The Albatross in the Cupboard
Victoria University of Wellington’s International Institute of Modern Letters is justifiably famous. One of its innovative creative writing courses goes by the intriguing acronym of ‘CREW352’....
View ArticlePukehinahina / Gate Pā flag in front of Te Papa
Yesterday marked a huge day of commemorative activity in Tauranga to signify the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Pukehinahina /Gate Pā, and here in Wellington, Te Papa also contributed to the...
View ArticleAdding value to old nests
An enduring frustration for museum curators is being aware of objects or specimens that have little or no acquisition or collection data. This, sadly, is often the case with our oldest natural history...
View ArticleNew WOW Factor!
This week we are changing over a number of garments in The WOW Factor, an exhibition celebrating the wonderful, creative and inventive World of WearableArt™. The exhibition itself has been extended to...
View ArticleArohatia te Reo: learning 50 kupu hou (new Māori words) – Te Reo and WWI...
In honour of Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori, here are a number of kupu Māori (Māori words) that I constantly use in my everyday mahi/work as a curator at Te Papa, and especially in my research for the First...
View ArticleNga Toi│Arts Te Papa Spring Season 2014: In the lab
The galleries may be closed, the walls may be bare, but there has been plenty going on behind the scenes in preparation for the fresh season of Ngā Toi│Arts Te Papa due to open on Friday 22nd August....
View ArticleDelving into the household accounts of James Hector
Dr Simon Nathan is an Honorary Research Associate at Te Papa. During his research towards a biography on James Hector, the founder of the Colonial Museum, he has delved into the household accounts of...
View ArticleMāori at Gallipoli – TedX talk “Forgotten grandfathers: Maori men of WW1″
Kia ora koutou Last month I gave a talk at a TedX conference in Tauranga where I discussed some of the research I’ve undertaken as part of our exhibition development project here for an exhibition...
View ArticleMakara students go ‘behind the scenes’
Back in July, students from Makara Model School had the chance to meet some Te Papa curators and get a ‘behind the scenes’ look at part of our Natural History collection store. This opportunity came...
View ArticleColossal New Addition to Te Papa’s Scientific Collections
Today we’ve been hearing about the most recent addition to Te Papa’s scientific collections, a new colossal squid Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni. We’re playing host to a dozen or so media representatives...
View ArticleKāhui Rāranga The Art of Tukutuku: New Zealand’s Heart at the United Nations
This morning Te Papa farewelled the exhibition of tukutuku panels which are to be installed at the United Nations Headquarters in New York early next year. The woven panels, which have been on display...
View ArticleWestland Petrels weathering the storm…mostly!
New Zealand has an amazing diversity of seabirds. Around 1/3 of the worlds 348 species are found in New Zealand waters, with a high number of endemic and threatened species among them. Te Papa has a...
View ArticleTravels with Betsy – exploring the world of albatross personality
Do albatrosses have personalities? And if so, how do scientists measure such intangible characteristics? This blog provides some of the background to research Te Papa scientists were involved in,...
View ArticleThere’s a vagrant in our bath
My role at Te Papa revolves around creating opportunities for our visitors to engage with Te Papa content. I was part of the team that developed the DeClassified exhibition, which you can check out on...
View ArticleTravels with Betsy – the zine!
During December 2014, artist and designer Kerry-Ann Lee ran workshops at Te Papa to teach the art of ‘zine-making’. Zines are a sort of hand-crafted vehicle for the ideas and imagination of writers and...
View ArticleCopyright and Creative Commons Road Trip in March 2015
I’m Victoria Leachman, Rights Adviser at Te Papa. Thanks to support from National Services Te Paerangi and Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand I’m going to be on the road around the country in March....
View ArticleMaori soldiers that served at Gallipoli
In our second blog ahead of our new exhibition Gallipoli: The scale of our war opening on April 18, Maori curator Puawai Cairns reveals some of her research into a Maori soldier that served at...
View ArticleOn getting in touch about family photographs
One of the nicest things about having so much of Te Papa’s photography collection online is when people write in to say that we hold a photograph of some of their ancestors and are able to identify...
View ArticleRecreating the sounds of Māori at Gallipoli
In what is probably a first for an exhibition like this Gallipoli: The scale of our war (opening April 18) has its very own soundtrack and score to enhance the visitor experience. In this blog Te Papa...
View ArticleArtist Fiona Connor’s Can Do Academy
Contemporary New Zealand artist Fiona Connor’s art work Can do academy #3, 2004, is currently on display as part of Splash! Four Contemporary New Zealand Paintings up in Ngā Toi | Arts Te Papa on Level...
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