Delwyn Blondell

I currently work as a freelance historian. I have worked on private contracts including those utilising nineteenth century Native Land Court records to provide evidence in High Court cases, focusing on Tamaki Makaurau and the Manawatū region.  I have also produced engaging accounts of genealogical research for an Auckland businessman and his family, leading to two privately produced volumes.

I completed my PhD in History as well as my Masters at Massey. My PhD thesis is the first in New Zealand to be presented as a thesis with publications. It covered a diverse range of subjects, including prostitutes and eugenic family studies. My Masters thesis, on the topic of railway labourer immigrants, was short listed for the Beth Roth Award for Labour History in 2020.

Tenacity and timeliness were skills sharpened by my academic research. However, I already had an extensive background in researching family and their histories, and this experience was foundational in my thesis work. I utilise Ancestry and other genealogical packages in my work, and draw extensively on digitised sources. In addition, I have ready access to Archives New Zealand in Wellington. While completing my PhD thesis in three years, I also marked history papers. Since completion I have coordinated a Massey University history paper.

Publications:

“Till Death Do Us Part: Laborers’ Marriage Practices in Late Victorian New Zealand.” Journal of Family History, 48 No.1, Jan 2023, pp.81-102.

“‘Depraved and Vicious’: The Incorrigible Inmates of New Zealand’s Girls’ Reformatory 1900-1918.” Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth, 17 No.3, Fall 2024, pp.370-388.

“‘Illustrative Cases of Hereditary Degeneracy’: The Use of Family Studies to Support New Zealand’s Eugenic Narrative in the 1920s.” Journal of World History, (pending publication).

“Beyond baby-farming: Prosecuting Paid Child-Care in Liberal-era New Zealand.” New Zealand Journal of History, (pending publication).