Polynesian Society
The Polynesian Society is a non-profit organisation based at the
History
The society was co-founded in 1892 by Percy Smith and Edward Tregear, largely in response to a conviction, widely held at the time, that the Māori and other Polynesian peoples were a dying race. Smith and his friends hoped that it would help to preserve the traditional lore of the Māori before it disappeared and provide scholars with a forum for learned discussion of their ethnographic research (Byrnes 2006).
The initial membership of the society was 112, which had grown to 1,300 by 1965. Presidents have included
Until her death in 2006, the society's patron was the
Publications
From its earliest days, the society published the quarterly Journal of the Polynesian Society, which became the society's principal means to publish information about the indigenous peoples of Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. The journal is a rich repository of the traditions of Oceania. Its first editors were S. Percy Smith and Edward Tregear. Smith was its chief contributor until his death in 1922. The list of subsequent editors includes W. H. Skinner, Elsdon Best, Johannes C. Andersen, H. D. Skinner, C. R. H. Taylor, W. R. Geddes, W. C. Groves, Bruce Biggs, Melvyn McLean and Richard Moyle. The present editors are Judith Huntsman and Melinda Allen.
In addition to this journal, the society has published many notable monographs, including S. Percy Smith's History and Traditions of the Taranaki Coast (1910) and The Lore of the Whare Wananga (1913–15); A. Shand's The
Other major works include A. Ngata and Pei Te Hurinui Jones Nga Moteatea (1959–1990), a definitive four-volume collection of traditional Māori song with translations and commentaries, which has been published in a new, enhanced edition by Auckland University Press in association with the Polynesian Society.
A history of the society and its journal, M. P. K. Sorrenson's Manifest Duty: The Polynesian Society over 100 years, and a Centennial Index 1892–1991 (D. Brown, compiler) were published in 1991.
See also
- Société des océanistes
References
- Brown, Dorothy (compiler), Centennial Index 1892–1991. Memoir No. 50. Auckland, The Polynesian Society.
- Byrnes, Giselle M. "Smith, Stephenson Percy 1840 – 1922". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
- Sorrenson, M.P.K., "Manifest Duty: The Polynesians Society over 100 Years". Memoir No. 49. Auckland, The Polynesian Society.
- Encyclopedia of New Zealand
- "Polynesian Society". University of Auckland. Archived from the original on 6 March 2010. Retrieved 24 December 2012.