Kawe Mahara Queer Archives Aotearoa

Image: Kawe Mahara trustee Mani Mitchell and a supporter at Out in the City, Wellington, 17 Mar 2024

We believe that the histories and whakapapa of our queer and takatāpui communities is vital knowledge, so often needed to combat stigma, social isolation and foster a sense of belonging.

We are a registered charity (CC27707) and rely on external funding sources and volunteer hours to make sure our work continues in making our collections accessible. Our collections are housed and kept secure at the Alexander Turnbull Library (ATL) in Wellington. But we also rent separate storage space to hold new items/taonga before they are accessioned, sorted and catalogued prior to entering the permanent archive at ATL.

Much of what organisations produce today — including meeting minutes and documents, social media posts and e-newsletters — is digital, and so we also need to cover ongoing secure digital storage costs. Some older digital media, like CD-ROMs and DVDs, are fragile and Kawe Mahara needs to be able to extract files contained on them and save the data in secure digital locations. This digital and physical storage space provides the level of safety and security required for our precious items.

Please help us raise the funds to continue collecting and preserving our history.