LAUSR

ABSTRACT This short communication briefly examines how Augustus Hamilton, director of the Colonial/Dominion Museum from 1903 to 1913, assembled the effective founding photography collection of the museum now known as Te Papa. It describes his initiative in forming the pre-cursor New Zealand Institute collection and how this was linked to his renowned 1896–1901 publication Maori Art. It notes how the museum collection was comprised of both photographs taken by staff and those acquired from external photographers. Hamilton’s ethnographic photography is considered in light of his belief in the ‘dying race’ theory of Māori culture and it is proposed that he was the first in New Zealand to systematically create a database of photographic images.