Te Papa welcomed a Maraenui community group from Napier, Te Matau-a-Māui Hawke’s Bay, in a to formally hand over four banners carried in the Hīkoi mō te Tiriti on 19 November 2024 in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, and collected by Te Papa. Curator History Stephanie Gibson describes the journeys the bannersRead more
When you visit an exhibition, do you enjoy hands-on and touchscreen interactive experiences? Are interactive experiences a good way to learn something new or explore important topics within exhibitions? Kelly Gwynn, a student in Victoria University’s Master of Museum and Heritage Practice programme and with a decade of experience workingRead more
Una Dubbelt-Leitch spent four months working alongside Amber Aranui as part of her Master of Museum Practice placement on the Acknowledging our Colonial Past project. This project contributed significantly to understanding Te Papa’s taonga Māori collection, a large proportion of which is currently unprovenanced. This blog is based on theRead more
Knowing where species occur and how common they are is key for conservation management. Last year, Te Papa botanists Lara Shepherd and Leon Perrie were part of an expert panel that assessed the conservation status of every indigenous vascular plant species in the Greater Wellington region – over 1000 inRead more
March 14 was International Save a Spider Day, and this year, we’ve taken a closer look at an iconic group of New Zealand spiders – the tunnelwebs. Not only were these spiders the inspiration for the design of Shelob in Peter Jackson’s Return of the King, but their family isRead more
Many of the treasures in the National Art Collection have come into the museum as generous gifts – from collectors, artists, their families, and the public. To mark Te Papa Foundation’s Annual Appeal, Curator Modern Art Lizzie Bisley looks here at some of the wonderful artworks and collections that haveRead more
For a few days in mid-January, Curator Botany Heidi Meudt was part of a team that conducted a survey of Myosotis umbrosa, a plant with the same threat status as the kākāpō: Threatened – Nationally Critical. The team spent three days in the Rock and Pillar Range in Otago to getRead more
Humanities technician Cassandra Bahr has been working in the Collected Archives at Te Papa, cataloguing and rehousing papers from people connected to Te Papa’s collecting areas. Here, she highlights the archives of scientific illustrator and orchid specialist Bruce Irwin (1921–2012). James Bruce Irwin was born in Whanganui in 1921. AsRead more
Brooklyn-Grace Folesi recently finished an internship at Te Papa, as part of her Art History honours year. During the internship, she catalogued a recent acquisition of work by Czech artist Gertrud Kauders (1883–1942). Here, Brooklyn reflects on Kauders’ artistic practice, considering the connections between her life and work, and thatRead more
Could Artificial Intelligence really appraise Te Papa’s public records? Collections Data Manager Gareth Watkins and Archivist Jennifer Twist tested it on thousands of records and got results that were faster, less resource-intensive, and more consistent than expected – until they weren’t. This post unpacks the experiment, the limits we encountered,Read more
The We Are Not Your Dusky Maidens! project began with Flora: Celebrating Our Botanical World, a trans-curatorial publication exploring Te Papa’s botanical collections. Published in 2023, the book drew connections between plants, people, and place, led through the collaborative work of Te Papa editors and curators Rebecca Rice (Art), ClaireRead more
Arts writer Ioana Gordon-Smith (New Zealand, Sāmoa) lives in Porirua and currently works as Lead Curator at Pātaka Art+Museum. Here, Ioana responds to the legacy of the trope of the Dusky Maiden as well as Te Papa’s short films from We Are Not Your Dusky Maidens! The illusion of theseRead more
Flowers are a central part of Pacific identity – especially for women. Archival representations of women and flowers centre on the trope of the Dusky Maiden. However, Professor Yvonne Underhill-Sem (Nga Pu Toru, Alofi North) shows that Pacific women are reclaiming their relation to flowers, and in the process, revealingRead more
Curator Māori Moana at Pātaka Jacki Leota-Mua discusses what flowers have represented to her over her life and responds to We Are Not Your Dusky Maidens!, a series of five short films interviewing Pasifika women on the trope of the sensual ‘Dusky Maiden’ and the significance of flower culture inRead more
Te Papa’s orchid specialist Carlos Lehnebach and research technician Jennifer Alderton-Moss from the Lions Ōtari Plant Conservation Lab are celebrating a major breakthrough after the threatened swamp greenhood orchid blooms for the first time in cultivation, marking a significant milestone for conservation and recovery efforts. The swamp greenhood orchid (PterostylisRead more
