Michele Leggott and Catherine Field-Dodgson Why did Emily Harris produce so many large oil paintings in 1906? The question has been on our minds since first realising that the oils signed and dated in red at lower left or right are part of an exhibit Emily sent to the International Exhibition in Christchurch that year. Read More…
Month: March 2025
New Zealand Liliaceae, 1906
Catherine Field-Dodgson and Michele Leggott In January we received an intriguing email from archivist Katherine Pawley at the University of Auckland. ‘It just leapt out at me,’ she told us, indicating a link to a tall skinny painting by an unknown artist at Webb’s auction house in Auckland. As soon as we clicked on the Read More…
Very Unsettled: Sarah Harris Journal 1860
Michele Leggott and Catherine Field-Dodgson The envelope that Gretchen Briant inscribed ‘Grandmother’s letters’ contains more than typings of Sarah Harris’s early letters to her family in England. Twelve pages in Sarah’s hand have been folded into the envelope, not letters but journal notes from 1860, the year of the first Taranaki war. Some miscellaneous notes Read More…
Grandmother’s letters: Sarah Harris 1841 & 1843
Story and photos by Michele Leggott and Catherine Field-Dodgson The writing on the envelope says ‘Grandmother’s letters.’ The writer is Gretchen Briant and her grandmother is Sarah Harris. Inside the envelope, neatly folded, are four typed letters on foolscap, copies of letters written by Sarah from New Plymouth in 1841 and 1843. They describe the Read More…
Aunt Grace’s photos
Story and photos by Michele Leggott and Catherine Field-Dodgson The envelope is small, opening on its right side, with an inscription in black ink that reads: ‘Godfrey Briant from Aunt Grace.’ It was rediscovered a few months ago among family files at the home of Goff and Judith Briant in Marton. Hugh Godfrey Briant, known Read More…