In celebration of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s first Royal Tour of New Zealand, we have decided to dedicate a ‘Royal Tour’ length blog series to items in the collection which somehow relate to the Royal family and their relationship to New Zealand. I was going to start the week’s blog posts with a piece on… Read more »
Royal highlights: A portrait of Queen Mary
With the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to New Zealand, it’s the perfect moment to ask what some of Te Papa’s treasures tell us about our feelings towards royalty. Lorde’s critical and irreverent take on the ‘Royals’ of her mega-hit song runs counter to the overwhelming royalty loyalty of our past… Read more »
The ‘Berry Boys’ WWI soldier identification project: the story so far
The Berry Boys soldier identification project has progressed leaps and bounds since 2008, when a group of portraits of unidentified World War I soldiers first featured on Te Papa’s website to mark the 90th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice. Getting the ball rolling We were able to inaugurate the detective work required to… Read more »
Throne of Emperors – unpacking for Saturday’s opening at Te Papa
Justine Olsen, Curator of Decorative art and design, provides a fascinating insight into the preparation for the Throne of Emperors exhibition, opening 22nd March. This Saturday two important exhibitions open to the public: China: Throne of Emperors and Shi Lu: A revolution in paint. Developed by the National Museum of China in partnership with Te Papa, each… Read more »
Snares Islands Flora – bryophytes & lichens
In late 2013, I joined a Te Papa science team on an expedition to the Snares Islands Nature Reserve, 105 km south-southwest of Stewart Island. Here we completed a range of seabird and plant research projects. One of our research goals on the Snares Islands was to collect non-vascular plants. Non-vascular plants include mosses, liverworts and hornworts (collectively… Read more »
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’. CREW352 is creative science writing. Recently, CREW352 student Nina Powles interviewed Dr Susan Waugh, Senior Curator of Sciences at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Here is Nina’s… Read more »
Unpacking Shi Lu
There is something magical about the installation period for an exhibition. As Paul Alexander, the lead exhibition preparator for Shi Lu: A revolution in paint, says, it’s a lot like Christmas. Having spent hours poring over plans with thumbnail images, it’s exciting getting the works out, getting them ready, and getting them on the wall…. Read more »
Science Live: Expedition Snares Island – today!
At 2.00pm today, Tuesday 18th March, Te Papa scientists will be talking about their recent trip to the Snares Islands, and the wonderful wildlife they encountered. Watch Science Live: Expedition Snares Island via YouTube – and don’t forget to ask your questions! We’ve already had some great questions from people around the country, wanting… Read more »
Snares Islands – first impressions
A Te Papa team recently visited the Snares Islands Nature Reserve, 105 km south-southwest of Stewart Island, where they completed a range of seabird and plant research projects. Here, Antony Kusabs (Collection Manager Sciences) describes his first impressions of the Snares Islands, his first trip to a New Zealand Sub-Antarctic island group. Watch Science Live: Expedition Snares Islands… Read more »
Expedition Snares Island: why do we care?
Recently some of our scientists carried out fieldwork on the Snares Islands,100 kilometres south of Stewart Island. They’ll be talking about their work live on Science Live: Expedition Snares Island, 18th March, 2.00pm. But why do Te Papa scientists care about the Snares Islands? What’s so special about them that we’d send a team to… Read more »