ALHT John Stacpoole scholar
Central Library, Saturday 7 March 2026 2:00pm-3:00pm.
Materials saved after the closure of the Auckland Unemployed Workers’ Rights Centre (AUWRC) in 1999 remained unsorted and potentially lost to the historical record until Sue Bradford, former AUWRC activist, was granted the 2025 Auckland Library Heritage Trust John Stacpoole scholarship to sort and describe the material preparatory to its being accessioned by Auckland Library.
In this talk Sue will share selected highlights of the collection, noting its relevance in a new era of high unemployment. She will also speak about the process of ‘insider’ archiving and the relationship between physical items and memory.
Sue Bradford has a long background in antipoverty activism and radical community development. She was a Green MP for ten years (1999-2009) before going on to complete a public policy PhD which used political activist ethnography as its methodology (AUT 2014). She has a particular interest in and some experience with community-based library, archiving and oral history projects. Sue currently works as education coordinator for Kōtare Research and Education for Social Change in Aotearoa.
Please register for the talk hosted by Auckland Libraries. No charge to attend. Register here
