Treaty documents, war records and the women's suffrage petition are among the taonga at risk of being neglected, opponents of proposed job cuts at Archives New Zealand and the National Library say, with 47 full-time roles expected to go by the end of the year.
The two agencies, already among the smallest employers in the public service, are consulting on the cuts, which critics warn will erode New Zealand's ability to preserve and provide access to its history.
Historian Vincent O'Malley said the material held by the two institutions was in constant demand.
"Historians, treaty researchers, EWI, school students, university students, academics, people, you know, searching for information about their family history," he said. "All kinds of people rely on access to this material all the time."
The proposed cuts follow a previous round of redundancies two years ago, which drew staff protests at the time. O'Malley said the effects would compound.
"So it's going to have a cumulative impact and potentially it will mean that new items are not catalogued," he said.
Peter Miller, from the Archives & Records Association, said morale among members had taken a hit, and highlighted reduced public access at Archives New Zealand's regional sites.
"Archives New Zealand now in the region, the three regional offices, are only open in mornings," he said. "I don't know if any other government departments only open half time."
Miller, whose association represents archivists and records managers, said a single Dunedin building held more than 120,000 wills and warned record-keeping standards were already slipping.
"Records will be lost because they're not properly being regulated," he said.
"Backlogs held by archives will continue to grow."
Historians and archivists warn the cuts could see backlogs grow and items go uncatalogued, as the Government says the restructuring is needed for financial sustainability. (Source: 1News)
Trena Lile, of the School Library Association, said school library support services were expected to be hit hardest by the restructuring.
"I don't know how government sees it," she said.
"It feels like they see libraries as a room full of books and that that has stayed and that there's no life to it."
The Department of Internal Affairs said in a statement that the restructuring was needed for financial sustainability, and that staff remained committed to preserving, protecting and providing access to heritage material.
Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden said consultation was continuing, and that it was ultimately up to the employers to decide on final staffing levels.
The proposed cuts come not long after millions of items were relocated to a new, purpose-built archives building. Some of the disestablished roles are expected to be replaced using artificial intelligence, a suggestion O'Malley disputed.
"The staff at these institutions do highly specialised roles and those are not ones that are easily replaceable by AI at all," he said.
Miller said much of archival work relied on judgment calls that couldn't be automated.
"For instance, archivists make decisions about which records are kept and which will be destroyed," he said.
A final decision on the job losses is expected by November.
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