From collections to stories: Reflecting on work-integrated learning at Te Papa

Daniel Kumar is a Global Studies student at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington, specialising in Pacific Studies, Cultural Anthropology, Human Rights, and interests spanning across design, visual culture, and the stories held within museum collections. Here he responds to questions about his mahi as an intern at Te Papa.

How did you find yourself interning at Te Papa?

I entered this project as an intern through the FHSS302 Internship course at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington. During the selection process, I had mentioned an interest in archives and was recommended the opportunity at Te Papa.

My work-integrated learning with Te Papa Press and publishing gave me the opportunity to bring together many of the things I have been learning throughout my degree, from Pacific Studies and Cultural Anthropology to questions of history, culture, identity, and representation.

What were some of the projects you worked on?

My project focused on writing object descriptions and narratives connected to three recent publications: Flora: Celebrating Our Botanical World, Between Dreams: Resistance and Representation in Asian Aotearoa, and Tatau: A History of Sāmoan Tattooing. The project involved looking closely at publications and Collections Online and considering how the stories in these books could strengthen connections for researchers, whānau, communities, and curious visitors to discover more about the taonga held in Te Papa’s collections.

What did you get to do in your role?

A lot of my time was spent getting familiar with the systems and processes that sit behind collections work. I worked with EMu, Te Papa’s collection management system, alongside other digital tools. There was definitely a learning curve, particularly with EMu, but learning how information is recorded, organised, and made accessible gave me a new appreciation for the work that happens behind the scenes.

I also had the opportunity to work across different collections and speak with people whose expertise I had previously encountered through my studies. I looked closely at objects connected to Flora, Between Dreams, and Tatau, including clothing, textiles, and objects that carry stories of migration, identity, creativity, and cultural connection.

One of my favourite experiences was walking through the Pacific, textiles, and history stores with their respective curators. Seeing taonga in the collection stores, away from the exhibition floor, changed how I thought about museum collections. It was a reminder that every object has a life beyond the display case: where it came from, who made or used it, how it travelled, and the relationships that surround it.

I also had the opportunity to join a tour for PASI201 Pacific Studies class when they visited the Pacific stores, as well as take part in a private walkthrough with one of the exhibition curators for He Toi Whakairo: The Art of Māori Carving. These experiences allowed me to share some of what I was learning while continuing to learn from people working closely with the collections, gaining insight into curatorial and experience design practices.

What have been some of your favourite parts of the internship?

One of the highlights has been seeing the different stages of a publication come together. There is something exciting about seeing a book move from something you are reading and researching into a resource that connects people with taonga and stories in the collection.

I have also really valued the conversations I’ve been privileged to have had. Being able to speak with curators and colleagues about their work has helped me understand the different forms of knowledge that come together within a museum. My internship has shown me that collections work is not simply about identifying an object or recording its measurements. It can involve history, language, culture, relationships, research, technology, and careful consideration of how stories are told. This has been a theme explored deeply in my Pasi301 class, asking who gets to tell a story, how the people to whom these stories belong are involved, and whether this is a true and honouring representation of these individuals, iwi, and larger communities.

Working with Between Dreams particularly encouraged me to think about how taonga can illuminate histories of Asian Aotearoa, including migration, representation, racism, and the contributions of Asian communities. For me, personally, being South Asian carries experiences of erasure, especially when speaking of Asians, which often refers to our Chinese, Japanese, and Korean communities. However, Curator Asian New Zealand Histories Grace Gassin and contributors to the book did a beautiful job of articulating, explaining, and representing the diversity of Asian communities. In the book, I found my histories represented through fashion, expression, and continued adaptation and integration of our cultures into the dominant narratives.

Meanwhile, working with Tatau connected strongly with my Pacific heritage and fostered my interest in Pacific histories and visual culture. It was truly inspiring to meet Senior Curator Pacific Histories and Cultures Sean Mallon, who researched and curated Tatau, and to be on a tour that he and Curator Pacific Histories and Cultures Emelihter Kihleng were hosting alongside Kaitiaki Taonga Humanities Grace Hutton. Across these projects, I kept returning to the same question: what stories can taonga tell when we take the time to look beyond the taonga itself?

What are you taking away from this internship?

Perhaps my biggest takeaway is that objects are never just objects.

Clothing, textiles, photographs, artworks, and other collection items can trace relationships across time and space. They can tell us about people, movement, creativity, place and identity. They can also raise questions about whose stories have been recorded, how those stories are interpreted, and how museums can make knowledge more accessible.

This internship has allowed me to see the connections between my studies and the kind of work I hope to continue doing. Work that brings together research, culture, storytelling and people. I came into Te Papa interested in objects and the stories they carry. I am leaving with an even greater appreciation for the people, knowledge and mahi that help those stories reach the public. For me, that is the real connection between collections and stories: taonga can sit quietly in storage, but the right question, conversation, or piece of research can help bring its story into view.