The Head Office, Wellington, holds the archives of the head offices of central government, and district offices in the lower half of the North Island (Taranaki, Wanganui, Hawkes Bay, Manawatu, Wairarapa, and Wellington) and the northern part of the South Island (Nelson and Marlborough).
Public archives of other district offices are deposited in branches of Archives New Zealand in Auckland , Christchurch and Dunedin, and in repositories approved under the Public Records Act 2005.
Local authority archives may be deposited with Archives New Zealand under the Local Government Act 1974. However, these are usually held in local regional archives or libraries.
The records held at Wellington Head Office relate to almost every aspect of New Zealand life and to the individual lives of New Zealanders from the beginning of British Government in 1840 to the present day. They cover a wide range of subjects, a lengthy time period, and a variety of different media. The holdings include at least 65,000 metres of textual public archives, 300,000 maps, plans and other cartographic archives, 750,000 photographs and negatives. Motion pictures, video and audio tapes and a variety of historical objects and artifacts are also held.
Archives New Zealand holds a variety of genealogical and whakapapa resources in the Wellington office, including immigration records, probates, coroners' reports, notices of intention to marry, and military service records up to 1913.