slides similar to those of Paris, but monochrome and unnumbered.

Some slides relate to the YMCA during the Great War: Scenes demonstrating activities of the New Zealand YMCA branches during wartime, often depicting New Zealand soldiers; includes photographs of several posters created to support troops. These are also probably collected by or purchased from someone else.

The film negatives and prints are usually taken in coastal areas the East Coast of the North Island (Bay of Plenty to Bay of Islands) and as far inland as the Central Plateau (Tongariro). They illustrate the life and times of a photographer who was exploring the eastern coast of the North Island with a particular view to its geology, fauna and flora. The groups below reflect the original large wooden and cardboard boxes that held the collection. The order of each group is considered on the whole, the original order.
See also the photograph series within Ms 33, the papers of Bernard Sladden.Source of AcquisitionTauranga Historic SocietySourcesCollection report undertaken by Brett Payne in 2021

Box 01