This collection includes digitised copies from the papers of Donald McLean held at the Alexander Turnbull Library relating to Taranaki, Waikanae, Wellington, the top of the South Island and the Chatham Islands. The original collection includes almost 3000 letters from Māori correspondents, which are the largest surviving series of nineteenth-century Māori letters. These papers provide a record of interactions between Government and Māori of the time. Many of the Native Department's records from the 19th century were destroyed when Parliament Buildings burnt down in 1907. McLean's papers at the Turnbull Library help fill some of the gaps left by this