The librarian who reorganised how Timaru read
1878–1936
Chief librarian
The former Timaru Public Library façade still stands beside the Council offices in George Street. Behind that familiar frontage, Evelyn Culverwell helped transform the library from a room containing books into a more organised public service for the town.
Timaru Borough Council appointed Evelyn chief librarian in early 1913. Heritage New Zealand records that she was the first woman in New Zealand to hold the position of chief librarian. Her appointment was considered unusual at the time, but her professional knowledge soon became central to the development of the library.
One of her first major tasks was to review and rearrange the library’s entire collection. She began introducing the Dewey Decimal system, creating a catalogue that made it easier for readers and staff to locate books by subject. She also set aside part of the lending collection specifically for children and younger readers. These were practical changes that affected how people could use the library, not simply administrative improvements hidden behind the desk.
Evelyn’s career coincided with growing public use of the Carnegie library. The building had opened in 1909, offering free access to reading material, and later required extensions to its reading and circulation areas. Heritage records note that Timaru’s library membership reached an unusually high proportion of the town’s population during this period. It would be unsafe to credit that growth to Evelyn alone, but her cataloguing, organisation and attention to different readers helped support a service that became deeply used by the community.
She continued learning beyond Timaru. A scrapbook held by the Aoraki Heritage Collection preserves correspondence, tickets, pamphlets and other material gathered during visits to libraries in England and Scotland. It offers evidence of a librarian actively examining how other institutions worked and bringing that wider professional awareness back to South Canterbury.
Evelyn remained chief librarian for nearly 23 years. Ill health forced her resignation late in 1935, and she died on 3 January 1936.
Her impact is visible whenever a reader can find a book, a child is welcomed as a library user, or a public collection is treated as something to be organised around people’s needs. Evelyn helped give Timaru a library service that was easier to navigate and more useful to the community it served.
Read the WuHoo story: Evelyn Culverwell: The Librarian Who Led the Way
Sources
Heritage New Zealand: Timaru Council Offices and Former Public Library
Supports Evelyn’s 1913 appointment, the national precedence claim and the development of the library.
Aoraki Heritage Collection: Miss Culverwell’s Scrapbook
Supports her overseas library visits, length of service, resignation and death date.
1880 Interior view of people reading in the Mechanics Institute's library, circa 1887. The image depicts a woman and two men seated around a table in the library. Bookshelves line the walls, only broken by a doorway and a fireplace. 'T' shaped piping hangs from the high ceilings above the tables. The verso bears hand-written notation that identifies the name of the building and location. South Canterbury Museum 1057
This is the scrapbook of New Zealands first female librarian! Evelyn Culverwell, Miss Culverwell's scrapbook (1928-1929). Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 02/11/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/8585 She was appointed in 1913 and served until her death in 1936.The Timaru Public Library had opened on 4 June 1909. Between 1909 and 1913, the first librarian (likely male, name not recorded in local coverage) oversaw the early years. When that position was vacated in 1913, the Timaru Borough Council appointed Evelyn Culverwell as Chief Librarian — the first woman in New Zealand to hold that title. In 1928 Evelyn set out alone on a seven-month study tour of England and Scotland, visiting leading public and university libraries. Her scrapbook — still preserved in the Aoraki Heritage Collection — is full of tickets, pamphlets, and handwritten notes.
Maud Ethel Evelyn Culverwell and her mother Helen Judith Culverwell grave in Timaru Cemetery. Photography By Roselyn Fauth
CONFERENCE OF LIBRARIANS — Delegates who this week attended the conference of librarians at Wellington, From left, Dr. G. H. Scholefield (Parliamentary Library), Mr. A. L. Low (New Plymouth), Miss E. Culverwell (Timaru), Mr. Johannes Andersen (Turnbull Library), Miss M. Blackett (Wanganui), Mr. J. Norrie (Wellington), Mr. J. Barr (Auckland), Miss E. Melville (Auckland), and Mr. E. J. Bell (Canterbury). - Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18425, 16 June 1934, Page 14 - https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/PBH19340616.2.137?items_per_page=50&phrase=2&query=+culverwell&snippet=true&type=ILLUSTRATION
Four unidentified women at a reading desk in the Timaru Library, circa 1951. Depicts the four women seated and reading at a sloped wooden desk at the Carnegie Library built on the corner of King George Place and Latter Street, now part of the Timaru District Council buildings. Verso bears notations in three hands which read "Old library" eading table, 1951" and "6985". South Canterbury Musuem - 2009/070.029
Trinity Jubilee Fancy Fair 1914 Cookery Book. Aoraki Heritage Collection, accessed 02/11/2025, https://aorakiheritage.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/74 Everlyn Culverwell was New Zealand’s first female chief librarian, who was at the helm of the library for 23 years from 1913 and was held in very high regard in the community and national library circles. - https://www.heritage.org.nz/list-details/2075/Timaru%20Council%20Offices%20and%20Former%20Public%20Library%20(Fa%C3%A7ade)