The huge job of moving about 1800 linear metres of church records, photographs, film, Maori mission work papers and ministers' and missionaries' personal papers to new homes in four new storage rooms began two weeks ago and should be finished this week.
The $500,000 building refit has included strengthening the first floor to take the weight of the material in the main storage room with its state-of-the-art shelving, air-conditioning and climate-control system.
A new reading room has also been built, along with a large openplan office for the archives' five staff, and a new main entrance to Arden St.
The new facilities are next to the old location in a wing of Knox College, which accommodated the former Presbyterian Theological Hall and School of Ministry in North Dunedin. They would be a major improvement for staff and researchers, archives director Yvonne Wilkie said yesterday.
"We've been in the basement for 21 years and before that, since the archives was started in 1979, we were in a corner of the [Knox College] Hewitson library. We are really, really delighted with our new spaces."
The approaching move had prompted an audit of everything in the archives, Ms Wilkie said. The task took three months.
"The move was the best thing in the world. We sorted out all the things tucked away in corners which had been forgotten about."
While the audit did not uncover any surprises, staff found many misfiled documents which were able to be returned to their correct boxes, she said.
The increased storage space would also enable the research centre to start "bringing home" material stored in other parts of the country, Ms Wilkie said.
Several hundred boxes of Auckland parish records stored at the Auckland Museum were about to arrive, to be followed by Christchurch, Ashburton and West Coast parish records being stored at the Canterbury Public Library.
The new centre will be open to the public from next week.
