What We Collect

Pacific Manuscripts Bureau

The Pacific Manuscripts Bureau (PMB), established in 1968, is a non-profit organisation which promotes the preservation of manuscripts relating to the Pacific. It is sponsored by a group of eight Australian and overseas libraries that have a strong interest in Pacific research. The National Library has been a member since the inception of the Bureau.

The aim of the Bureau is to locate and preserve, by microfilming, manuscript or semi-published material of particular value to research workers engaged in any branch of Pacific studies, whether historical, literary or scientific. Of particular concern to the Bureau are those documents in the Pacific Islands that are at risk from: adverse climatic conditions; insect infestation; civil unrest; or simply deterioration through age or poor storage facilities.

The types of material microfilmed include: correspondence; notebooks and diaries; missionary and trading records; accounts and journals; grammars, dictionaries and vocabularies; genealogies and manuscripts written by Islanders in their own languages.

In thirty five years the PMB has produced more than 3000 reels of microfilm. The National Library holds a complete set of the film. A small number of reels have had access restrictions placed on them. Unless there are access restrictions, the film can be used in the Newspapers and Microforms Reading Room.

The manuscripts and archives filmed by the Bureau are described at the collection level in the Library's catalogue. The reel numbers have the prefix PMB and there are two sequences: PMB (manuscripts) and PMB DOC (printed items). Two volumes entitled Complete annotated catalogue were published by the PMB in 1991 and copies are available in both the Newspapers and Microforms Reading Room and the Manuscript Reading Room. There are five other special guides or indexes, including a very detailed listing of whaling records filmed by the PMB.

More detailed information about the PMB can be found in:

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