Natasha Hamilton-Hart: Fear and Loathing in the National Library

Why do professionals lose their minds?

As cancelations go, it didn’t make waves. It was covered by the Free Speech Union, some nonmainstream websites and Britain’s Daily Mail. An eminent professor of history withdraws from his proposed talk at the National Library because the Library requested a change to the description of the talk on the event’s publicity. The offending phrase? A quote from a nineteenth century historian that the British Empire appeared to have been acquired ‘in a fit of absence of mind.’ It’s a well-used quote that captures the haphazard processes of imperial expansion from ancient Rome to the United States.

David Farrar: National Library should not censor

Stuff reported:

A renowned Auckland University of Technology historian has cancelled an upcoming speech at the National Library of New Zealand, after claims they tried to censor what he was going to say.

Professor Paul Moon was set to give a lecture in February 2025 on British policy leading up to the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi/The Treaty of Waitangi.

Centrist: History professor cancels lecture after National Library censors content

Historian Paul Moon has cancelled his upcoming lecture at New Zealand’s National Library after a staff member relayed a request from the director to remove historian John Seeley’s quote describing the British Empire as being “acquired in a fit of absence of mind,” citing fears it could appear supportive of colonial conquest.