Katherine Mansfield (1888–1923)
Where can I find information about Katherine Mansfield?
(Years 7-10)
Image: Katherine Mansfield by Ida Baker. Collection: Alexander Turnbull Library, Ref 1/2-011985-F.
Entry last updated: 11/09/25
Introduction
Katherine Mansfield is one of New Zealand's most well-known authors. She was born in Wellington as Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp, but wanted to be known for her writing as Katherine Mansfield or KM. She lived in London as a young adult and became very well-known and respected for her writing, especially her short stories.
General websites
These websites will guide you to biographies on the life and work of Katherine Mansfield.
NZ History is a great website for information about Aotearoa New Zealand. If we go all the way down the page we can see that the website belongs to the Ministry for Culture & Heritage, so the information is well-researched and reliable.
To find a biography of Katherine Mansfield, first choose People along the top of the page.
Next, choose M to bring up all the surnames beginning with M.
Now choose Mansfield, Katherine.
This website contains over 3,000 biographies of New Zealanders who have ‘made their mark’ on this country. This website also belongs to the Ministry for Culture & Heritage, so the information is well-researched and reliable.
Enter the keywords 'Katherine Mansfield' into the search bar, or choose M to search for her by her surname.
Then select Mansfield, Katherine to read her full biography.
Remember to look at page 2 for more links and sources, and page 4 for images and media.
Tips: We like sites like this because they’re reliable. You can tell because of their web address – they have either .govt or .ac, meaning they are from government or educational organisations. They’re also New Zealand sites, so relevant for us.
This is part of EPIC, a collection of reliable databases covering lots of different topics. It is put together especially for New Zealand school students and helps answer questions like this. This database looks at Katherine Mansfield and her work from an international perspective.
First, log in with a password from your school librarian or AnyQuestions librarian.
Next, enter Katherine Mansfield into the search bar.
Here you can read biographies, journals, magazines and news articles about her.
Tips: To get to the EPIC resources you will need a password from your school librarian first. Or you can chat with one of our AnyQuestions librarians between 1 and 6pm Monday to Friday and they will help you online. Some EPIC databases may also be available through your public library.
Articles, videos and more
Have a look through these websites to find articles, videos, images and other media about Katherine Mansfield.
Hōpara Kaupapa | Topic Explorer
This online tool from the National Library of New Zealand will help you find quality, curated resources on a range of topics in a variety of formats.
Use the search bar to enter 'Katherine Mansfield'.
This will bring up the topic called Katherine Mansfield — life and influences.
Use the Media type feature to look for Video, then watch a video like The Doll's House — film in Katherine Mansfield's own words.
Use the Primary source feature to find images, newspaper articles and audio on Katherine Mansfield.
Tips: Search words, or keywords, are the most important words in our question. You can leave out small words like ‘the’ and ‘of’ and just choose the main ones, eg Katherine Mansfield. We can always change our keywords or add more if we need to.
DigitalNZ searches online resources from New Zealand libraries, museums, universities and government sites in one place. It groups results by the type of information and has lots of primary sources.
Enter 'Katherine Mansfield' into the search along the top of the page.
Now you can choose from Images, Audio, Video and more.
With DigitalNZ you can also find primary sources such as newspaper articles written about Katherine Mansfield at the time. It also includes things she wrote about herself. To find primary sources, try this:
Enter the keywords 'Katherine Mansfield' into the search bar.
Then choose decades.
Next, pick a decade, for example, the 1920s.
Then, choose Apply filters.
This will give you results from the 1920s, including newspaper reports of her death, a link to a published book of The Letters of Katherine Mansfield, and even a copy of her passport.
PapersPast is a collection of digitised historical New Zealand newspapers. It is an excellent place to look for primary sources. To find newspaper articles written about Katherine Mansfield:
From the homepage, choose Newspapers.
Then enter 'Katherine Mansfield' into the search bar.
Read the report about a Katherine Mansfield evening from 1933.
You can narrow down your results using the filters on the side of the page. For example, under Content types you can choose just to look at articles instead of advertisements.
To find journal and magazine articles about Katherine Mansfield:
From the homepage, choose Magazines and Journals.
Then enter 'Katherine Mansfield' into the search bar.
Select France and NZ remember Katherine Mansfield, a 1953 article from the New Zealand Listener.
Tips: We like sites like this because they’re reliable. You can tell because of their web address – they have either .govt or .ac, meaning they are from government or educational organisations. They’re also New Zealand sites, so relevant for us.
The Katherine Mansfield Society is an international organisation that helps people learn about and enjoy the writing of Katherine Mansfield. Most of the information is available for free, but some resources are just for members.
From the top of the page, choose KM Resources for information about her, as well as her stories, poems and an image collection.
Under the Publications tab, choose Tinakori. This is the Critical Journal of the Katherine Mansfield Society.
Each issue contains articles about Katherine Mansfield and her writing, which can be downloaded as a PDF for reading.
Tips: Websites that have .org or .net in the address can have good information, but you need to assess how reliable it is. Check the About link on the website, if you can find one. That can tell you what the organisation’s mission and values are.
This website is an online showcase of New Zealand television, film and music videos.
Enter 'Katherine Mansfield' into the search box at the top of the page.
Here you can watch videos, including the full-length documentary A Portrait of Katherine Mansfield.
Tips: Websites that have .com or .co in the address can have good information, but you need to assess how reliable it is. Check the About us link on the website, if you can find one. That can tell you what the company’s mission and values are.
Books
There are lots of books that have been written about Katherine Mansfield, and you can find the stories, letters, poems and other things she wrote during her life in libraries as well. Have a look at your school or local public library for some of these, or ask a librarian for more.
Katherine Mansfield by Kevin Boon
The collected stories of Katherine Mansfield by Katherine Mansfield
The collected letters of Katherine Mansfield by Katherine Mansfield, Vincent O'Sullivan and Margaret Scott
Katherine Mansfield's New Zealand by Vincent O'Sullivan
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