The Wairarapa Archive has acquired some of New Zealand's earliest literary Maori treasures.
Waatea News reports descendants of the Irish missionary and scholar Robert Maunsell have donated copies of his work to the archive.
Archivist Gareth Winter says Maunsell's work included some of the earliest missionary grammars and translations of the Bible.
The gift also includes an 1872 textbook by Maunsell to help Maori speakers learn English.
