Hidden away on level three of the Garden Place Library a small exhibition has found a novel way to portray what life was like in New Zealand 100 years ago.
They have compiled some choice articles from newspapers of the time to make their own fictional Hamilton paper, named The Hamilton Times, and used it to give a snapshot of people's lives and the general goings-on of the time.
Librarian and heritage team member Bryony Hawthorn said it was quite fascinating, looking back over countless old newspaper clippings, how life in New Zealand continued, meanwhile the whole of Europe tore itself apart.
"The people in Europe were massively affected and here we were worrying about whether our shops should have a Saturday closing," she said.
Heritage team member Barry Friends, who was responsible for trawling through the old papers, said it was surprising what was reported back in 1915.
"Things like a missing cat would have been reported," he said.
Barry's personal favorite was titled Fishy Story, which was about a local man defrauding the council, who were paying three pennies a head for shags' heads because the birds were delaying plans for a trout farm.
"The council were throwing the heads out the window into the river and this man was picking them up in a net and taking them back in, until the council got suspicious," he said.
Bryony said her favorite article related to rules for teachers, which she said were obviously aimed at women.
"I love some of these, for example to not loiter in ice cream parlours. I mean, is there a particular reason?"
Other rules included not travelling beyond city limits, not dressing in bright colours, and the requirement to wear at least two petticoats.
Among the odd and entertaining are some more serious reports of the war effort.
"There were lots of letters to the editor about men being given the white feather for not joining the war effort," Bryony said.
The fictitious paper includes an entertainment section, which reveals Hamiltonians to be an active bunch, a charities section, farming section, clubs and churches and emergency services section, the latter including a story about the impact of the war effort on the fire service.
"The fire department lost a lot of men to the war effort, but police were not allowed to join up," Bryony said.
Important events included the opening of the Theatre Royal and St Pauls Cathedral.
The exhibit is the first of a series of three-month instalments to showcase the resources the library has available. The next will be aimed at the history of Claudelands.