Te Manawa collections manager Cindy Lilburn celebrates 40 years of heritage care

Te Manawa collections manager Cindy Lilburn with a 1908 phonograph cylinder used for recording. Photo / Supplied

The Queen of the Collection, as Cindy Lilburn is known to colleagues, has another gemstone to add to her crown - a ruby.

Lilburn has worked at Te Manawa and its predecessor Manawatū Museum for 40 years and celebrated her ruby anniversary at a function last week.

She started as a volunteer at the museum in her last year at Massey University, getting a permanent job as a registrar after a "lousy interview".

Cindy Lilburn in the early 1990s with her Manawatū Museum colleagues, including director Mina McKenzie (centre). Photo / Supplied

She began on October 11, 1982.

Her first 12 years were served under legendary Manawatū Museum director Mina McKenzie.

Lilburn said McKenzie was a mentor to her, instilling in her and other staff to do their best for heritage and to consider taonga Māori well before other institutions were.

The collections manager considers herself lucky to have found a job she loves.

"I never know what treasure is going to come through the door from one day to the next and be offered to us."

The longer she has been in the job the more she has come to know about local history.

Te Manawa Museum has 46,723 objects in its collection.

She has chosen 13 items for the Te Manawa 2023 calendar Taonga.

Some of them are on display at Te Manawa, including a pine needle tea set, a brick handbag, and the Miss Rangitīkei Queen crown.

Lilburn finds herself living across three centuries and has seen off 10 directors.

Growing up in New Plymouth, Lilburn worked after school for the library filing books and the like and had thought this could be her career.

And, for the record, if she had taken up roller derby her player name would be "Museum Piece".

Jeff Fox, Lilburn's manager for the past 10 years, said she was a loved and treasured friend to everyone who has ever worked in collections in Manawatū.

The biggest change she has witnessed has been digitalisation - when she started everything was typed on cards with a typewriter, Fox said.

Researching an item's provenance are key parts of the acquisition process and if there is a salacious story to be found Lilburn will sniff it out.

Only 3 to 5 per cent of the collection is ever on display at any one time, but Lilburn is looking forward to making it more accessible online.

"You are a legend, the queen of the collection," Fox told her.

Cindy Lilburn discusses the finer points of vintage footwear with shoe lover RubyDax. Photo / Supplied

Manu Kawana started working at Te Manawa in 1997 as a Māori educator. He thought he would put Lilburn to the test by asking her questions about taonga Māori.

"She just blew me out of the water every time, just all the details she provided regarding certain taonga."

Palmerston North Heritage Trust chairwoman Margaret Tennant said Lilburn is a real treasure for historians and being a historical gossip is important to uncovering social history.

"Cindy knows exactly what's there and what might or might not be useful."

This is a Public Interest Journalism funded role through NZ On Air