My name is Lemuel Lyes and I grew up in the South Island of New Zealand.

My obsession with history started when I was very young.  At the age of eight I was the proud owner of the world’s first postage stamp, the Penny Black.  I relished trips to the big city where I could be found in collectables stores rummaging through jars of pennies looking for the elusive bust of King George III.

Like many teenagers I went off the rails, although in my case this involved staying up late at the local philatelic society or singeing my eyebrow while learning to fire a flintlock musket. I emerged into my twenties as a shabby wannabe filmmaker armed with a broadcasting degree and a storage unit filled with antiques and collectables.

Things pretty much went downhill from there and now in my 30-somethings I work full time as an archive producer in the television industry, locating and licensing all sorts of film, video and photographs for use in documentary films. My work can be seen on National Geographic, Discovery Channel, History Channel, Travel Channel, A&E, TVNZ and many other networks.

Career highlights have included on site visits to archives and museums in New Zealand, Australia, Los Angeles, and the United Kingdom, and being listed among the illustrious company of the likes of Martin Scorsese as an award winner at the 2010 FOCAL International Archive Awards. I also work as a development producer, specializing in finding hidden stories and innovative ways to tell them. If you would like to hire me to work on your project I’m sometimes available on a freelance basis.

In my spare time I watch an unhealthy amount of historical television drama, travel when I can, and dabble in stereoscopic photography, shark cage diving, bird-spotting and gold prospecting.

This blog is both a scribbling pad to share stories that don’t otherwise have a home and an outlet to share my personal collection and passion for the past.