The Richard Douglas Pick Collection
Richard Douglas Pick, known as Doug, was born in 1901 and died in 1977. He grew up on farms in the South Island and later worked on sheep stations in the North Island. He moved to Hamilton in the 1920s and helped establish Sunfruit Orchards at Rukuhia, which eventually became one of the largest private orchards in the country.
Pick became heavily involved with societies, particularly historical, while living in Hamilton. He was a member or office holder in the Waikato Historical Society, the Waikato Archaeological Association, the Waikato Winter Show Association, and he was involved with the foundation of the Clydesdale Agricultural Museum.
The Pick Collection was donated to Hamilton City Libraries in 1978. The collection does contain personal items such as papers, negatives and slides of Pick family holidays overseas, but the collection primarily focusses on Pick’s interests. There are paper files relating to Sunfruit Orchards and his interest in horticulture as well as rural life in the South Island and Hawke’s Bay. The papers also cover Pick’s involvement in the 1960s and 1970s with the Clydesdale Agricultural Museum, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, and the Reserves Advisory Council.
The collection highlights Pick’s keen interest in archaeology and Maaori history. Included are Pick’s notes about individual archaeological dig sites, his collection of correspondence relating to archaeology, newsletters of the Waikato Archaeological Association while Pick was president and many slides and photographs showing excavations in progress and artifacts found in location such as Mangakawere, Ongari Pa, Te Akau, Kotare and Poukawa.
The Pick Collection has been fully digitised and will be available through Heritage Collections Online. The physical items are available to view by appointment through archives@hcc.govt.nz
