"He was a chemist, then became a journalist, then became a fashion designer ... but he started this magazine to promote his own business, his own patterns that he designed."
The pages of the magazine are rich with intricate line drawings of dozens of women's dress designs: the detail is staggering but printed well with 19th century newsprint technology.
The magazine is replete with the current fashions.
"It would come with a free pattern so you could make your own, or you could send away for the patterns for other images that were in there.
"Each one has got advice on what kind of fabrics would work best and how to structure it and make it so that ladies could get this, go home and order the fabric and make it themselves, or get it to their seamstress ..."
Sandi says it was not unusual for men, and only men, to design women's clothing at the time, but it was still a period of slow but significant change. It was "la belle epoque", when fashion designers began to emerge.
"These are from the 1890s, but it was only in the 1870s and 1880s that seasonal fashion became a 'thing', so there was winter wear, as opposed to summer wear, and Weldon's was one of the first ladies' fashion magazines that promoted a bit more equality.
"It's not shown in here but they have women going hiking, mountain climbing, skiing and all those things: actually letting them out of the kitchen and the nursery to be more independent.
"It has an undercurrent of the rise of feminism and equality coming through as well."
Sandi says Weldon's Ladies' Journal was published from 1875 to 1954 and had a worldwide circulation.
"So it covers nearly 80 years, both wars. Elsewhere in the collection we have a World War I knitting pattern, by Weldon's, for a Fair Isle jumper, and the jumper that was made from it.
"It's so much more than a magazine."
Weldon's Ladies' Journal also advertised sewing machines, fabric suppliers, and gave advice on hair, makeup and cooking recipes.
"I think it's really fascinating. This is the precursor to women's magazines that you can pick up at any supermarket and dairy, these days. We are still very interested in what people are wearing.
"We don't know where these came from, but I like the idea of them being sent over to colonial New Zealand so they can keep up with the grand British fashion, sort of thing.
"I like that it's representative of the turning point of women's clothing; it's before women's trousers were acceptable, that didn't come for another few decades, but promoting women's activewear as opposed to staying at home and looking like an ornament on the couch.
"The level of detail is amazing. As an amateur seamstress, I love that they give advice on what fabrics work and how to put a garment together.
"I imagine his wife would have been exceedingly well-dressed."
Sandi says a part of the fascination of working in the museum industry is the "then and now".
"So you look at this and it's all variations on a theme: they're all very long skirts, they're all very long sleeves, lightly puffed shoulders and a cinched waist, whereas fashion for women today ... wear whatever you want.
"The difference in attitude around what women wore slaps me in the face a bit."
The magazines and a lot more besides are part of an upstairs exhibition called Dressed to Thrill. There are cabinets on open display but the magazines are kept in large document drawers which museum visitors are encouraged to open and view.
"As archivist I promote paper. A lot of people still come to museums to look at objects, but it's quite often that paper has a story to tell as well. You look at this and think, 'Oh it's a silly magazine', but when you put it in the context of women's lib, suffrage and fashion as a whole, it's quite a historical document. It's a poignant piece."
