Herbert Watson had a reputation as an excellent teacher ahead of his time. He felt strongly that the township of Renwick, small as it was then, needed a lending library When his first wife Olga Engelbrecht tragically died early in their marriage he used part of his house section to build a library in her memory. It was opened in 1930 and the building donated to the Council for the people of Renwick. Gradually the need arose for a museum as well. Norman Brayshaw helped Mr Watson with setting up displays preserving the story of Renwick's history.

During World War II when so many servicemen were stationed at the Delta the library was much appreciated as an open reading room. Herbert Watson maintained the service for 50 years. After his death, the collections were neglected and silver fish did much damage. Thelma Pearson took up the challenge. With the aid of a small team notably Anne Davis, she resurrected the service and worked hard at restoring the artifacts and records.

Herbert Watson had kept textbooks from his teaching days and copies of books used by early settlers. The Turnbull library, which has kept records of books published in New Zealand had never preserved school books. Much of the early history of education among the early pakeha settlers is lost.

It was discovered that Mr Watson still had copies of some books that did not survive elsewhere. Marjorie Pattie with advice from Wellington has added her own collection and those donated. They are catalogued and available to education researchers. Their value as social history will increase.

There are three divisions of the book collection. It is recognised that the archival books are what makes this museum unique.

(1) The old rare book collection of skills from former days from housekeeping to candle making, harness making to farming hints.

(2) The story of school education in New Zealand - A collection of reading books showing the history of reading methods, spelling, grammar, arithmetic, history etc and school journals since 1907 showing many changes in social attitudes.

(3) Samples of the fiction read by children in the past.

It may be that in the future as time goes by it will be widely appreciated that the archival collection has survived. The old library retains its attractive appearance as the Watson Memorial Library. It is available to researchers and conducted groups.

Beside it is a Lending Library of modern books, supported with a rotating selection from the Marlborough District Library. The foyer is opened on weekdays for travellers on the main Highway from Nelson to Blenheim to see various displays of Renwick's history such as the cob tavern roofed with wool fleeces to protect from rain.

On Mondays from 10am - 4pm volunteers are present to open the Lending Library and copy historical photos and help with information on Renwick's history.